Post news and information from your neighborhood: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________
John Harris writes: "The teams can be assured of staying put without public ownership." It is not that simple. Granted, contracts can include items binding the team to a stadium or area, but they are rarely airtight. Even the relatively strong clause in the Vikings contract with the Metrodome has been interpreted by some legal experts as potentially unenforceable. While most believe it is enforceable, but there is still a question. Even more frustrating when relying on contracts is the law's reluctance to specifically enforce them. Often, the law will compensate a party to a breached contract by forcing the breaching party to pay damages, rather than forcing the breaching party to specifically perform the contract. In the case of pro sports, a team could make a business decision to incur a financial penalty that would allow them to negotiate a better deal with another city or state. In this case St. Paul or Minnesota might have a brief financial windfall, but would be without the pro team. If we were able to eventually get a new team, we would likely pay more than we recovered from the court. Public ownership is the only way we can GUARANTEE a team stays. Public ownership also prevents another problem. It prevents a team from threatening to move to get local concessions. The Vikings are a perfect example. They are contractually bound to the Metrodome through 2010 (I believe), but have been threatening to breach that contract. As I discussed, they will likely be held to the contract, but nobody really wants to risk it. So, the state and local communities have been forced to start the bidding process at least five years earlier than necessary. A publicly owned team, like the GB Packers, might ask the community for money (as the Packers did to renovate Lambeau Field), but it will never be the coercive threat that the Twins, Stars and Vikings "negotiations" have been. They earned their support, and the community returned the favor. Jim Mogen Lex-Ham Huge Vikings fan and no friend of the Green and Gold _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ _____________________________________________ For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
