I heard about the Letter-to-the-Editor on MSNBC this morning.
David Denney/Star-Tribune via The Associated Press via The New York Times
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The New York Times
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Netlets for Wednesday, Aug. 1
Published: August 01, 2007
The groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for the Twins stadium should also include a memorial service for the local taxpayers.
During last year’s stadium hearings, Twins officials testified the new stadium would generate almost $40 million dollars per year in additional team revenues. Hennepin County officials testified the stadium sales tax would generate approximately $30 million per year. More than enough to cover the debt service on the public portion of the stadium. A cool $10 million difference.
It sure looks like Carl Pohlad and the Twins could have paid for the entire stadium project and had enough leftover to finance a few lakeside estates, an overpriced jewelry store and still made a handsome profit on their investment. In a period of crucial funding shortfalls for roads, bridges, libraries and crumbling public infrastructure, local government officials decided building a stadium for a billionaire was more important.
On Aug. 2, please indulge in a moment of silence for the local taxpayers. Hennepin County officials buried them long ago.
JAMES HAFNER, COON RAPIDS
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“We will build one of the great urban ballparks,” said Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat. (MLB.com)
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More New Ballpark Headlines
• Twins to celebrate, break ground on Thursday
• Official ballpark groundbreaking set for Aug. 2
• Sides offer figures in Twins ballpark case
• Hearing on ballpark land value begins
• Easy meeting for Twins Ballpark Authority
• Twins begin clearing site for new ballpark
• Twins, rail company reach agreement
• Authority approval clears way for construction
• Twins clear major hurdle with County
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Ceremony postponed
Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the new Twins ballpark has been postponed in light of the tragic I-35W bridge collapse that took place in Minneapolis on Wednesday night.
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Oct. 31(2001): Twins owner Carl Pohlad says he hasn’t asked his fellow owners for a buyout. “I’ve furnished a team here for 15 years and put $150 million cash into it, and I’m not going to do it anymore,” Pohlad tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I’m tired of it. A business has to pay for itself. Nobody in this town in the last 15 years has given as much as I have to baseball.”
Meanwhile, a Minnesota state legislator says a top baseball official informed him the Twins and Expos are the two teams under consideration. Selig declined to name the teams, but told the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “I have some very tough decisions to make.” The Minnesota attorney general’s office begins exploring legal strategies to fight elimination of the Twins. (ESPN.com Timeline of Contraction)
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The World’s Billionaires
#349 Carl Pohlad
03.08.07, 6:00 PM ET
Age: 91
Fortune: self made
Source: banking
Net Worth: $2.6 bil
Country Of Citizenship: United States
Residence: Minneapolis, Minnesota , United States, North America
Industry: Investments
Marital Status: widowed, 3 children
Education:
Persistence finally paying off for owner of pro baseball’s Minnesota Twins. After a decadelong duel, state legislature finally agreed last year to put up money for new outdoor ballpark in Twin Cities. Owner will pay a quarter of stadium’s $520 million cost; taxpayers will foot the rest. Perpetual small-market overachievers will begin play in their new digs in 2010. Former used car salesman bought Marquette Bank in 1955, sold to Wells Fargo in 2001 for $1 billion. Son Bill owns River Road Entertainment movie production company; recent hits include Brokeback Mountain and A Prairie Home Companion. (Forbes Magazine–World’s Richest Billionaires)
“If the Twins are contracted many will feel loss and sadness. No one, however, will feel that more than our family. It will be a sadness and sense of failure that no amount of money will cure.”
–Jim Pohlad, son of Twins owner Carl Pohlad, who is rumored to be receiving $250 million for disbanding the Twins, in a letter to Twins employees (quoted in Baseball Prospectus)
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