“It doesn’t feel right sitting at home”, he wrote.
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One would expect the two sides to come to a deal soon-if the Vikings could find common ground in contract negotiations with a child-beater, they shouldn’t have much trouble signing a guy who merely raped and pillaged and established the Danelaw.
He posted a message on his Facebook page that had a picture of him in full Ragnar garb while watching the game on television. For years Ragnar and the Vikings were happy with a $1500 per appearance. I don’t make those decisions.At this point it was made for me. The team says it has had “multiple conversations” with Juranitch, but has not been able to reach an agreement on his role with the Vikings. The onetime hall monitor at Hopkins High School was reportedly asking for $20,000 per game over the next 10 years, a massive raise from the $1,500 he had been making.
Juranitch has served as an unofficial mascot for 21 season, but was not at the Vikings home opener on Sunday. Sparing you the math, that would be a total of $1.6 million for regular-season games, and $2 million if preseason games are considered.
“The Vikings greatly appreciate what Ragnar has meant to the organization and to the fans over the last two decades”, the statement read.
A petition to have Ragnar reinstated as mascot at Change.org has already received more than 9,000 signatures at the time of this writing.
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KARE 11 reached out to Juranitch via social media, email and by phone but has heard nothing back. He said the team plans to honor him on the field during a home game this year and that Ragnar will always be considered “an important part of Vikings history”.
