EAGAN, Minn. -- The Wilf family closed its deal to buy the Minnesota Vikings 20 years ago this summer. On their first full day of ownership -- June 13, 2005 -- brothers Zygi and Mark Wilf, along with their cousin Leonard, entered the team's dilapidated practice facility.
A replica Viking ship sat in the parking lot, its wood rotting and its sails faded. The building's air-conditioning unit was so inadequate that a portable supplemental system sat in the loading dock, pumping cool air through a hose and into the locker room via a hole that had been cut through a door. After spending $600 million to buy the team and the facility, the Wilfs made their first big decision: They would rebuild the Viking ship and replace the building's central HVAC unit.
"We wanted to make a statement," Mark Wilf said recently, "that we would be about making things top-of-line and first-class. It was sort of a step toward that to say, 'OK, we're here. We're willing to invest.'"
The project cost about $100,000, the equivalent of installing new carpet after buying a house. The intent, however, would come to define the Vikings' ownership group over the next 20 years. During that time, the Wilfs and their minority investors -- the Mandelbaum and Landis families -- have worked with local officials to build two of the NFL's most revered facilities: U.S. Bank Stadium for home games and the TCO Performance Center for practice and offices.
The buildings symbolize a steady transformation from a mom-and-pop operation into an NFL model.
The investments have coincided with a .543 regular-season winning percentage, No. 11 in the NFL during the Wilfs' tenure, and the Vikings have leveraged their facilities into a workplace environment that has earned "A" grades in the NFL Players Association's annual survey for the past three years.
The Wilfs' tenure has not been without its shortcomings, however. Despite their regular-season success, the Vikings' three playoff wins from 2005 to 2024 are tied for the seventh fewest in the league. Their .300 postseason winning percentage ranks No. 29.
The Wilfs have nevertheless demonstrated patience relative to other NFL owners, having employed only two general managers and five head coaches, the latter tied for the eighth fewest in the NFL since 2005, according to ESPN Research. On the business side, three of the five original members of their executive team remain with the organization.
And after signing general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O'Connell to contract extensions this spring, and authorizing a league-high cash payroll of nearly $350 million to build a roster this season around 22-year-old quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the Wilfs will enter their third decade of ownership in perhaps their best-ever position for a championship run.
"We try to be long term, not to be too knee-jerk, and to stick with it sometimes," Mark Wilf said. "And I think hopefully over the long term, the [regular-season] record, that's certainly one measurement of success. Obviously trophies are the ultimate measure of success.
"I think for the years ahead, we're in a good stead. We certainly know how badly our fans want to win. We have the same drive and fire and competitive spirit to win. It's a process, and we just keep at it."
IN SOME WAYS, the Wilfs are accidental NFL owners. Joseph Wilf, the father of Zygi and Mark, had considered bids for the New York Titans in 1961, the Philadelphia Eagles in 1967 and the New York Jets in 2000. The younger Wilfs were rabid football fans, rooting for the New York Giants, but they were focused on growing the family business, Garden Homes, which at the time centered on real estate and commercial construction.
That focus changed in 2004 when an investment group recruited Zygi Wilf to join businessman Reggie Fowler in a bid to purchase the Vikings when former owner Red McCombs put the franchise up for sale. Zygi Wilf became the lead investor only after Fowler failed to meet the NFL's financial standards for primary ownership. Had he not stepped up, the group would have lost the $20 million down payment it had made to McCombs.
The Wilfs were complete unknowns in professional sports, an especially disquieting status for Minnesotans, who had grown weary after years of the Texas-based McCombs' push for a stadium to replace the Metrodome and his implied threats to relocate the franchise.
What reason did Minnesotans have to feel any different about the Wilfs, who planned to continue to live and work in New Jersey?
"When they first had the opportunity to be the primary owners, maybe there was some apprehension," said executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski, with the Vikings since 1999. "So it was cool to see them immediately understand how important this organization is to the state of Minnesota, the upper Midwest, the Twin Cities.
"There was never, to me, any political posturing or anything. They knew this was a very, very important community asset and they were committed to finding a solution here."
It took some time to find their footing. During their first training camp, for example, Brzezinski gave Zygi Wilf and his teenage son, Jonathan, a salary cap tutorial in a meeting room inside the dorms where players stayed at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
It also took time to tamp down persistent off-field controversies. In the months leading up to the Wilfs' purchase, running back Onterrio Smith was caught at airport security with a device used to circumvent drug tests -- identified in a police report as a "Whizzinator." In 2005, the NFL investigated then-coach Mike Tice for reselling his Super Bowl tickets for profit, ultimately fining him $100,000. Four months after the Wilfs' purchase of the team, dozens of players gathered for a raucous bye-week boat party on Lake Minnetonka, resulting in misdemeanor charges for four of them and a national scandal that came to be known as "Love Boat."
Zygi Wilf found himself apologizing for the embarrassment in a phone call to Minnesota's then-Governor Tim Pawlenty. The NFL stepped in to make some gentle organizational suggestions, and the Wilfs responded by hiring the franchise's first full-time security director, establishing a code of conduct for all employees and building a player development program. Their drive for a new stadium, meanwhile, didn't jump-start until 2010, when heavy snowfall caused the Metrodome's roof to collapse the night prior to a game.
"We were not necessarily much in the public eye before purchasing the team," Mark Wilf said. "We had a successful real estate business based in New Jersey and all that, and certainly there was an initial adjustment period in terms of the public nature of our business, how much week-to-week is scrutinized and the amount of scrutiny it gets.
"So yeah, it took a little bit of an adjustment, but it's something you work with and work through. Over the years, we have taken a lot of care to make sure we have great people running the day-to-day from the head coach, the GM, the chief operating officer, all the aspects of the organization itself, that's also a big part of the public facing."
