In contrast to the Minnesota Vikings' very public push for a Major League Soccer franchise, the group being led by Minnesota United FC owner Bill McGuire has conducted its bid for a franchise almost entirely out of the public view. Where United has tread softly, the Vikings have paraded; while McGuire and United team president Nick Rogers have offered little comment, Vikings spokesman Lester Bagley and other Vikings officials have been frank.

While the Vikings unveiled renderings of a system to curtain off the new Downtown East stadium for soccer, even the merest suggestion of a stadium for the United bid met with uproar, at least in the Star Tribune comments section. Bagley, and the rest of the Vikings publicity team, aren't shy about stating their team's desire for MLS; meanwhile, Rogers was quoted in the City Pages suggesting that his team "wasn't itching" to get a deal done.

We've seen pictures. We've heard stories. Because of this, it's natural to feel that we know a lot more about the Vikings bid, led by team owners Zygi and Mark Wilf, than we do about McGuire's. But it's worth remembering that there is more to a successful first-division soccer franchise than just a stadium. It's also worth remembering that Major League Soccer is the only group that has a vote in this process, and that the league will consider much more than just stadiums in the process. And so, in some ways, it's United's bid we know the most about.

For one thing, we know a lot better how a United-led franchise would manage a soccer team. It's one of the biggest open questions about the Vikings' bid - would they do well as an MLS owner? It's been a problem for a number of MLS teams recently, from the "worst owners in the league" in New England, to Seattle, where the Sounders ended their association with the Seahawks ten years earlier than scheduled. Last week, an article by Mike Kaszuba in the Star Tribune confirmed that the Wilfs passed on a chance to buy United, before McGuire purchased the team. While the Vikings' decision may have been understandable - as Bagley has stated, the team was engaged fully in stadium design at the time - it also would have been a chance to learn the soccer business on the ground, managing the day-to-day operations of a team.

At the time, late in 2012, the three most recent MLS expansion franchises - Vancouver, Portland, and Montreal - were teams that had made the jump from the second division to the first. Stadium project or no, it's impossible to believe that the Vikings didn't at least consider that the best way to prove themselves to MLS was to own a second-division team. Even ignoring the NASL route, Atlanta - which will join MLS in 2017 under the aegis of the NFL Falcons - managed to both design a stadium and discuss soccer at the same time, which is why Falcons owner Arthur Blank already has an expansion franchise, with tens of thousands of season ticket deposits placed.

As I've said before, the Vikings deserve credit for their efforts to turn around public perceptions, and they're making a strong push to convince both the league, and local soccer fans, that they'd do well owning a soccer team. But their past doesn't speak well for them. And United doesn't need a public-relations push to convince us of their credentials, given that they've now been proving things on the field and in the front office for two years.

While the Vikings have held press conferences and unveiled renderings, United has sold tickets, built relationships, and won soccer games. They were the NASL's best team in 2014, finishing with a first-half title and the league's best record overall. They regularly drew more than 5,000 fans all the way to Blaine for home games, far and away the best regular attendance for pro soccer in Minnesota since the days of the Minnesota Kicks at Met Stadium. Though some might have a perception they haven't reached out to the local community, they have a partnership with the Minnesota Youth Soccer Association, one that's close enough for Rogers to have been the keynote speaker at the group's fall Recognition Banquet. They've developed international relationships, as well, one that led the team to do their preseason training in England, and later bring Swansea City of the English Premier League to town for a friendly match that drew nearly 10,000 people.

We don't need United to show off a PowerPoint presentation to know about that part of their bid.

As for stadiums, it's worth mentioning that financing aside, two key considerations make the Downtown East stadium less attractive. For one, the Vikings' comments indicate that they would be aiming a field that's the MLS-minimum 70 yards wide. Most soccer fans like the field to be as wide as possible, which allows for a more free-flowing matchup - part of the reason that FIFA mandates a field that's at least 75 yards wide.

Second, the field surface is a key consideration in a league whose 2014 MVP, Robbie Keane, was quoted as saying, " If this league wants to progress, turf has to go. It's very simple. Very, very simple. It's not good enough. In this day and age, playing on turf, it's not good enough." While ESPN analyst Taylor Twellman told us that certain turf fields in the league have gotten better, we also know that recently-retired superstar Thierry Henry simply refused to play on the artificial fields - a silent endorsement of grass.

While the new Downtown East stadium would be able to accommodate a 75-yard-wide field for a FIFA event, thanks to the movable north stands, the turf makes it unlikely we'd see a FIFA event or a national team match for the foreseeable future. Recent experiments to lay sod fields over artificial turf have been almost uniformly disastrous, including the event at TCF Bank Stadium last summer; it's unlikely that either US Soccer or FIFA would want to take a chance with the new stadium, not when there are so many proven alternatives available around the country.

There are many discussions to be had about stadium financing, of course, and the battles will continue to rage here and elsewhere. Given that, it's no wonder that United has been keeping their stadium plans quiet. As for the remainder of their bid, though, it's not a secret by any means. It's not hiding. It's there for everyone - including Major League Soccer - to see.