Mpls./St. Paul Possible Expansion on Local News Report on the news here tonight that MLS is looking to move the Thunder to MLS if a stadium can be built in St. Paul. Estimated cost of the stadium is $20MM. Stadium sites would all be on the river. No other details were provided. Correct that. The report did say tax dollars would help pay part of the cost.
Wasn't baseball looking to move/contract the Minnesota Twins? Why should MLS want to move there if baseball doesn't even do that well?
Did they use the exact words move the Thunder...moving up an A-League team? Why not start from scratch and have an expansion team?
Baseball has always been a stadium issue. The Twins get more than decent support. Keep in mind that this is not a market like Milwaukee. The metro area here is a Top 15 market - i.e. a much bigger population base. And a stadium in St. Paul would automatically help the Thunder even if they were to stay in the A-League because right now they play out in the middle of friggin no where. Yes, they said the Thunder would move from the A-League to MLS. How much the news actually knows is another question. Here. This is almost a verbatim transcript of the report. You can also watch the piece here too. http://www.kstp.com/article/view/49325/ Here is what I know from the PAST. 1. The Thunder have looked at a St. Paul stadium before. I know this because I have friends in the construction industry here who were involved in some exploratory discussions about a St. Paul stadium a few years ago. 2. The Thunder at one time were owned in large part by Medtronic's ex-chairman. If he is still involved he'd definitely fit the bill as a potential MLS investor.
No doubt "moving up" the Thunder would help with the fan base in terms of familiarity with the organization, some of the players, the team name, etc. They would probably keep anywhere from 3-6 Thunder playres and build from there. (Just guessing of course.) A stadium on the river. It's a great dream anyway.
Skeptical Yes, the Twin Cities is a good market for MLS to move to, because of the good support the Kicks and the Strikers had, even in the death gurgles of the NASL. But I don't think Minnesota is going to be on the MLS hot-list. Maybe Peter Wilt's putting in some good words, or something. I haven't heard any new rumbling of new stadiums; the project that Buzz Lagos worked on for years, involving land that the Post Office was going to sell is dead (the Post Office decided they wanted the land after all); and the project that ex-mayor Norm Coleman wanted never took off while he was in office with plenty of cash to throw around, let alone now. That said, the Thunder has always wanted to move up to the MLS, and never made a secret about it. They have some big-money investors that are solidly behind the sport, and locations to play MLS games while a stadium is being built. The National Sports Center has an international-sized pitch that's hosted a few US Women's exhibitions the last few years (and before they became big, all the time), and can quickly be expanded to 15,000. There was also some talk about the Metrodome, because it's cheap and downtown (bad sides: rug and possibly the field dimensions - I'll check that out in a few weeks with the state high school tournament). To answer your question, FootyMundo, yes, Bill George is still the (one of the?) majority owner(s) of the Thunder, although he has retired as the CEO of Medtronic. He's teaching overseas (Sweeden, if I recall correctly), but I overhead him saying that for him, retirement is never permanent. ML3, for yours - they'd move the Thunder up because they have an existing ownership group, staff, marketing strategy, and more importantly, history (playing since 1990). Don't expect the entire team to just "move up"; I would expect just a handful of players (Mike Gentile, Johnny Torrez, Johnny Menyonger, Mark Shulte, and Jon Lowery would be my picks), and head coach Buzz Lagos.
Good market, possible investors, A-League team with history, and a new rival for Chicago. Great news, hope they can get a stadium situation sorted.
You have to understand that in MN the riverfront is not quite what you'd expect. In Mpls. it is used very poorly. And in St. Paul it is only used slightly better. In short, if someone was going to undertake a project like this it could actually happen. The real issue is who is behind any push to get this done. A smart businessman would recognize that MN has a lack of appropriately sized outdoor venues for summer concerts, etc. Right now everyone goes indoors for the likes of Elton John, etc. Anyone who gets a project like this done stands to make some good coin off other events.
Nice. Any idea of where on the river? West Side maybe? I was just down there the other day doing a project for school, and there seems to be alot of flat, open land that could be better used. I say they just take out the Harriet Island park... Imagine the view of downtown from a stadium there.
Naturally. The notion of rivalry is mixed, given that some of the teams up here are relatively new (T'Wolves and Wild) and have yet to really develop a hatred for their Chicago counterparts. Still, It would be great to see the Fire again even if its way up here. The situation right now isn't right for the Thunder to move up because their stadium in Blaine is not very accessible via public transportation. If they do get a stadium built in the metro area, they would probably draw great crowds on the weekends.
