The Vikings have missed the playoffs for two straight years, winning just three of 16 games last season. But team President Mark Wilf, in town Friday, Aug. 24, for an exhibition game against the San Diego Chargers at the Metrodome, was upbeat about the franchise’s future, which includes a $975 million stadium for 2016.

“Listen, we want to win now, obviously, but we also want to build a stable, long-term winning franchise, too,” Wilf said. “I think the way we’ve structured it now with a general manager in Rick Spielman and then our coach, Leslie Frazier … I think the structure’s very important. That’s what’s been successful in the league, and that’s what we’re going to have here.”

The Vikings are a lackluster 1-2 through three preseason games, but Wilf said he’s excited about his younger players.

“I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people,” he said. “We’re building a first-class franchise here.”

Edina resident Bernie Kukar, who spent 22 years as an NFL on-field official and was referee for two Super Bowls, attended Friday’s exhibition game. Kukar, 72, is retired, but he said having replacement officials could affect the outcome of some regular-season games.

“Definitely. You’ve got to remember that these (replacement) guys, by and large, are coming out of Division III level basically and haven’t seen anything like this in their life up close,” Kukar said. “I’m not saying that they’re bad officials. I’m saying they’re just over their head. Maybe at some point in time they’d be able to handle something like this. But right now, it’d be pretty tough.”

With the first full Sunday of regular-season games set to begin on Sept. 9, six Minnesota officials remain locked out with their colleagues while replacement officials continue to work exhibition games. No new negotiations are scheduled.

Nice to see former Super Bowl referee Jerry Seeman, the former NFL supervisor of officials who has challenging health problems, at Friday’s Vikings-Chargers game.

Even though it was just an exhibition game, one parking lot near the Metrodome was charging $30 Friday evening.

Marc Trestman, the former Gophers QB who has taken the Montreal Alouettes to three Grey Cup championship games and won two, is off to a 5-3 start and leading his division this season despite losing his defensive coordinator to Purdue and his offensive coordinator to the Toronto Argonauts.

Trestman, who is from St. Louis Park, will be an NFL head coach someday, and sooner rather than later.

The Gophers football team is No. 82 in the Sagarin USA Today computer ratings, which ranks 246 college teams nationally.

Ex-Vikings quarterback Rich Gannon, who lives in Excelsior, will team with Phil Simms and Steve Beuerlein on a one-hour TV show for CBS Sports Network — “NFL Monday QB” — beginning Sept. 10.

Tom Kelly’s No. 10 jersey, which will be retired on Sept. 8 at Target Field, became the former Twins manager’s number when reliever Jeff Reardon came to the club in 1987 and requested Kelly’s No. 41. Kelly obliged, and an equipment manager randomly assigned him No. 10. Kelly wore No. 16 as a player.

Mikael Granlund is so popular in Finland that paparazzi follow him around town. Before he came to St. Paul for the Wild’s development camp this summer, he went to pick up his passport in Helsinki and was besieged by autograph seekers.

Granlund has a standard three-year, entry-level contract worth $900,000 annually if he plays in the NHL, as expected, plus an annual bonus of $90,000. If he plays in the minor leagues, his salary will be $67,500.

Word of Tony Jacklin’s return to Hazeltine National, where he won the 1970 U.S. Open, for the course’s 50th anniversary on Sept. 7 prompted an email from New Brighton’s Tom Shelton, who attended the first day of the tournament and kept his entrance ticket. The ticket cost $6: $5.83 plus 17 cents tax. Shelton intends to give it to Jacklin as a souvenir.

Cretin-Derham Hall grad Michael Floyd has four catches for 34 yards in four exhibition games for the Arizona Cardinals. Fellow wideout Larry Fitzgerald Jr. from Minneapolis has seven catches for 118 yards.

Ex-Gophers QB Adam Weber has completed 2 of 5 passes for the Denver Broncos in exhibition play, while teammate Peyton Manning has completed 20 of 30 attempts.

A $7.5 million project that includes new video scoreboards and sound system is under way at Williams Arena, with installation at Mariucci Arena to begin in two weeks.

Mariucci Arena was last updated with a scoreboard in 1995, Williams Arena in 2002.

Meanwhile, the parking lot area just west of the Gophers’ Sports Pavilion remains the designation for a new men’s and women’s practice facility if funding can be found.

Miguel Sano, the Twins’ 19-year-old third base prodigy who has 26 home runs at Class A Beloit, will play an abbreviated winter season in the Dominican Republic, then probably start at Class A Fort Myers next year.

