What are the Vikings to do?

Hopefully we've all had a chance to relatively recover from the worst snowstorm in almost 20 years. And, the biggest casualty of the storm seems to be the Metrodome and the Teflon-coated fiberglass roof.

This has happened before. A lot. The dome deflated shortly after crews inflated it for the first time while the stadium was under construction. In 1982, a snowstorm took the dome down again. In 1986, a severe thunder/wind storm tore a hole in the roof, leaking rain and wind on to fans watching a Twins game (I remember the news reports from that day).

Oddly enough, the roof never caved in under the 28 inches of snow left by the Halloween blizzard of 1991. Of course, back then, the Dome wasn't even ten years old. Now, almost to its 30th birthday, it might be time to do something about it. And, this may have been the motivation needed for the Legislature to finally push a bill through.

Click the title of this post to go to an article I wrote (in fun, of course) about what could be done about the Dome.

Twins Ticket buying strategy

Just as I did on March 1...I spent a good twenty minutes in an online "waiting room" for tickets to the rest of the Twins games this season at Target Field. Might I say, buying Twins tickets through their Web site is one of the most infuriating experiences you'll ever have.

I sat with five browsers open, each for a different weekend game. Many times I saw messages telling me the transaction activity was too high or the number of seats I was looking for was unavailable in a particular section.

After much perseverance, I finally did score tickets in the Family Section on August 1 against the Mariners.
Please note, this will be my last time purchasing tickets through the Twins Web site.

However, there are alot of other reputable sites through which to purchase Twins tickets. I'd like to share some of them with you:

http://www.ticketkingonline.com/ - a Hudson, WI-based company who guarantees their tickets. They are pricey however. Tickets for the opening game against the Boston Red Sox are taking in anywhere from $200-$400 a ticket, and that's just in the upper reaches of the stadium. Team performance can sometimes affect the going rate for tickets here, and they can substantially go down during the season.

http://www.stubhub.com/ - A ticket broker service that, if memory serves correctly, is the "official" secondary ticket supplier for Major League Baseball. Note of caution, the "fees" and other charges associated with this particular service are rather high. Buyer beware.

http://www.ebay.com/ - I think everyone knows eBay. eBay is an online auction site, and I've seen several listings for Twins tickets in the last few days. Incidentally, my tickets for the Oct. 4 game last season were purchased via a contact I made through eBay looking for tickets to another game. Of course, with eBay, the highest bid wins, and shipping charges are usually reasonable.

Of course, there's always the old-fashioned way of going to the Twins ticket office at Target Field and purchasing tickets walk-up. Games this year are in very high demand however, and I'm beginning to wonder exactly how many tickets will be available for walk-ups once the season starts.

After two successful but irritating experiences buying from the Twins Web site, I have opted to stick with eBay and a "ticket exchange" group that is being started with members of a blog site I frequent which has been tracking the construction of Target Field since the funding bill was originally passed in May, 2006.

It still promises to be a great season, and I can't wait for my first game on April 14.

Report from TwinsFest 2010

Spring is in the air - it's time once again for TwinsFest at the Metrodome. 2010 marks the 21st installment of the annual festival celebrating your Minnesota Twins.

This is my second consecutive year going to TwinsFest. I went last year, and thought to myself, "they've done this for 20 years now, why haven't I been here until now?" It's a big enough deal that even this morning's Pioneer Press and Star Tribune newspapers had cover stories on their sports pages about the event.

I decided to do things a little differently this year: I got my tickets in advance, instead of waiting out in the cold at the ticket office to buy them at the Dome. It saves four dollars; advance tickets are $8, "at the door" tickets are $12.

I left for the Dome immediately after work on Friday January 29th, with the gates opening at 4pm, it gave me an hour to get downtown and to the Dome. The lines getting into the stadium (only 2 gates were used for entry, Gate F and Gate H) were incredibly long. And, between folks standing at the ticket offices getting tickets, and those in line waiting to get in - it got a bit confusing.

I got to the Dome at about 3:40 pm and I didn't actually get inside the stadium until 4:15. The line seemed to move quickly at 4, when the gates opened, but then lulled as we got closer to the gate. Years ago, ticket takers at the gate, would tear a small portion off the ticket. Sporting events, concerts, operas - you name it - use electronic ticket bar code scanners these days. Apparently, one of the electronic scanners wasn't working correctly, and slowed everything up.

