Twins, supporters make big push

04/20/2006

Pohlad executive gives emotional appeal

BY ARON KAHN
Pioneer Press

No one could remember Jerry Bell’s voice cracking before, but in his 11th year of lobbying intensely for a new Twins ballpark, it happened Wednesday night at the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Attempting to counter criticisms of public subsidies for a team owned by a billionaire, the Twins’ ballpark point man asked the House Taxes Committee to think about baseball fans in the years to come.

The issue is not about owner Carl Pohlad or him, said Bell, president of Twins Sports Inc., the Pohlad company that owns the Twins.

“Pohlad is 90. I’m 65. It takes four years to build the ballpark,’’ Bell said emotionally. “Do the math.”

During four hours of testimony, the committee heard the Twins attempt to parry all major thrusts from opponents, including adversaries’ frequently cited comparison of the Twins plan with the largely privately financed stadiums of the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.

Robert Starkey, a sports financing consultant working for the Twins, said those plans diverged greatly from 16 other ballpark projects constructed since 1990 or currently under way.

Both clubs have much higher revenue than the Twins year after year, he said, adding that the Giants stadium was built in the late 1990s with a local economy flush with “dot-com” money. The Cardinals stadium, opened this month, was built as part of a large real estate development on land owned by the team owners.

Fourteen other projects included liberal amounts of public and private money, he said, and two, the Chicago White Sox ballpark and the emerging stadium of the Washington Nationals, were almost entirely publicly funded.

Twins supporters included Sally Mars, a fan who said the team’s presence in Minnesota is critical to many people on a personal level. Recalling games she saw as a child, Mars said when she watches the Twins, “I feel the vibrations of my father.’’

The subtext of their testimony was the fear the Twins might disappear without a revenue-boosting ballpark, either by league contraction or moving elsewhere. Although observers say neither scenario is likely, the team’s commitment to the Metrodome ends at the close of the season.

The question of whether a referendum will be required on the proposed Hennepin County sales tax, which would finance three-quarters of the $522 million project in Minneapolis’ Warehouse District, is the greatest sticking point for the bill. State law calls for a referendum in the county, but ballpark supporters want an exemption, saying a ballot issue would create delays and greater expense.

Opponents say supporters’ real fear is that residents would vote down the 0.15 percent tax, or 3 cents on a $20 purchase.

Two opponents spoke Wednesday, while 24 people, including Twins and county representatives, testified in favor. More opponents are expected at 6 tonight when the House Taxes Committee meets at Oak Grove Middle School in Bloomington for a second day of hearings, when lawmakers will hear echoes of Fred Meyer and Jim Haffner.

On Wednesday, Meyer of Bloomington and Haffner of Coon Rapids said the Twins plan is an average deal at best, and that Hennepin County residents should not have to bear the burden of public financing.

“The team is called the Minnesota Twins because they represent the entire state,’’ said Meyer, who suggested the subsidy be spread statewide. Neither the team nor county commissioners disputed his contention, but said a ballpark financed by the county and the team seems to be the only plan that can pass the Legislature.

Defending the plan against charges of welfare for the rich, Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat said it will prove unique if Pohlad sells the team and makes a windfall profit due to the stadium’s revenue-raising ability. The bill requires the owner to give the public 18 percent of the proceeds, declining gradually over 10 years.