Tag: minnesota politics

Posted on

Vikings Stadium Bill

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been in favor of and advocated for sports stadia; both for the Minnesota Twins (and, gawd…look at that beautiful Target Field!!) and for the Minnesota Vikings. It’s also no secret that my rooting interest in getting a new stadium for our pro sports teams is my very own love of sports.

I’d be happy to argue all day with you the merits of pro sports for our state and our community but in the end it comes down to this: Building a stadium now will be less expensive. It is not a matter of if we will build a new football stadium, it’s a matter of when. We’ve seen this movie before in Cleveland; if we let the Vikings leave, we’ll see its sequel here in Minnesota. This state will inevitably build a new stadium to attract a pro football franchise back to Minnesota and the only difference will be a few years of an NFLless state and a significantly higher cost for the stadium.

We should pass this bill this year. The Strib compiled footage from the press conference:

Posted on

David Strom Does Outkast’s Hey Ya

David Strom

Okay, this is not actually playing a surprisingly good acoustic version of one of my favorite hip hop songs, ‘s , but it sure looks like him. And, by the way, Strom’s last name is particularly appropriate for this video.

For those of you who are not Minnesotans or are Minnesotans who don’t pay attention to our state’s public affairs or politics, David Strom is the spokesman and president of the conservative, no-new-taxes- .

Strom can often be seen on television on public affairs program and on program.

Strom blogs at his . Anyway, as I said, this is not David Strom. It is actually Mat Weddle of Arizona band . But the thought that immediately popped into my head when I first saw the video was of Strom. Judge for yourself:

And, for comparison, the original Hey Ya music video:

Add to:
digg |
netscape |
del.cio.us |
yahoo |
technorati |
google |
live.com |
ask |
earthlink |
furl |
more
Posted on

Kirby Puckett Park?

I wrote this for today’s issue of the Email newsletter:

proposed calling any new stadium Kirby Puckett Park. It’s not a bad idea.

An even better idea would be to finally, and at long last, solve our stadium problems. This session.

I know it’s an election year but I swear, every time I read another stadium story, lines from ‘s "" play in my head:

Lord, I am sooooo tired
How long can this go on?

We’ve been debating this issue for what, nearly a decade now? It’s long past time to deal with it and, in fact, time is quickly running out.

If the sad and tragically untimely death of and the subsequent outpouring of love for the man from Minnesotans far and wide demonstrate anything, it highlights the immense amount of joy that professional sports can provide a community. And for my money that, in itself, is a damn good investment.

Let’s face it, the , in trying to be all things to all people, fails in all respects. It’s a horrible place to watch sports–the sightlines are equally bad for baseball and football. Even in the 14th  row on the 50 yard line, the fans are too far removed from the action. Plus, the suites are truly horrible.

As a revenue-generating stadium–well, it’s not. That’s the reason we’re having this discussion. While most professional teams have modern, revenue-generating stadiums, the and the Twins struggle to compete as small-market teams.

The Twins and Hennepin County have an eminently reasonable plan on the table and the Twins are on a year-to-year lease with the Metrodome. Not getting a deal done now is practically begging Major League Baseball to revisit contraction.

The Vikings and Anoka County have an equally reasonable plan on the table as well. This is no Texas snake-oil. It’s a vast, jobs-creating sports/entertainment/retail real estate development project proposed by a man who has made a mint in real estate development. The economic benefits to the northern suburbs could be enormous, turning Blaine into similar to the .

The primary issue holding up the talks between the owners and the players is that the large-market and small-market owners . Revenue-sharing is the brilliant vehicle by which every NFL team has a reasonable chance for on-field success every year. The NFL has avoided ‘s problem where large-market teams like the and can essentially buy themselves championships.

If the owners can’t agree on revenue sharing and the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL Players Association isn’t extended, the Vikings could win big in free agency. They could field a caliber team but you’d better hope they win the big one because in 2007, without the benefit of a modern, revenue-generating stadium, they will not be able to afford the exorbitant salaries that a salary cap-less environment promises.

The Vikings need a new stadium.

But while we’re dealing with stadiums, let’s deal with all the stadiums, so let’s get the ‘ problems solved as well.  I really don’t understand why they can’t use the Metrodome, why they must have an on-campus stadium. Are students somehow incapable of using shuttles? The Dome is, after all, practically right next door to campus. Regardless, let’s solve their problem, too.

The bottom line is this: The Twins and the Vikings will get their stadiums.  The only question is whether or not they get them in Minnesota. And if they leave, we will be a "cold Omaha." We will build new stadiums to attract new teams and it will cost us far more then than if we solve this problem now.

Technorati tags: | | | | | | | | | |