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June 25, 1999

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Baseball and St. Paul: St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman continues to move forward with his dream of building a $300 million baseball park for the Minnesota Twins, which would see the Twins then move from Minneapolis to St. Paul. Despite Coleman’s belief in the project, members of his own city council oppose the project. The plan Coleman has proposed has the Twins spending $100 million on the stadium and the rest in taxpayer dollars. City Council member Jay Benanav told a council meeting that he has serious reservations about the time and energy that will be spend on a project of this magnitude and that more attention should be spent on providing playgrounds and improving public safety. Proponents of the plan believe that the ballpark and the Twins would produce $84.7 million annually in direct spending
and 725 full-time jobs.

Getting Closer to a Dream: Portland Baseball Group’s pressure on Mayor Begins has begun to payoff. According to Dr. G. Lynn Lashbrook of the Portland Baseball Group, Mayor Vera Katz has begun discussions with Paul Allen about building a new outdoor baseball stadium next to his Rose Garden and purchase an existing MLB franchise to bring to Portland. Lashbrook says, "This would be a "slam dunk" for Portland and Paul Allen in luring an existing, soon to relocate, franchise. This all makes sense. WHY?

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Mayor Katz has been outspoken in her desire to see Portland have a baseball team and she is from Brooklyn and understands the value of having Major League Baseball.

The Memorial Coliseum location would enhance the district next to the soon to be expanded convention center, as well as Allen’s property; the Rose Garden and retail mall, the Red Lion Hotel, and the parking. With baseball restaurants like the Front Row would likely reopen with the addition of 81 dates. This would provide a catalyst to purchase the grain elevator and build a much-needed Major Anchor hotel for the convention center.

The soon to be renovated Civic Stadium would work very well as a transition home for next season. No team wants to announce they are moving without a place to go. The Expos are ready. Currently, they are averaging a little over 5,000 people a game. A renovated Civic Stadium would hold 25,000 and would sell out every night.

The strongest opposition for MLB at Civic Stadium has always been the Goose Hollow neighbors. They would strongly support a temporary home for MLB if given a long-term commitment to a multipurpose stadium concept with an enhanced stadium district.

This would allow Portland to protect the home of Portland State Football.

Portland could aggressively pursue an MLS soccer franchise with Civic being perfect size stadium for soccer.

Owning a MLB franchise for Paul Allen fits perfectly in his recent acquisitions of major cable and radio companies. He would become the Ted Turner of the Northwest!

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Given that it appears as if Allen has been rebuffed in his attempt to purchase the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins, this may actually have some serious life. Thanks to the Portland Baseball Group for the above information.

Guess who's back at Door: When Washington and Seattle taxpayers agreed to their share of the funding for Safeco Field, the Seattle Mariners agreed to cover the costs any cost overruns. Cost overruns; have surpassed $100 million. The team is requesting an additional $60 million. The team is requesting that tax money raised in excess of the amount needed to pay back bonds used for the public’s share of the financing be directed at helping the Mariners with the cost overruns. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Once the door is opened, its almost impossible to get it closed.

Will the Spurs get a new home: With the San Antonio Spurs leading the New York Knicks two games to one in their NBA Finals series, the Spurs still hope that if they win a NBA title, taxpayers will fund a new facility for the team. However, the local media is still reporting that there is little if any public support for a taxpayer built facility. Over the last decade, 17 teams have moved into new homes, in part with taxpayer dollars. However, that trend finally appears to be changing. Last month Charlotte, North Carolina, hired a consultant to determine how facilities are being paid for. The study determined that NBA teams are paying an average of 58 percent of new arena costs. In cities with NBA and hockey franchises, the teams are jointly paying 82 percent of the construction costs. The study was done after the owners of the Charlotte Hornets pleaded that even if they were offered 40% of the funding for a new facility the team wants, it
wouldn’t be enough.

Reading and Writing what you want: Last month, SBN reported which Major League Baseball teams had made or lost money. While Forbes reported that the Philadelphia Phillies had made money, the teams’ president Dave Montgomery quickly pointed out that the team has lost $50 million since 1994. Randolph Cohen, an assistant professor at the Harvard Business School, told the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Bill Conlin, that creative bookkeeping many indeed are the order of the day. Cohen used another Philadelphia team, the Eagles as his example. Cohen pointed out that Eagles owner Norman Braman claimed the Eagles had lost money for years was caught during a lawsuit that resulted in Braman, being decertified by the NFL Players Association. According to Conlin, Braman, had lent himself millions of dollars, only to repay himself interest free, as an operating loan the following year. Other tricks included not including profits from merchandising rights as part of profits; including deferred-salary items, not once but twice, and not including interest on season ticket money. Ah, what creative bookkeeping can mean to you.

Schools Out for Summer: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have suffered at the box office this years, suffering a major drop in attendance in their second season. The Devil Rays will go through a real litmus test the next few days as the team entertains the New York Yankees. The team is hoping to attract 100,000 fans to the three game series.

More on the Twins moving to St. Paul: The movement to bring a stadium for the Minnesota Twins to St. Paul will host a public forum tomorrow night. Stadium opponents disrupted a meeting on Thursday night, forcing changes in the next meeting. The protest got so out of hand on Thursday night, organizers were forced to cut the presentation short. Additionally, the architect who has designed the proposed stadium stopped showing the slides he had prepared on the new home of the Twins. Organizers are calling for decency at tomorrow's meeting and another called for June 28. As well, security will be increased for the next two meetings. One of the questions that begs to be asked is would you consider attending a meeting like this? It almost sounds as if one can expect danger by attending the meeting. This isn't the type of news proponents of the ballpark want to hear.

The Issue at hand in St. Paul: If the issue is place on the November elections in St. Paul, taxpayers will have an opportunity to decide in sales taxes will increase by a half-percent in order to pay for a new stadium for the Minnesota Twins. Paul Anton, an economist based ironically in Minneapolis where the Twins currently play their home games at the Metrodome, believes that it would cost each St. Paul resident between $11.33 and $13.94 per year, for at least thirty years. And now we can begin to understand the depth of the problem that lie ahead for those who want to bring the Twins to St. Paul.

Wish upon a star: The Cincinnati Reds who have conducted extensive research into finding out exactly what Reds fans want in the teams new stadium, have come up with a wish list. They include family restrooms, including changing tables. A business centre that includes fax and copy machines, computer ports and phones. A picnic area in the outfield. An activity zone located in the stadium with interactive games for children to enjoy. A theme based restaurant that would be opened year round. A kids concession area, with food designed for what children want. Now as to what the Reds want; 300 field level seats near home plate with padded seats (those will cost a great deal). 2,000 to 3,000 club seats, with access to a 27,000 square-foot Club Level lounge (more opportunity to create revenue). 6,000 bleacher seats. A Reds Hall of Fame that would contain a 10,000 square foot team store (the store another revenue generation opportunity is the key). Now if the two sides can meet, this might be a great ballpark.

Read this entire article on the Sports Business News website.