What really surprises me, is shortly after the Twins departed the Dome, the stadium officials took the turnstiles out of the stadium. You'd think, without the turnstiles, the lines might move faster getting inside. Not so much. I think it took longer for me to walk the 20 feet to the gate, than it did for me to follow the line around the stadium waiting to get in.

Once inside, many things have changed. The Vikings have painted purple all over the concourses. You wouldn't even know a baseball team played there; although the baseball configuration is used for TwinsFest.

Familiar exhibits filled the field including "Down Memory Lane" which this year was a collection of items from the Twins' three ballparks: Met Stadium, the Metrodome and their new ballpark, Target Field. It was a good collection of memorabilia, especially from the days of the Met. The Twins also cancelled some TwinsFest staples this year, namely dugout, clubhouse and press box tours.

Most of my time was spent at the Target Field display. I grabbed all the ticket information, seat charts, pocket schedules and other assorted paraphernalia I could get my hands on. It is hard to believe in just three short months, the Twins will be playing outdoors.

I played a few of the "spin the wheel" games. I put $5 down at one, and ended up winning an autographed Bob Feller bobblehead doll; a bobblehead that sells for $40 at the Bob Feller Museum in Iowa.

I was a bit disappointed to see the lack of Target Field merchandise at this year's TwinsFest. I asked one of the folks in the Twins Pro Shop section if they had any Target Field t-shirts or anything; no such luck. I was tempted however to buy one of the new home jerseys, unveiled a couple months ago, the one that pays homage to the jerseys worn in the early 1960s.

The Metrodome seems to work well for TwinsFest. The Twins have looked into hosting it at a convention center or hotel, according to the Pioneer Press article, but because the event is so large (TwinsFest boasts the largest sports card and memorabilia show in the Upper Midwest), and the Metrodome's capacity to hold large groups of people, the Dome seems to win out.

And, truth be told, for obvious reasons, Target Field would seem out of the picture as well.

Patrick Klinger, director of marketing for the Twins praised the Dome in this morning's Pioneer Press article saying that, "[the Dome is] really a perfect venue for TwinsFest." Yes, it was great to be back in the old place again; but also to look forward to what lies ahead at Target Field.

As a final note, one of the sports card displays set up on the field (if you haven't been to TwinsFest, you would be surprised how many tables and exhibits are set up on the field) had unused tickets from previous Twins seasons at the Met and at the Dome. I looked for those two tickets I lost on my way out of the final game at the Dome last October - no luck.

The Minnesota Twins' moving sale

Again, I'm sorry for my absence in writing. It's just that I've waited for something to write about. I thought over my next couple entries, it might be fun to analyze the PR of the Minnesota Twins organization in getting ready for their move to Target Field next season. So, I will attempt to do that over my next few entries.

The first PR move that I thought would be good to talk about was last weekend's "moving sale." Not to be degrading or anything, (I think most of my readers will find this funny), do you want to know how to win a Minnesotan’s heart? Tell them there’s a garage sale.

I am technically not from Minnesota. I was born in South Dakota. But, being that I’ve lived in Minnesota since I was 6 months old, I do know that Minnesotans love garage sales. Last weekend, the Minnesota Twins had a "garage sale" – unloading 28 years worth of stuff accumulated during their tenure at the Metrodome.

Call it what you want – garage sale, moving sale, rummage sale (actually all of those terms were used to describe it) – the Twins did something I have not seen another team do before moving to a new stadium. I try to be very on top of who is getting new stadiums, arenas, ballparks; and this is the first time I’ve heard of a team unloading years worth of stuff for their fans’ benefit.

I thought the Twins organized this event very well. I got there early enough to be standing in line in front of Gate D (I’ll admit, the line went further back than that). The entry was Gate F. The Twins offered free parking in their surface lot, which as you can imagine was full. I arrived at the stadium at 9:30 and it still took me until 10:15 to get inside. They also made sure that everyone didn't enter at the same time. They did let people enter in shifts, so as to prevent over-crowding in the 22-foot-wide concourses.

