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Twins Metrodome
Minnesota Twins
The Twins plan on moving to their new ballpark in 2010, following a quest that
began in the mid 1990s. Twins management claimed the Metrodome generated too
little revenue for the Twins to be competitive; specifically, they receive no
revenue from luxury suite leasing (as those are owned by the Vikings) and only a
small percentage of concessions sales. Also, the percentage of
season-ticket-quality seats is said to be very low compared to other stadiums.
Since 2003, the Twins have had year-to-year leases, and were permitted a move to
another city at any time. However, with no large American markets or new
major-league-quality stadiums existing without a current team, it was accepted
that the Twins could not profit from a move. The Twins sought a taxpayer subsidy
of more than $200 million to assist in construction of the stadium.
On April 26, 2005, the Twins and Hennepin County announced that a deal had been
reached, in which the Twins would pay roughly 1/3 of the stadium's cost, with
the rest being paid for by a 0.15% Hennepin County sales tax. The deal would
need to be approved by the Hennepin County Board. After delaying the vote one
week, on May 3 the Board voted 4-3 in favor of the stadium deal, with the vote
falling entirely along gender lines (men supporting). Minneapolis mayor R.T.
Rybak (DFL) had already weighed in favor of the stadium, a move said to hurt his
bid for the party's endorsement for re-election. The plan passed its second
hurdle on May 9, 2005 when a House committee of the Minnesota Legislature
approved it to be sent to the floor on a 17-5 vote. This legislation languished
before the full Legislature, during a particularly gridlocked session, and was
placed on the back burner, pending resolution of "more pressing" legislation.
On January 9, 2006, the Twins went to court to argue that their Metrodome lease
should be considered "dead" after the 2006 season. In February, the district
court ruled that the Twins' lease was year to year and the team could vacate the
Metrodome at the end of the 2006 season.
In May 2006, The revised stadium bill, which is substantially identical to the
version passed by the House of Representatives in March, was voted on by
legislators on May 21, 2006, after being approved by a conference committee on
the 19th. The bill was passed by a 71-61 vote in the House and a 34-32 vote in
the Senate. A ballot referendum, called for by many Hennepin County residents,
was deemed infeasible due to the time-critical nature of the bill (a referendum
would have to wait until the November general election, while dates for the
Twins to play in the Metrodome in 2007 needed to be applied for by July 1). On
May 26, 2006, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the bill at the Metrodome prior to an
evening game.
On August 29, 2006 the Hennepin County Board board of commissioners approved, in
a 4-3 vote, a small sales tax increase that authorized a 2/3 funding for a new
Twins Ballpark. The remaing 1/3 funding will be paid by the Twins ownership and
other private sources.
In mid-February of 2007, funding and acquisition ran into a snag due to the
current owners of the land asking for a higher price than was expected.
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