Stadiumpallooza!

 

 

"Man, it is good to live in a land of unlimited (tax) money!"

We are big time now. Big, big, big, big time! We have more stadiums than one could shake a stick at! And now we might get yet one more! What a life! What a country! What a waste...

In the real world, this type of stadium planning would not cut it. It is a huge waste of money. Money. What money? And whose money? The "Bank" stadium at TFC is open for revenue business a few (about 7) Saturdays in the fall. The place is seldom filled up, and at times the student section looks like there had just been a bomb scare. Some question what was wrong with the University sharing a stadium with the Vikings. Answer - nothing. Many Gopher fans liked it better at the Metrodome as the tailgating was much, much better. However, due to special and selfish interests, the "Bank" was built. And taxpayers got stuck with this $300M lemon.

Now "Dollar Bill" McGuire wants some tax considerations to build yet ANOTHER stadium in our urban playground. This one is cheap at half the cost. But there will be a cost to the taxpayers. Tax favorability leading to lost revenue, and who knows how the cost of annual upkeep will be shared with the taxpayers.

Here is a stunning idea. I know, I know. The Vikings had to use the "Bank" for two seasons while the new Taj Mahal was being built. We will forget that for a minute. What if we had a true multi-purpose stadium downtown? One that the Vikings, Gophers and a new soccer team could use? The stadium would cost a wee bit more as a retractable roof would have been needed. This would have been important mostly for the soccer games, so "Dollar Bill" could have ponied up that cost. Each opportunity the stadium had to be used would have been another revenue opportunity. Right now plethora our stadium(s) have as much chance of paying for themselves as our light rail train system does.

St. Paul has the Xcel Energy Center for the Wild, and soon the NEW Saints (CHS) Ball Park. Oh yes, one more thing. The taxpayers are also helping on the new Saints $63M CHS stadium. So are the toilet flushers on the Met Council.

Minneapolis of course still has Target Center (which is going through a $150M renovation), $400M Target Field, Vikings Stadium (~$1B) and the fore mentioned proposed soccer stadium. And the lightly used, modestly attended TCF "Bank" stadium.

I don't know about anyone else, I am about stadiumed out. We have found out from the Twins that building a fancy new stadium does not change the product being offered. The Twins still suck. It just costs more now to watch them suck. As for me, an ordinary taxpayer, please keep on building stadiums. Maybe tennis will be next, so we can host an event like Wimbledon. I will just bend over and take it. Over, and over, and over again.