October 11, 2005
MN stadiums really most sincerely dead?
The Strib headline pretty much says it all - "Stadium special session looks doomed" - but here's the gory (to Minnesota Twins and Vikings stadium backers) details:
House Majority Leader Erik Paulsen responded with an unambiguous "No’" Tuesday to Gov. Tim Pawlenty's query about whether legislators want a special session this fall.Paulsen's response could dim any chance of the legislature approving new sports stadium projects in the near future. Paulsen said the consensus of the Republican House majority, and the public, is that "a special session for stadiums or any other non-emergency issues is the wrong idea at the wrong time."
If Pawlenty agrees, which is looking likely, then the Twins and Vikings stadium proposals can't be introduced until the regular session next spring, by which time the current county sales-tax proposals may no longer be on the table. Add in likely Katrina-inflation-related cost increases, and this could be back to square one before you know it - which could mean an encore appearance of the C-word once baseball's collective bargaining agreement allows it next fall.
COMMENTS
field of schemes:
popular radio sports show recently featured a state legislator relating an anecdote about running into a las vegas friend who told him how fast las vegas is growing, how much it wants sports teams, and how much it will do to get them. the following host called the legislator's heavy handed anecdote "blackmail". a columnist invented an offer from charlotte for the twins to try to force the stadium issue.
the threat to move is a powerful weapon, but people realize now that abandoning this level of market represents drastic dollar loss for the owners involved. a team may move, but at their great detriment only. the public is aware of this reluctance now.
ken
Posted by: ken ostenso at October 16, 2005 09:43 PM
Posted by: ken ostenso at October 16, 2005 09:43 PM
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