Vikings radio announcer Paul Allen says he almost quit after 2021 season

Allen wasn't sure he still wanted to call Vikings games, but the new regime revitalized him.

Vikings radio announcer Paul Allen / NFL Films

Longtime Vikings announcer Paul Allen almost quit the job after the 2021 season, he said in a recent interview on Craig Kilborn's podcast. He was worn down late that year — which wound up being the end of the Rick Spielman-Mike Zimmer era — and wasn't sure he still wanted to do it. But Allen was convinced to give it a try under the new regime, and he was fully revitalized by the culture that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O'Connell brought to the building in 2022.

"I'm telling you right now, at the end of the 2021 Minnesota Vikings season, I was all done with this job," he said. "I didn't want to be at the facility that much anymore. I'm not paid by the Vikings to call games, I'm on this awful mercenary 1099 to call preseason games and do appearances and advertising, just be there when they need me. It's cool that they do that, but the 1099 part of it stinks. So therefore I'm not super attached to it like that, even though they give me unlimited access, born of trust. At the end of the 2021 season, I didn't like the building, I didn't like some things that were transpiring with people in there, and I'm like 'I don't need to do this anymore. I just don't want to do it anymore, and my mental health counts too.'"

Allen wasn't the only one who wasn't fond of the vibes in the facility towards the end of the Spielman/Zimmer era. Eric Kendricks and Brian O'Neill were among the players who publicly criticized the culture after that regime was fired.

“So I called a couple of Minnesota Wild games, and God put me on a couple of good ones even though I’ve never played hockey," Allen continued. "And I was ready to move on. So now we fast forward to 2022. And some people here at KFAN and the Vikings were like ‘well, let’s just give this new regime a try.’ So I’m like OK, I don’t need to be on the second floor of the facility kicking my feet up on coaches’ desks, learning about A, B, C, and D. These friendships are going to born in organic fashion. So i didn’t go to a lot of practices, I wasn’t over there a lot.

"Then we started playing the games — and I couldn’t stay away. I mean, it was so much fun in 2022. I got to know O’Connell and the staff a lot better, Flores and his family. The culture that is in the building now is probably the most cohesive, open, honest, and vulnerable in all 23 years that I’ve called Minnesota Vikings football. And Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Kevin O’Connell, they have a lot to do with that. I have not enjoyed calling Minnesota Vikings games as much ever as I do now."

That sentiment from Allen reflects everything we've heard about the culture that's been created since this regime took over two years ago. The Vikings have ranked atop the NFLPA player satisfaction report cards, everyone enjoys coming to work, and the vibes couldn't be higher, especially when the team is winning games like in 2022 and to start this 2024 season.

Thankfully, Allen decided to stick around through the transition. It would feel weird to hear someone else calling Vikings games on the radio.