Entering his 20th season of ownership in 2024, Minnesota Vikings Owner/President Mark Wilf has led a transformation of the entire organization and has dedicated his focus to four primary areas: building a team that consistently competes for championships, providing the best in class fan experience, positively impacting the Minneapolis-St. Paul community and growing the game of football.
Mark, along with his brother Zygi, oversees the management and strategic planning of every department within the Vikings. He led two of the most significant initiatives in the team's history with the completion of U.S. Bank Stadium and the successful bid to bring Super Bowl LII to Minnesota, creating a lasting impact on the community and the state. The multi-use U.S. Bank Stadium opened in July 2016 and is considered to be in the upper echelon of stadiums throughout the world, having won several awards for its construction and design, operations, and sustainability initiatives. The stadium also provides one of the best fan experiences in all of sports and entertainment. As the largest construction project in state history, U.S. Bank Stadium created thousands of jobs with tremendous economic impact on the region and helped spur more than $1 billion in surrounding development in the east side of downtown Minneapolis. The facility is capable of hosting hundreds of community, national, and international events each year and has been the home of Super Bowl LII, the 2019 NCAA Men's Final Four, multiple ESPN X Games and dozens of high profile concerts.
Mark and Zygi also led the development of the Vikings new headquarters, Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center, which opened in March 2018 in Eagan, Minnesota. As the day-to-day and training camp home of the team, TCO Performance Center serves as the centerpiece of Viking Lakes, a 200-acre, mixed-use development that will ultimately encompass three million square feet of corporate office, medical, retail, entertainment and multi-family housing. Over the past several years, the growing campus has added the northern office of the United States Tennis Association, Salvo Soccer, Viking Lakes Residences and the Omni Viking Lakes Hotel. The site also includes the Vikings Museum and the Vikings Locker Room team store, as well as Twin Cities Orthopedics Eagan Clinic and the Training Haus. In May 2025, the campus will include the CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) Connection Center, an approximately 40,000-square-foot site for learning and development, ongoing training, team building and more for the eighth-largest accounting firm in the United States.
Since taking ownership of the club, the Wilfs have invested heavily in building a culture that gives players and staff the best environment to succeed and emphasizes each individual's value. During each of the past two offseasons (2023-24), ownership's efforts received a resounding stamp of approval when the NFL Players Association released the results of its "free agency report cards" for all 32 teams. The Vikings finished ranked No. 1 in 2023 and No. 2 in 2024. The player survey focused on topics ranging from the quality of team facilities and programming to the treatment of players families. The report said, "The Minnesota Vikings are a shining example of what is possible when a concerted investment is made in both staffing and facilities.
Philanthropy has been ingrained in the Wilf family for generations. Wilf embraces his role as a steward of the franchise and understands the Vikings have been a valuable part of the fabric of life in the region since 1961. Since taking ownership of the team, Mark, Zygi, and the Wilf Family Foundations have provided significant and impactful grants and donations to numerous charitable causes throughout Minnesota and encourage every player on the roster to take part in community service events. Since 2018, the Wilf family and the Vikings have donated more than $7.5 million to social justice causes, including $5 million in June 2020. Their continued work with players focuses on three areas: 1) reducing socioeconomic disparities; 2) expanding educational curriculum on racism and Black history; and 3) advocating for law enforcement and criminal justice reform. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wilf Family Foundations and the Vikings gave over $5 million in donations and commitments to support health care workers, the elderly, food banks, social service organizations and Jewish causes in Minnesota, New York, New Jersey and Israel.
The Wilfs have also made children's health a priority, most notably donating $5 million to the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital and creating the Wilf Family Center. The Center is designed to be the intellectual hub of children's health care in the Midwest. In 2017, under the Wilfs' leadership, the Vikings launched the Minnesota Vikings Foundation with the mission of advancing the well-being of youth through engaging health and education initiatives. In 2019, the Foundation unveiled Vikings Table, a food truck that provides free meals to underserved children in Minneapolis-St. Paul and surrounding communities. In the first five years of operations, Vikings Table has provided more than 65,000 meals to families in need and is now averaging 650 meals served per week. In addition, the Wilf Family Foundations made a $1 million donation to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019 to help create a Founders Exhibit which shines a light on the many contributions of founders and owners of NFL franchises.
Wilf served as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) from 2018-2022. In 2022, Wilf led a major aid mission of the North American Jewish Community to Poland to meet with Ukrainian refugees and evaluate the needs on the ground as a result of the Russian invasion. The Federations raised more than $50 million for rescue and relief efforts for Ukraine and its Jewish community. Following his tenure as Chair of JFNA, Wilf was appointed Chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel's Board of Governors, a position in which he will serve until 2026. A longtime supporter of the Jewish community and the descendant of Holocaust survivors, Wilf and his family are among the largest benefactors of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum in Israel.
Wilf is a principal of Garden Homes, his family's real estate firm, a nationwide leader in retail, commercial and private residential development. In 2018, Wilf and his family launched WISE (Wilf Innovative Sports & Entertainment) Ventures, an investment fund based in Manhattan. WISE focuses on early and growth stage investment opportunities in sports, entertainment and real estate. In 2021, Wilf became the chairman and governor for Orlando City SC and the Orlando Pride.
Wilf earned his bachelor's degree from Princeton University, where he served as the radio voice of Princeton Tigers football and basketball. He later graduated from the New York University School of Law before becoming a principal in the family business. Wilf currently serves on several boards, including Vanderbilt University, the NYU School of Law and the Princeton Varsity Club. Wilf is chair of the NFL Stadium Committee and serves on the Fan Engagement and Major Event Committee.
Wilf and his wife Jane, who is also heavily involved in philanthropic activities, have four children.
