The Twins pay $165 million up front--- yeh right, when pigs fly! Now where are the Twins going to get that kind of money?-- more than likely from the government via some loan scheme not yet referenced... because, Craig is right- Pohlad wants to liquidate; he has no incentive to invest any significant money in the Twins. A new owner would have little more incentive. And, how does the state propose to earn 8.5% on the money in question, in today's business environment, without incurring excessive risk? And, what if the team is contracted? It's a no-win deal!
Why aren't state legislators and Library Board/mgmt/Friends debating how to finance the Minnesota Planetarium and Space Discovery Center in the new downtown library, employing such innovative schemes? Maybe a combination of gov't. loans and capital bonding, and a %age of matching funds from the private sector, (two-thirds state funds- loans & bonding, one-third private matching), sell naming rights and branded meeting rooms... think Carlson School, etc. Lease time to colleges/universities; have traveling exhibits. The loan could be repaid from a portion of the planetarium gate fees over a 15-20 year period. Do some innovative planning/marketing and make planetarium revenues a part of the equation. [A deal where contraction isn't an issue, most staff and management aren't millionaires, the private sector loves the place and uses it, a majority of the Board are elected by the public, there's no need for salary caps, and Minneapolis voters already agreed to pay for nearly 80% of the project- the central library and planetarium. The Minnesota Planetarium and Space Discovery Center is a statewide educational resource-- let's pony up some statewide resources!] Michael Hohmann Linden Hills > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of > Craig Cox > Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 2:37 PM > To: Mpls. Issues List > Subject: Re: [Mpls] The Guv's Stadium Plan > > > on 3/15/02 2:07 PM, deanc at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > The Twins pay to the State upfront $165 Million, which the state then > > invests at 8.5%. The Twins then pay the state $10 Mil a year > for the next > > 15 or so years to pay off remaining bonds. The 2% spread in > debt cost and > > investments cover the last 15 years of bond costs. > > If this was any other enterprise, I'd say it makes sense, but > this is major > league baseball and Carl Pohlad has absolutely no incentive to > come up with > $165 million, when Bud Selig will give him $100 mil or so next year for > simply shutting the franchise down. And then there's the matter > of long-term > debt costs. Unless baseball's economics change drastically (and there's no > real incentive for large-market owners or the player's union to > endorse such > changes) the Twins will be dead in 15 years--new stadium notwithstanding. > Pardon my cynicism, but major league baseball is in the middle stages of > complete collapse, and to pretend everything's going to be better > if only we > build a stadium is pretty much delusional. > > Craig Cox > Hiawatha > > _______________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________ 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