The Twins had everything: pennants, baseballs, caps, shirts, posters, publications, banners…you name it, they probably had it. The strange part was that all this paraphernalia was inside the concourse. I thought, “why not have it on the field?” Well, the tape recording on the outside of the stadium told us why: there was an Augsburg-Saint Johns football game at 11.

Inside, while being crowded, was also very organized. At each table, you told the volunteers what items you wanted, they bagged it up for you, and you pushed your way through the concourse – table after table, until you got to the cashiers in front of Gate H. At least they didn’t make people pay at every table. It was hard enough trying to see over everyone’s shoulder trying to see what was there.

Some of the items were of no interest to me; I’ve never been a collector of bobbleheads. I know collectors love them and they go for hundreds of dollars on eBay, but I was after the “harder to find” things. For instance, I was able to snag a program from the groundbreaking of Target Field – the original date. The Twins had to move the groundbreaking ceremony back three weeks in 2007 in respect for the victims of the 35W bridge collapse. The program I got had the original August 2, 2007 date on it.

There were promotional items from the final season at the Dome I picked up, including plastic ticket holders (which, if you read a blog entry I did about the final Twins game at the Dome, you can understand why I got these). Also in the mix I got a Target Field calendar, a 2009 opening day pennant, a Kirby Puckett Weekend program, and some other small things.

This event was supposed to go from 10am to 4pm. A gentleman I spoke with in the line to pay told me he didn’t think the sale would go until 4pm, the way things were going. The Twins said that anything that wasn’t sold would be saved for other events like TwinsFest. And some items would be placed in a museum at Target Field.

Overall, as impromptu as this event was (I believe the full details were announced only about a week before the actual sale), it was a success; and really was a good PR move by the Twins. It provided a once-in-a-lifetime (for some) opportunity to get items that most teams would probably throw away. If the Minnesota Vikings ever get their new stadium built, hopefully they took notes on how well this event turned out for the Twins.

For November 7, the weather was nice for everyone standing outside waiting to get in. It was probably a major factor in why 15,000 people came. Amidst our ill-conceived idea to build a ballpark sans-retractable roof, it’s possible the weather gnomes will begin to show us favor. Either that or they’re gearing up to pull a real good one on us come April 12, 2010, the scheduled opener for Target Field against the Boston Red Sox, and dump six inches of snow about the same time Joe Mauer steps to the plate for the first time.

Memories of the Metrodome

Or what we thought was the final game at the Dome. Final regular-season game it turned out to be.

I am a collector of sports stuff from inaugural games, final games, etc. Back in April, I perused eBay for a ticket from the "Final Dome Opener," and am still on my quest to find one, even though I wasn't there. But one fellow eBayer emailed me and said "I'd be willing to sell you tickets to the last game, and you can keep the tickets as souvenirs."

So, he did. We settled on a fair price, which he informed me was about the cheapest I'd find them. So, I was one of 51,400 fans present at the Dome on October 4, 2009.
It truly was a great game. Even though it wasn't the "final" game, it was still exciting and felt very much like 1987. Here are just some of my thoughts on the final regular-season game at the Dome.

Being amongst that many fans is a Twins experience I've had maybe once. I was at the Dome in 1987 awaiting the team's arrival with 55,000 fans. This was after the Twins beat Detroit and was on their way home for the World Series.

The crowd was electric. I was up in Section 232 Row 19 with my brother. We'd been planning this outing for months. It dawned on me in the bottom of the 3rd inning, that my dad and I sat in Section 232 for the first Twins game I ever went to back in 1986.

I don't know how the Vikings cope with sellout crowds in the claustrophobic concourses at the Dome. And the Vikes draw 15,000 more than the Twins did on Sunday. It took quite some time to get to the concession stands; and if you wanted to go to the restroom...forget it.

We had a gentleman in our section who really made it a fun night. He bought out two vendors' supply. Early on in the game, he bought one vendor's supply of cotton candy, and just threw bags of whipped sugar to folks in Sec. 232, and even one in Sec. 233. Later on, he did the same to the Cracker Jack vendor, and distributed Cracker Jack in the same manner. One comment that came from a fan above us, "When's the beer coming?"

You couldn't ask for a more fitting regular-season finale. Twins 13 Royals 4. Incidentally, the final game at Met Stadium in 1981 was also against the Royals. Apparently, only 16,000 showed up for that game. And, a tie-breaker playoff game to boot. Considering the Twins lost their inaugural home opener at the Dome in 1982, and went on to have an abysmal 60-102 record, it only seemed fitting to close the place out with a playoff appearance.

