the minnesota vikings are a professional american football team based in minneapolis, minnesota. the vikings are members of the north division of the national football conference in the national football league (nfl). the club was founded by minneapolis businessmen bill boyer, h. p. skoglund and max winter in 1959 as a member of the american football league. however, they forfeited their membership in january 1960 and became the national football league's 14th franchise in 1961.