Sports Day in Minnesota - an idea

Some of us may know that Fox Sports North (FSN), the regional cable sports network here in the Twin Cities, annually sponsors what they call "Hockey Day in Minnesota." FSN broadcasts peewee games, a high school game, a Gophers game and a Wild game all in the same day.

I was thinking the other day, now that Minnesota's sports teams all have a place of their own to play, what if all four major teams and the Gophers, played at home, on the same day?

It could work. It would be an economic boom for the Twin Cities with all those people. The TV networks would love the revenue. Here's how I envision it would work, and who would broadcast what.

We start the day at 11am with the Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium. The game would be carried either by ESPN or the Big Ten Network.

You could have a Wild game at 2pm at the Xcel Energy Center, broadcast by FSN.

It would take some doing with the NFL, but suppose there was a Vikings game at the Dome at about 3pm. Maybe even 4pm. This is where it could get a little interesting. Depending on whether FOX has the Major League Baseball playoffs that year, they might opt to show the World Series instead of a mid-season NFL game.

If Turner Broadcasting had the playoffs that year, just throw a couple million dollars at FOX to broadcast the game.

The overlap with the Wild game wouldn't be too bad.

Then, say the Timberwolves have their home opener at 5pm at Target Center. This one would be broadcast locally on Channel 45, KSTC.

And then, the piece de resistance, the Minnesota Twins play at Target Field at 7pm. For all five of these games to converge like this, it would put this particular day on or around October 28. The NBA regular-season doesn't start until very late October at the earliest.

And, it also assumes that the Twins likely took their season to Game 7 of the World Series that year.

All five teams would be very happy of course. All five are taking tickets, at home, in their own place, on the same day. I envision officials from MetroTransit at each venue passing out balloons, making speeches and throwing rice, celebrating the fact that the light rail systems they built and the commuter rail are working at full capacity.

This day probably would work best after the Central Corridor light rail along University Avenue is completed.

Downtown Minneapolis would benefit the most, as you'd have 40,000 for the Twins game. 63,000 for the Vikings game. 20,000 for the Timberwolves game. Another 50,000 just across the river for the Gophers. And, downtown Saint Paul would see 18,000 for the hockey game.

Restaurants and bars would be crowded. Streets would be buzzing with people. Traffic would be miserable (for those that didn't take mass transit). But, that would be one fun day.