At last Sunday's (1/29) roundtable on The Late Debate with Jack and Ben I noted a remarkable article in that day's Minneapolis Star Tribune: Go Long to Measure the True Cost of a Stadium in the Business Section. Writer Eric Wieffering recounts the troubled financial history of Target Center. Built in 1990, the City of Minneapolis bought it in 1995 lest the Minnesota Timberwolves leave or so we were told. I remember then morning radio host Barbara Carlson railing against this and for once she was right.
As Wieffering reports, the City has been paying ever since in subsidies, maintenance and some captial improvements. It is obligated through the end of the Timberwolves lease in 2025 to spend many millions more. And then there is the cost of the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) underneath it all. As the headline says, you have to look at the whole transaction, not just the deal of the moment. City Council Member Gary Schiff is quoted as saying this was the worst decision they ever made, which is saying quite a lot given the current state of the city.
I mentioned this on the air asking how such an unflattering article ever made it past the editors, particular one not at all helpful in the current Vikings stadium shakedown that paper supports. I assumed that the left hand of the Editorial division didn't know what the right hand of the Business Section was printing. Mistakes happen.
But then today (2/2) in the same paper, page one, above the fold we read: Target Center deal bound to a 'mistake'. It again recounts the mistakes made and their ability to scuttle the Vikings deal, this time quoting Council Member Betsy Hodges: "If we already feel like we have one albatross around our neck, why would we think the solution is putting another albatross around our neck?" (We do when it comes to Light Rail!)
Obviously the editors saw this one in advance. So obviously there must be another game afoot. Add to this another distressing article about the sorry shape of the Convention Center roof and its finances. Meanwhile, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman wants his cut of the graft for his Xcel Energy Arena should Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak get money for his Target Center. Governor Mark Dayton tossed in money for a new St. Paul Saints facility in his bonding proposal to the Legislature.
Maybe this is a ploy to regionalize all of these facilities, like what you would think our Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission would be judging by its title. In fact, it only runs the Metrodome but it would surprise no one to see its Chair Ted Mondale come forward like Wesley Mouch saying "I need wider powers!" That would fit another item I saw, where Hennepin County wants to build a new transit hub near but distinctly outside the current Target Field "depot" that anchors the Northstar Commuter Rail. That avoids conflict between the regional powers of facilities and transit.
Or maybe this is just a stiff-arm against any local contribution to the Vikings stadium, to fleece the state for all of what the Vikings don't pay. We'll see. I just know that Minneapolis Star Tribune doesn't print this kind of news (read: truth) merely to appear fair and balanced.
Cross-posted and comments welcome at Speed Gibson.
