I have ALWAYS been a huge fan of the Minnesota Vikings, and I have always been a strong supporter of any sports franchise that adds value in terms of dollars to the local economy while sustaining themselves nationally as a sports league.
I am NOT in favor of a baseball stadium subsidized by the taxpayers simply because baseball, in my personal view, is a dying sport of their own making. Certain baseball franchises may be able to afford to pay a single player $252M, but as a spread the rest of the league cannot even begin to compete and hence, one of the many reasons why some teams has to be considered for contraction. I know there are die hard fans of baseball out there, and if they are able to craft some sort of "win-win" solution more power to them. I do know the City of Minneapolis taxpayers did vote for $10 million dollars to be used towards the effort of securing a stadium, but that was the limit of it.
The reality is this---Bud Selig has done NOTHING to address the fallout stemming from the 1994 player�s strike. The player�s strike, in my view, single-handedly put baseball in its sorry predicament today. When you have players like Roger Clemens who are profiled on the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" that same year with a 15,000 square foot home, and a swimming pool that is shaped like a moat around it, and says $3 million a year is not enough to support his family, fans will take offense.
Baseball does not deserve one iota of sympathy, what they need to do is to sit down and address their own internal economic problems, and make serious amends with the fans. When the players went back to work after the strike, they didn�t even take the five minutes to apologize to fans, or make any effort worth its water to heal the gaping wounds inflicted on fans by the following short season. Not to mention the internal union battles inflicted within their own ranks with replacement players when they couldn�t even resolve their contract disputes AFTER they declared the strike over. They just went back to work like none of it ever happened with horse blinders on, and they are paying for it with empty seats around the country. When baseball gets a clue and starts to address that they have real internal organizational problems and egregious external relations problems that�s when they can come back to citizens and talk stadium. I don�t hate baseball, I attend the Twins games and hoop and holler like the next person; I just hate being taken for a fool. Baseball has to EARN the stadium, and in my view, have done nothing to do so.
If there ever was proposal to publicly fund a football stadium I will be one of the first people on the bandwagon. Football makes money for the local economy. Football is one of America's most popular sporting events next to Basketball. Football makes the public relations effort to say "Thank You" it its fans every season for our support. And Football recognized immediately after their strike that in order to survive there must be some balance between in the owner�s monetary interests, investment and support of fans, as well as create an economic structure that allows it to remain competitive. Baseball should recognize the same.
Denise Tolbert, East Harriet Farmstead, Ward 10
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