Ragnar no longer Vikings mascot after contract dispute

The Minnesota Vikings have faced plenty of worthy adversaries in contract negotiations over the years. It should come as no surprise that Ragnar the Viking was one of the most ferocious. The Vikings announced on Monday that they have not been able to reach a new contract agreement with Joe Juranitch, the man who played Ragnar for the last 21 years and was looking for quite a raise to pillage the team’s home games and strike fear into the hearts of their opponents while growling at them atop his purple motorcycle. Ragnar was asking for $20,000 per game over the next 10 years, a person with direct knowledge of the discussions said. Based on a home schedule that includes eight games per season, that would be $1.6 million over the life of the contract. – AP