I would be a good market, it's a big area and soccer supportive. Weather is ideal for a summer league. And the Twin Cities as a whole have plenty of billionaires to make a run at it. Metrodome is feasible. Switch to field turf and you are ready. The rent is dirt cheap as far as stadia go, and the dimensions are better than San Jose. (Yes, I asked the people that run the place. They told me the measurements, all I remember is that they were comparable to current MLS fields.) They could play there two years while their own place is built. it's a bigger market than OKC, and better weather besides.
Metrodome is fit for soccer, but not with the current turf. Who'd spring for new turf? My guess is no one since the Vikes and Goophers and Twins are pushing for a new stadium(s) themselves. IF (obviously a BIG IF) this were to happen why couldn't the Thunder stay in A-League until stadium is done. And then they make the jump. Or they stay in Blaine for one year and then jump to new arena. Regardless this is obviously very, very preliminary.
Isn't Target a Thunder sponsor? Hopefully some of the sponsors come along for the ride as well. Good luck to Minny. Sachin
Among other sponsors are Target, Northwest Airlines, Medtronic, 3M, Honeywell, General Mills and many other big companies. The Twin Cities has a bevy of Fortune 500 companies headquartered here. At one time a few years ago it was per capita number 1 in the world in this regard. BTW, the Thunder very likely turned a profit this year. Also BTW, no news in either paper this morning - suggesting the news report either got little traction or is not easily confirmed. Finally, I heard from a friend this morning that it is the city of St. Paul that is driving this effort and not the Thunder per se. Interesting. Not sure how that fits with the investor scheme, etc. But if it is the city that wants to push for a stadium that would be good.
I still think it's going to be very hard to get a stadium built in minnesota with public money. The Vikes and Twins have been trying to get it done since the mid-90's and have made about as much progress as the Metrostars in Harrison, NJ have (not to mention how adamantly opposed Ventura is to public funding for sports arenas). This place might have to be entirely privatly funded.
The price of a stadium for the Thunder, though, seems to be quite low compared to what the Vikings and Twins were aiming for. $20M isn't chump change, but seems comparatively reasonable and could be paid for with public and private funds. In any case, "The Body" will be long gone from office by the time something concrete comes down the pipeline.
Side issue I hate to bring this up, but doesn't this rumor bring to mind the idea of promoting A-League teams and sending down MLS teams. Now that the USL has a national TV contract with Fox Sports World, does this concept seem more palatable to would-be investors? Bear in mind, I don't see the European form of promotion/relegation taking root in the US. The Mexican and Argentine versions (neither of which I am extremely familiar with) may be worth looking into.
Promotion/relegation will not happen here. Stadium issues won't allow for it. My lord, the thought of MN in MLS for several years without a better stadium is laughable. And they have one of the better arrangements in the A-League
where's Minnman when you need him to get the scoop? not that FootyMundo isn't doing a fine job. just looking for more resources!
Twin City Metro Population rank:15 Twin City Metro Media market rank:13 Twin City Metro actual population:2,968,806 Twin City Growth rate over last 10 years +16.9% National average growth rate last 10 years:+13.2% Professional teams and their 2001average attendance Twins?? (14,942) this one has definately changed this year. Vikings (64,176) Timber wolves (17,069) Wild (18,396) will likely drop because everyone is figuring out that they miss the North Stars Thunder A-League (3,807) conclusions... none
The Thunder are probably quiet about a new stadium, because they're in a long-term agreement with the National Sports Center; the rent's more favorable than in past years, although they still don't get any of the concessions.
A friend told me this morning that he called the Thunder and it is the city of St. Paul that is pushing for the new stadium and not the Thunder. He had called to volunteer his time and they told him to call the City of St. Paul. I'm gonna call them myself tomorrow to see what I can learn. If this is accurate it raises a lot of interesting questions. Who is behind any investment into MLS? And if the City really is behind this and has an administration that wants the stadium that would certainly be a decent starting point.
I saw a story on the Wild on SportsCenter a year ago, and the team president said they had a season ticket base of around 16,000.
Hockey is way too popular in this state for the Wild to drop off. And their arena is amazing. I'm not a big hockey fan but it has a very loyal following here and the team is well managed from a marketing standpoint.
Because baseball wants the taxpayers to pay for more than 2/3 of the cost of a new stadium that will run somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of a BILLLION dollars. It's not simply about how many butts are in the seats.