Surprisingly, only about 30,000 stayed for the post-game ceremony. My brother and I were going to stay until the very end. The ceremony was terrific. Seeing all the old "Dome-era" players on the field was really something. Emotions started to rise, goosebumps and lumps in the throat formed when radio announcer John Gordon, who was the ceremony's emcee announced, "There is only one member of the All Metrodome Team who is not with us." That of course being Kirby Puckett, who died in 2006. They even played an old tape of the Twins' original PA announcer Bob Casey (who also passed away several years ago) calling out the infamous announcement, "Batting third, center-fielder, number 34, Kirbeeeeeee Puckett!"

And, the number one moment in the Top 100 Metrodome Moments countdown, which they've done live at the games all season, was the now infamous home run by Puckett in game six, with Jack Buck's call, "and we'll see ya, tomorrow night." Also, beginning last season, a countdown placard over in left field counted down from 162 (2 home seasons of 81 games each, also a full Major League season). I went to TwinsFest this year, when the placard was at 81. And, seeing the final number come off the sign was exciting. The sign reads "Countdown to Outdoor Baseball." Under the number one, was a bulls-eye, the logo for the Twins' new ballpark naming sponsor, Target.

There was also a video presentation live from Target Field where other Twins greats, Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva raised Twins flags at the ballpark site.

Kent Hrbek made some comments about the game - including the fact that it was not going to be the last of the last games at the Dome. "You guys screwed up my whole speech," he said. But, even with the "stupid roof" as he called it, there were great memories at the Metrodome. In preparing the crowd for the tie-breaker game, Hrbek said, "It gives us a chance to drink some more beer!"

Who knows how much longer the Dome will last for the Twins. Already, the Vikings are re-doing signage outside the stadium, with large pictures of Vikings players above the gates, and all across the top of the stadium, purple banners; some of which bear the stadium's new moniker: Mall of America Field. There is very little evidence remaining outside of the stadium that a baseball team ever played there.

The only negative of the day, on my way out, the tickets I used to get inside the stadium, fell out of my program as I went through the revolving door.

The Metrodome Gets a New Name

Imagine my shock today, when I looked at my daily email from the Twin Cities Business Journal saying that the Vikings have sold the field naming rights to the Mall of America.(http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2009/09/28/daily47.html?ed=2009-10-01&ana=e_du_pub)

Call it what you want, the Hump, the Dump, the Humpty Dumpty...this one does take me by surprise. I know why they named the place the way they did back in 1982: after Senator Hubert H. Humphrey. But, the Dome seems to be a mediocre tribute to a famous Minnesota politician.

The article cites reasons why the Vikings did it: they are the only tenant left in the Dome as of next Monday (Oct. 5). The Gophers are gone, and the Twins will be moving into their new Target Field next April; however, the transition of the Twins offices to the new ballpark will probably take place much sooner. This deal is at least one means of making some extra revenue for the Vikings - now that they don't have 81 guaranteed nights of revenue from concessions, tickets, advertising and so forth.

The article begs the question, why would the Vikings ink a deal like this, with only a year-and-a-half left on their lease? They've been telling us for years, at the end of the 2011 season, their time is up. So, will a naming rights deal with the Mall of America really make that much of a difference?

There seems to be a catch, however. The naming deal does not expire until February 2012. According to the article, "the [Vikings] described the arrangements as a short-term rebranding effort." The fact that it is a "rebranding effort" piques my curiosity. I know that there has been some light talk as of late about a renovated Metrodome which the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission (the group that operates the Dome) touts as "Metrodome Next."

So, is this to suggest that the wheels are spinning for "Metrodome Next" to come to fruition; and the naming deal with the Mall of America is an inroad to the future of the Vikings and the Metrodome? I'm not entirely sure what is meant by a "short-term rebranding effort," usually, if you re-brand something, it's should stick for more than three years. Are the Vikings suggesting that a much larger re-branding effort is in the works somewhere?

The new naming rights deal will be unveiled on Monday Oct. 5 (the day after the Twins' final home game) during the Monday Night Football (R) matchup with the Green Bay Packers.