Field of Schemes: Meet the new deal, just like the old deal

April 24, 2005

Meet the new deal, just like the old deal

Man, it really is the weekend for misleading stadium headlines: "Twins, Hennepin have stadium deal" reports today's Minneapolis Star Tribune, but the plan - to be officially announced at a press conference tomorrow - is the same 0.15% sales-tax hike that was rejected by the state legislature last year. The main difference: The stadium's projected cost has been reduced from $535 million to $478 million by eliminating a retractable roof.

COMMENTS

Good catch on this one. There is not final deal and that's a misleading headline. Though technically it does sound like the Twins and County have an agreement. This looks likely to pass as the article goes on to say "Capitol reaction ---------- Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, and House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, both said on Saturday that they would support the proposal. ------------- "This is a very workable plan because it does not require any state general fund money," Johnson said. "Three cents on $20 falls out of most people's pockets before breakfast.""------------------------though "both also warned that they would not consider a stadium proposal until after the budget bills for ..." so either they're politicking ----------- it's still early and plans like these often fall apart at this stage, but I'm guessing this is on the way to getting done
Posted by: swedcrip at April 24, 2005 04:54 PM

Having heard about pending Twins stadium deals for eight years running now, forgive me my skepticism.
Posted by: Neil at April 24, 2005 05:25 PM

true, but is anything more inevitable than small market teams getting a new stadium or ceasing to exist? They'd be gone already due to that delay if not for a judge in Minnesota
Posted by: swedcrip at April 24, 2005 07:03 PM

Judge in Minnesota? You mean the contraction thing? That was never serious, except as a way to shake down the union for concessions. Anyway, 1) Minnesota is the 14th-largest TV market in the U.S., so can't really be considered "small-market," 2) Florida and Kansas City are both small-market teams that haven't gotten new stadiums, and 3) no teams have "ceased to exist," though the Expos did move. Carl Pohlad is going to keep demanding a stadium until the end of time, certainly, but given feelings about sports subsidies in Minnesota, in any given year it's got to be considered unlikely.
Posted by: Neil at April 24, 2005 07:37 PM

Nothing is ever certain, especially when the Legislature starts forcing bills through at 11:59 PM on the last day of a session.
Posted by: Buzz at April 25, 2005 01:20 AM