Zygi Wilf, 75, remains the team's chairman and lead owner, but Mark Wilf, 62, represents the family in most public-facing roles. They have referred to their long-term ownership plan as "multigenerational," and six children of Zygi, Mark or Leonard have titles on the team's organizational chart.
THE WILFS USE a horizontal leadership model in their family business. Zygi, Mark and Leonard each wield power and work through decisions together. They initially established a similar structure with the Vikings, declining to hire a general manager or team president and expecting the operation to be run jointly by the head coach, personnel director, salary cap administrator and the heads of the various business departments.
Ultimately, however, they realized that NFL teams were better off with hierarchical management -- especially when the owners live out of state and work largely off site. Mark Wilf described the Wilfs' management approach as "nose in, hands out." In other words, they make sure they know what's happening but don't issue many directives about how to do it.
The Wilfs created a general manager position for Rick Spielman in 2012 and a chief operating officer on the business side in 2015, first for Kevin Warren and later Andrew Miller. Spielman spent 10 seasons as the general manager and a total of 17 atop the team's personnel department. Warren departed in 2019, when he was offered a job as Big Ten commissioner, and is now president and CEO of the Chicago Bears.
Meanwhile, Brzezinski, the EVP of football operations, is entering his 27th season with the team.
"I think everybody just appreciates the stability they've provided," he said. "It's just a great place to work ... and it's had an influence on me over the years as I've grown in my career. There are opportunities that may present themselves here or there, but I want to be a part of what they represent. Garden Homes is a family business, and it sounds like a cliché, but they don't just preach it. They live it."
Spielman understood the depth of that commitment in June 2023, 18 months after he was fired. When the Wilfs learned that Spielman had lost much of his NFL memorabilia when Hurricane Ian destroyed his home in Florida, they sent him a replacement set of the game balls he had received over the years.
During the devastation of Hurricane Ian, @spielman_rick lost all of his memorabilia & a majority of his game balls from his time with the @Vikings
— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) June 9, 2023
The Wilf family recently sent him replacements for all of the game balls. Rick shares the heartfelt message 💜#FootballisFamily pic.twitter.com/sQ5HfCCsTr
In a tearful social media post, Spielman read aloud the accompanying letter, which said in part: "While we cannot make up for the devastation you and your family are experiencing, we hope that this can restore some of the happy memories you have of your many accomplishments with the Minnesota Vikings. We appreciate everything you did for our organization and continue to think about you, Michelle and the rest of the kids as you rebuild your life in Florida."
Spielman went on to say: "Everybody looks at this business as how harsh it can be, how cutthroat it can be, but this is just an example of how special the Wilf family is, how special the Minnesota Vikings are and how special the NFL family is.
"And I am very appreciative to have been able to be the general manager of the Minnesota Vikings, and I hope this shows you that it's just not all a cutthroat business, and that people do care and love for each other, and this was a gesture from the Wilf family to show me and my family how much they care and love us."
Players rave about the working conditions the Wilfs have created, and not just via the NFLPA survey. Running back Aaron Jones Sr. said that his 5-year-old son loves football, but last season he did not want to leave the daycare the Vikings operate for coach and player families during games at U.S. Bank Stadium, drawn in by a petting zoo one week and face painting the next. When he signed with the Vikings in 2024, Jones was shocked to find out that team employees handle travel arrangements to road games for families who want the help.
"The Vikings, they just take care of you and your family," Jones said. "When you know that they don't just care about you, they care about your family as well, it makes it special."
Defensive lineman Harrison Phillips, meanwhile, was shocked this spring when Mark Wilf approached him and asked how "Marty" was doing.
"Marty's my dog," Phillips said, "that Mark has never met. I did a video about him once, three years ago, for the Vikings website. I just thought that was awesome. I went home and told my wife that.
"I was like, 'Hey, Marty's got some rich friends.' But how many owners know the names of their players' dogs? It makes you think, 'This guy cares about me. I'm not just No. 97. He cares about who Harrison Phillips is.'"
Their arrival on the pro sports scene might have been accidental, but the Wilfs have used it to expand their family business. It now includes a multiuse development on land surrounding the Vikings' practice facility. In 2021, they added soccer to their portfolio, purchasing Orlando City SC and the Orlando Pride of the MLS and NWSL, respectively.
"The Vikings have been a great common purpose for our family," Mark Wilf said, "and the common purpose certainly helps unify our family as well. And the overdriving force here is that we are very much committed to make sure our family is in it for the long haul, and that includes the next generation."
FROM THEIR FIRST days as owners, even amid the broken air-conditioning and ramshackle Viking ship, the Wilfs have talked about winning the Super Bowl. They had seen their hometown Giants do it twice, during the 1986 and 1990 seasons, and as NFL owners saw them win two more titles in 2007 and 2011.
The Vikings famously reached the Super Bowl four times between 1969 and 1976, losing all four. Under the Wilfs, they have reached the NFC Championship Game twice (2009, 2017) but have rarely produced homegrown championship-caliber rosters. In their desire to field competitive teams on an annual basis, the Wilfs have rejected full roster rebuilds during rough patches.
That approach has fortified their regular-season winning percentage but left them out of the running for many of the elite players who have entered the NFL in the past two decades. The Vikings have made only four top-10 draft picks during the Wilfs' tenure, ninth fewest in the league. But their 2025 team will be led at quarterback by one of those top-10 picks, McCarthy, and its top-to-bottom talent on paper provides a new level of hope after 20 years of building.
"The things that drove us day one continue to drive us today," Mark Wilf said. "Championships, fan experience, community, all those things that kind of are pillars in how we approach things. They haven't changed a bit since day one, and I think we look back at 20 years, we're proud of where we've come and look forward to where we're going."