Twins stadium bill passes Senate: Pogemiller vows it wonít be top priority

Posted 4/4/01

Twins stadium bill passes Senate: Pogemiller vows it wonít be top priority

By T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

The Twinsí stadium bill ñ a proposal for a 42,000 capacity, $300 million open-air facility to be built somewhere in the metro ñ passed a Senate committee Thursday (March 29).

But Sen. Larry Pogemiller, DFL, Minneapolis, Senate tax committee chairman to whose committee the bill was sent, vows the committee will first deal with education, transportation, and more pressing concerns before looking at the stadium bill.
Pogemiller diagnosed the bill, which cleared the Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee, as ìbarely breathingî in the Senate.
The focus is now on the House, he said.

Gov. Jesse Ventura, in an interview with Greater Minnesota reporters last week, said he hadnít heard anything new about stadiums over the past weeks.
ìItís (stadiums) not a front burner item for me,î he said. ìIf they want to deal with it, thatís the Legislatureís position,î said Ventura.

Reforms, tax cutting, and other issues are more important to him, Ventura explained.

The vote in the State and Local Government Operations Committee capped off several hours of debate concerning the stadium bill.

As proposed, the stadium would be built somewhere in the seven-county metro area. Actual ownership of the facility would go to the municipality winning the project.

The bill was amended so that naming rights for the stadium would go to the municipality.
Revenues generated through the sale of the naming rights would be slated towards stadium operation costs or future refurbishing.

The financial package for the stadium includes a $150 million commitment by the Twins and private interests.

It also includes a $100 million interest free loan from surplus dollars in the workersí compensation pool ñ the loan would go to the municipality ñ plus $40 million in bonding from the state.
Sen. Dean Johnson, DFL, Willmar, bill author in the Senate, said the Minnesota Twins will guarantee loan repayments for $250 million out of the $300 million stadium costs.

But many of the basic objections to public involvement in stadiums were voiced again during the committee hearing.

Dan McGrath, director of Progressive Minnesota, a 4,000-member political action group which has fought past stadium referendums, said when the state is facing a ìcatastropheî in affordable housing, he canít understand why itís bending over backward to help billionaires.

ìIt does not make any common sense,î he said.
Tom Goldstein, editor of Elysian-Fields Quarterly, a literary publication devoted to baseball, said lawmakers should not be fooled by the apparent silence from the public on the stadium issue.
ìI think they felt in 1997 that the Legislature got the message,î said Goldstein.

Goldstein, whom favors the building of a smaller, neighborhood baseball park, said he agrees that the Metrodome is a ìterribleî place to watch a baseball game.

But Goldstein argued that if the reforms in Major League Baseball that the legislation specifies must take place first before any stadium can be built are actually carried out, the Twins will no longer need a public subsidy.

The increased revenue sharing will allow them to finance a new stadium for themselves, he said. Goldstein, while saying he wants the Twins to stay in Minnesota, asked what it says when the state submits to blackmail and threats by owners.
ìWhat does that say about our world class values,î he asked.

But Pogemiller argued that by passing the bill the Senate was keeping the initiative alive and allowing for more public discussion.

Senate Minority Leader Dick Day, R, Owatonna, said the bill, SF 1857, was an improvement over previous stadium bills but still has a long way to go. ìBecause thereís not any votes for it in my caucus,î he said.

The Minnesota Vikings also recently made a bid for a new stadium jointly used by the Vikings and Golden Gophers.