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.

Too many sports teams?

I read the Twin Cities Business Journal on a regular basis, and this morning, I read an article that caught my attention; apparently, the Twin Cities has too many professional sports teams.

The study was conducted by Portfolio.com, and they tested 82 markets to determine the financial capacity of cities in both the United States and Canada to support professional sports. The professional sports they studied are teams in baseball, football, basketball, football and soccer.

Here in the Twin Cities, we have a Major League Baseball (MLB) team, the Twins. We have a team in the National Football League (NFL), the Vikings. A team in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Timberwolves, and finally, a team in the National Hockey League (NHL), the Wild.

This is the second time the Twin Cities has had four teams, in four major leagues. This region had four teams from 1989-1993. The Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves and our old NHL team, the North Stars. Of course, the North Stars moved to Dallas at the end of the 1993 season.

So, we've done this before, and we've done well - in my estimation. The reason the North Stars left had nothing to do with attendance (having been in the Stanley Cup Playoffs a couple years earlier). The move had a little to do with the arena (the Met Center was getting old, and with the Timberwolves' new Target Center having opened a year earlier, made it hard for the Bloomington arena to stay competitive). The move had a great deal to do with Stars' owner Norm Green and personal issues he was dealing with, including his marriage.

I read somewhere that Norm's wife (I believe it was in Jay Weiner's 2000 book Stadium Games) gave Norm an ultimatum: either sell the team, or move to Dallas. And to the disappointment of many Minnesotans, Green chose the latter.

The Twin Cities got an NHL franchise back on June 22, 1997, to begin play in 2000, and we've been a four-team market ever since. The Twins stuck it out and waited 11 years to get a new ballpark to keep them competitive. The Wild sell out every game at the Xcel Energy Center. The Timberwolves are happy, just uncompetitive on the court.

This is just my opinion, but instead of complaining about having too many teams, wouldn't that be considered a good business model? A market this size, supporting four teams? The Twin Cities isn't the size of Los Angeles, and yet, we have an NFL team, Los Angeles doesn't. Saint Louis is a good-sized market, as is Kansas City; and neither has an NBA team. Kansas City had all four teams back in the 70s, but lost their NBA team to Sacramento in 1985; and their three-year-old NHL team to Denver in 1975.

I don't quite understand why soccer was thrown into the mix. Yes, we do have a pro soccer team here, the Minnesota Thunder, but they are in a minor-league type situation. They are not a member franchise of MLS (Major League Soccer), which sometimes uses NFL stadiums for their games; although, many teams are building smaller, soccer-specific stadiums.

With the stadium issue of the Minnesota Vikings once again waiting to rear its head in the 2010 Minnesota State Legislative session, and the NFL deciding to cut its revenue-sharing program for smaller-market teams (i.e. the Vikings), it will be interesting to see how much longer the Twin Cities will remain a market with four (five if you throw in the Thunder) pro teams. But, so far, I think we're doing well.

To read the article from the Twin Cities Business Journal, click here:
http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2009/12/14/story9.html

Thanks for reading, and have a great Christmas season.