On 2/6/04 2:01 PM, "Anderson, Mark (GE Infrastructure)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Mark Snyder wrote: > > Now while there may be some folks who cannot fathom the civic value that > professional sports teams bring to our core cities and state, they are still a > small minority of our population, albeit a very vocal one. > > Mark Anderson replies: > Mark you absolutely wrong if you say that only a small minority don't want to > spend public money on stadiums. You know what would be really cool? If people would read carefully enough to make sure their reply is actually in response to the point being made. What I said was that there is a small minority that does not recognize the value of professional sports teams. In other words, most folks like having the Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves and Wild around. The opposition that gets cited so much is not opposition to having professional sports teams in Minnesota. It's not necessarily even to public involvement in stadium financing. Note these results from last Strib poll: http://www.startribune.com/stories/784/4337106.html "When poll respondents were offered a list of financing options for stadiums, the most popular choices were low-interest state loans that the teams would repay (72 percent favor), a portion of proceeds from slot machines at Canterbury Park (71 percent) and ticket taxes (67 percent). Any of those options would require some public involvement in stadium construction. What most people oppose is that dreaded T-word that sends everyone into a tizzy. Again, referring to the last Strib poll: "Other taxes were viewed with less enthusiasm. A Twin Cities-area sales tax was supported by 25 percent of respondents and rejected by 72 percent. A metro hotel tax drew 44 percent approval and 52 percent opposition, and a metro liquor tax 54 percent support and 43 percent rejection." So my advice to the No Stadium Tax folks is that they focus a little more on shaping an alternative financing plan rather than just foam at the mouth over the possibility of a new stadium or two being built. Because even if the Legislature fails (again) to find a solution during this session, it's not going to go away. Even if we end up losing the Twins or the Vikings, it's still not going to end. More people will punish their legislators for allowing something like that to happen than for voting for a stadium financing plan. And there would be a huge clamor for new teams to replace the ones we lost. Someone pointed out that life as we know it did not end when the North Stars moved to Dallas. Well, apparently it did for a bunch of folks because now we have Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and this team called the Minnesota Wild. I don't remember how much it would have cost to move the North Stars up to Target Center, but I know it was a heck of a lot less than it cost to build the Xcel Energy Center, not to mention the expansion fee that was paid to the NHL. People balk at spending $500 million on stadium construction. Well, in Houston, they spent $450 million on Reliant Stadium (site of last Sunday's Super Bowl), plus a $700 million NFL expansion fee to start the Houston Texans franchise after the Oilers moved to Tennessee and became the Titans. As much as I dislike Red McCombs, I think I'd rather just see us keep the Vikings around, thanks. Someone else pointed out that professional sports teams use a rather unique business model. It's not so unique. It's the same one used by our various theatres. Get someone else to pay for your venue and still charge big ticket prices, anyway. And in fairness to at least some of our pro sports teams, there are some good deals available for seeing games. Last season, I paid $200 for an upper general admission full season ticket to the Twins. That works out to less than $2.50 per game! I don't see the Guthrie, State, Orpheum or Pantages offering tickets at prices like that. But I'm not saying we shouldn't have theatres or that they don't deserve public support, even though they're simply entertainment, just like pro sports teams are. All I'm saying is that pro sports teams provide some civic value. And as Terrell pointed out, the 80+ baseball games a year at a Rapid Park location would certainly help some other venues to do enough business to stay open. That seems like a good thing to me. Mark Snyder Windom Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