Meanwhile, Twins minor league outfielder Max Kepler, from Berlin, will play next month for the German national team trying to qualify for next spring’s World Baseball Classic.

Scouting reports show first-year Twins minor league pitcher Zack Jones‘ fastball at 98 mph, the quickest in the Minnesota system.

Minneapolis’ Wheelock Whitney, 86, who has been a member at Augusta National Golf Club for 48 years: “I’d love to make it 50 years, so I’ve got to hang in there for a while.”

It’s a first child for Gophers football assistant Mike Sherels and wife Emily, due in February.

Former KSTP-TV news desk editor Erik Wright has become one of Minnesota’s top money winners at poker.

Charlie Coyle of the Wild will be among 30 top NHL rookie prospects in Toronto in uniform Tuesday for trading card and memorabilia photographs.

If the Gophers men’s basketball team somehow were to get commitments from juniors Tyus Jones of Apple Valley, Rashad Vaughn of Robbinsdale Cooper and Reid Travis of DeLaSalle, it would become an instant Big Ten title favorite that could advance deep into the NCAA tournament.

The Gophers football team will take an extra doctor to Las Vegas for Thursday night’s season opener to administer intravenous fluids. The game-time temperature is expected to be near 90 degrees.

That was Tony Oliva, Frank Quilici and the late Harmon Killebrew’s wife, Nita, dining at Dixie’s in St. Paul on Thursday while watching their former team, the Twins, lose at Texas. Earlier in the day, the trio dedicated a renovated baseball field in Minneapolis in Killebrew’s name.

The University of St. Thomas football team, which has gone 10-0 in each of the past two MIAC regular seasons, is the overwhelming pick of conference coaches to win a third straight championship. The last time that was accomplished in the MIAC was by St. John’s in 1975-77.

Local broadcaster Tom Witschen this fall begins his 38th year behind the microphone, calling more than 150 games annually on the Internet for the University of Minnesota and Augsburg College.

Gophers orthopedist Pat Smith, who has performed more than 5,000 knee surgeries during his career, had his left knee replaced this year.

Former Gophers hockey player Dick Haigh has retired after a record 43 years in sales with Griggs Cooper/Wirtz Beverages.

Ray Cook, the former St. Paul police officer and beloved Twins clubhouse security attendant, retired recently after 22 years with the Twins.

The Gophers will wear No. 51 emblems on their helmets as well as jersey patches to honor linebacker Gary Tinsley, who died in April.

DON’T PRINT THAT

Pssst: Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig this week finally will announce that the Twins will host the 2014 All-Star Game and associated festivities at Target Field. Season-ticket buyers will get priority for the midsummer game and/or home run contest.

Face value for many of the game tickets is expected to be several hundred dollars. Target Field can stretch attendance to slightly more than 40,000.

As poorly as the Twins have played, if the season ended today, they wouldn’t have the No. 1 pick in next June’s draft. That would belong to Houston.

The Twins, who used the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft on 18-year-old outfielder Byron Buxton and spent $6 million to sign him, are in contention with Colorado for the No. 3 pick.

The Chicago Cubs would get the No. 2 pick, and the Astros seem to have the No 1 pick locked up. But with 36 games remaining this season for the Twins, they certainly are in contention for No. 2 again. Maybe they would use it on pitching this time.

The Gophers football program will have a replica Outland Trophy made for a Sept. 15 ceremony honoring hall of famer Bobby Bell at TCF Bank Stadium. Bell, who’ll play in Joe Namath‘s celebrity golf tournament in New York that week, won the Outland, emblematic of the nation’s top college lineman, in 1962.

After complaining about having to open the Big Ten men’s basketball season on the road the past two years, look for the Gophers to open at home this season.

The Toro turf firm is willing to invest $10 million in the Les Bolstad University of Minnesota Golf Course for renovation if the university decides not to put the land on the market for real-estate development. President Eric Kaler is considering options and will have final say.

That was new alternate captain Zach Parise helping Wild rookies during a workout at Highland Arena in St. Paul the other day.

Phil Esten, who was an assistant Gophers AD before becoming director of alumni relations at Minnesota, will become associate AD for advancement at Cal-Berkeley.

People in the know say there was no truth to a recent rumor elsewhere that offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson, the Cretin-Derham Hall grad, was about to transfer from Miami to Minnesota.

OVERHEARD

Vikings pass rusher Jared Allen, who had two sacks against San Diego on Friday, on the long wait to start this season after finishing 3-13 last season: “It’s tough — 3-13 isn’t what you want.”

Charley Walters can be reached at cwalters @pioneerpress.com.