 |
| Thursday, November 29 Minneapolis and St. Paul both have plans Associated Press |
||||||
|
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The incoming mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul proposed plans Thursday to a state task force examining whether a ballpark can be built to keep the Minnesota Twins from folding.
Minneapolis Mayor-elect R.T. Rybak called for a $315 million, 38,000-seat open-air ballpark to be built near the Target Center, with about two-thirds of the money coming from the team and private investors, about $25 million from game-day parking revenue and $45 million to $50 million in loans backed by a rebate of Minnesota income taxes paid by players on the Twins and visiting teams.
St. Paul Mayor-elect Randy Kelly proposed a $375 million stadium to be constructed in his city, funded by private sources and state-issued bonds. The government debt would be paid off with income from game-day parking receipts and a new 3 percent sales tax on restaurant and bar sales.
"There's no smoke and mirrors here, no wishful thinking and no hidden state funds," Kelly said.
Baseball owners voted Nov. 6 to eliminate two teams before next season. While they did not pick them, the Twins and the Montreal Expos are the likely targets.
Contraction has been put on hold, however, because the Metropolitan Sports and Facilities Commission -- the Twins' landlord at the Metrodome -- obtained an injunction that forces the team to play next season.
Twins president Jerry Bell, testifying Thursday before a state task force, said he assumed the team's future would be secure if the government enacted legislation to help finance a new ballpark.
"Assuming that contraction does not occur prior to the beginning of this season and assuming that the Twins are one of the teams that would be contracted -- which has not been announced -- I think the answer to that question is yes," he said.
In other contraction news:
In Washington, the Judiciary Committee said two others will testify at the hearing. Union head Donald Fehr, however, is unlikely to appear because the players' executive board will be meeting in Irving, Texas.
Committee chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., a Wisconsin Republican, called the hearing on legislation introduced to repeal baseball's antitrust exemption, created by a 1922 U.S. Supreme Court decision. The bill was proposed by Rep. John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat, after the Nov. 6 decision to eliminate teams.
Meanwhile, there was no word Thursday from the Minnesota Supreme Court, asked by Selig and the Twins to grant a speedy appeal of the injunction.
In case the request is declined, the Twins and baseball have asked for an expedited hearing in the state Court of Appeals, which generally takes six to eight months to rule.
"The District Court, without any analysis or explanation, has ordered teams from around the country (and Canada) to send baseball players to Minnesota to perform baseball," the Twins and the commissioner's office said in a 36-page brief filed with the Court of Appeals on Thursday. "There is no authority for such an extraordinary act and it constitutes an abuse of discretion."
They contend any breach in the team's lease can be made up later with money damages. The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, which operates the Metrodome, claims that the Twins' lease requires them to play in the ballpark next year and their absence would be felt in more than lost stadium revenue.
"The Minnesota Twins are a private business; they are not owned by the people of Minnesota nor the MSFC," the team said Thursday in its brief. "They are not a `community asset' but a business that in the past has lost money for its owners." |
| |||||