on 5/20/02 9:18 PM, Dean Carlson at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >I truly believe the Twins are gone without a new stadium, the Dome is an > abomination to baseball watching enjoyment, and like it or not, 20 some > other cities and/or states have set a precedent of building a stadium with > tax dollars. Maybe we know something they don't or they know something we > don't, but it's pretty obvious we don't have the will to follow suit.
Kudos to Dean for having the courage to stick to his pro-stadium guns in this time of "crisis." But I have to comment on a couple of his points here: The Dome only became an "abomination" when the Twins started losing. In 1988, it drew 3 million fans under its roof. Winning teams draw fans, no matter where they happen to be playing. Regarding the "precedent" set by 20 other cities building new ballparks, Bud Selig himself admitted the other day that a ballpark alone will do nothing to guarantee the survival of a franchise. The sad fact is that Major League Baseball is no longer a viable hobby for owners in mid-level markets. It's not going to work here or in KC or even in Bud's Milwaukee until the players and the owners agree on a salary cap and an NFL-style revenue-sharing plan. But that's simply not going to happen because the owners as a group care nothing for the game--only their highly subsidized investment and the ego-massaging benefits of getting their name in the paper from time to time--and the players/agents care only about cashing in on the absurdly overpriced labor market. I'll say this for Bud. Baseball may be best served by a nostalgic return to an American League of eight teams (NY, Boston, Chicago, Baltimore, Seattle, Cleveland, LA, and Detroit) and an NL of NY, Philly, Atlanta, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Chicago, LA, and SF. You'd have solid franchises, great teams, and great baseball. And the Triple A franchise we'd land in Minneapolis would be a huge leap ahead of the Saints. Craig Cox Hiawatha _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
