Can the Saints survive?

How many of you remember in 1993, when the Saint Paul Saints minor league baseball club took the field for the first time at Midway Stadium?

I vaguely remember it. Matter of fact, in 17 years, I've been to one Saints game (and having the best seats I've ever had for a sporting event, front row behind home plate). The Saints were a PR marvel back then.

Mike Veeck, son of Bill Veeck - who owned the Chicago White Sox at one point (those electronic pinwheels on the scoreboard at US Cellular Field...Bill's idea) owned the Saints along with funnyman Bill Murray.

They had promotions every night, massages in the bleachers, a live pig as a mascot (who has been replaced several times) among other quirky things. The major draw for the Saints was something the professional team across the river couldn't provide: outdoor baseball.

But, they are no longer the only outdoor game in town. So, can the Saints and their quirky PR stunts continue to get people through the turnstiles at Midway Stadium? According to an article the first week of May in the Star Tribune tickets are selling. The number they quoted in the article was just a little over 265,000.

The big disappointment for the Saints however, is group sales. Derek Sharrer, Saints executive vice-president says that groups "sheepishly say, 'we need to go check out Target Field.'" The early part of May, an exhibition game drew over 4,000 people; and that was with an evening low temperature of 40 degrees.

It might take a couple years, however, to see what the future holds for the Saints. Twins tickets are hard to come by, and people figure they can still see outdoor baseball, much cheaper than Target Field, just across the river at Midway Stadium.

I fear, however, that once the glow of Target Field wears off, and Twins attendance drops, Saints fans might take the chance and opt for the more expensive tickets to the newer ballpark. Financing for a replacement to Midway Stadium has died in the Minnesota Legislature the last couple years.

I also fear the same thing that happened to hockey around these parts could also happen. After the North Stars' departure for Dallas in 1993, the now-defunct International Hockey League awarded a franchise to play in the Saint Paul Civic Center (later replaced by the Xcel Energy Center). The new IHL team, the Moose, drew fairly good crowds in a market that suddenly found itself hockey-less.

The death nail was driven into the Moose, however in June of 1997 when the National Hockey League awarded a new franchise to begin play in 2000. Shortly after that announcement, the Moose headed north to Winnipeg, Manitoba.

I have a nagging feeling that the Saints, in spite of their tremendous PR efforts, might succumb to the Twins' newer ballpark across the river, and depart for another market. We shall see....