timothy connolly wrote: > I was happy to see Mr. Watkin's response to the recent > front page articles in the Strib on yesterday's op-ed > page. > > The articles have made me queasy. > > Someone somewhere suggested that nobody wrote stories > in a similar vein when a certain fast talking Texan > came to town to buy the Vikings.
I can think of four words that make me a little leery of Mr. Watkins (primarily because of the reluctance to give any of those pesty things called details): Tom Clancy, Harv & Marv Buying the team: Remember Tom Clancy? He made a huge deal of himself and his intentions before he ever proved that he had the capability of buying the team, he told us he had all the ducks in a row. Hell, he had on the hat, held press conferences, he was an inch away from having horns grafted onto his head. Stories ran world wide declaring he had purchased the team, and then suddenly, "well I really don't have the money, per se..." I think the primary reasons few if any questioned Red McCombs (except for all the conspiracy theories about moving the team to San Antonio, which still linger) were that the locals were still kickin' the carcass of Tom Clancy's purchase agreement, but much more importantly, that Red had already owned and sold two professional sports teams, and had been successful doing so. And his assets� the dealerships, Clearchannel, etc.� were quite public (hell he has a website to give you all the details http://redmccombs.com/interests.html ). Like him or not, the track record was there. Building a Stadium: Remember Harv and Marv? They built a privately funded arena right near where the Mayor wants a new stadium to go. Three years after the arena they spent way too much money on opened, they cried poverty and leveraged the city and state to buy it by threatening to move the team (or sell to out of state interests� remember Bob Arum?) which had solid fan support despite being gawdawful. Our list manager can speak to the details much better than I because he covered the story as thoroughly or more so than anyone in town back then. It sure made it difficult to say no when so many businesses in the warehouse district were claiming that the loss of the Wolves would essentially be death to their establishments, the team was drawing very well despite being terrible, and that giant spaceship of a structure was sitting there staring everyone in the face each day (and remember, one of the selling points was that the arena was NHL ready, so we could readily replace the Stars... THAT worked out well). I am not saying whether the bailout was good or bad. But just because it is built doesn't mean it will work out, and dealing with a huge structure that is already there (with an owner crying poverty) is just as contentious an issue as trying to get one built. I hope Mr. Watkins has the cash and wherewithal to do what he says, I really do. Still, I really don't see any problem with keeping all senses on alert. richard carney st. paul _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
