Transcripts

text | pdf |

---

MICHAEL KHOO: In a unanimous vote, the Sports Facilities Commission passed a resolution asking Major League Baseball to cease any further consideration of contraction, another term for eliminating one or more teams from the League. The resolution also calls on the commission to examine legal avenues for preventing the Twins dissolution.

Executive Director Bill Lester says, in late September, the Twins extended their lease at the Metrodome another year. And he says, the document is a binding agreement with no so-called buyout clause. He says, the Commission, which owns and operates the dome, will use all its leverage to enforce the lease. Moreover, he says, contraction will do nothing to level the playing field between well-funded major-market teams and their poorer small-market cousins.

BILL LESTER: It's also, I believe, inimical to the best interests of baseball since it does not address the lack of competitive balance that exists. They should contract the New York Yankees, and then we'll get closer to a competitive balance.

MICHAEL KHOO: Twins officials and team owner Carl Pohlad were unavailable for comment. But Lester says, he doesn't think a contraction vote is a foregone conclusion, despite newspaper accounts that claim enough team owners are ready to support the move. If the vote is postponed, it could buy Minnesota policymakers crucial time to reconsider the stadium question.

Governor Ventura has long opposed the use of public funds to subsidize a new ballpark. He says, he'd only consider it if a new revenue source could be tapped. Speaking on KSTP Radio, he suggested legalizing sports betting and running a booking office at the Mall of America.

JESSE VENTURA: Just tax it, you know, pretty substantially. I mean, we're going to want to get our hooks into it pretty good because stadiums are expensive. But that way, you're getting sports gamblers, which I've heard it's already a $2 billion industry here in the state. You're bringing it above board. You're getting them to put into the system.

MICHAEL KHOO: Such a move would likely meet stiff resistance at the legislature. Earlier this year, a bill to legalize sports betting attracted little support. But Sports Facilities Commission Chair Kathryn Roberts says, there are other potential solutions. Separate ballpark bills made steady headway in the House and Senate during the last session but were lost in end-of-session budget battles. Roberts says, she thinks the threat of contraction only complicates efforts.

KATHRYN ROBERTS: It's crushing, and I think it's why we're saying, really, it has to stop. Not only take-- you need to take the discussion off the table and let Minnesota come to a fair solution.

MICHAEL KHOO: The Commission has been holding statewide town forums over the last year to gauge public attitudes to a stadium. Members have endorsed a new open-air ballpark for the Twins providing at least half of the financing comes from private sources. They say, they'll investigate options to present to the legislature next year.

But recent polls show Twin Cities residents aren't much more eager to contribute public funds to a ballpark initiative since Minneapolis and Saint Paul residents rejected the idea in separate referendums. At the Capitol, I'm Michael Khoo, Minnesota Public Radio.