[Mpls] Sid and stadia

[Steve Brandt]

As long as we're on the topic of Sid, why not add this excerpt from the morning sports section in which Sid proves why he's in sports, not polling?  Can you say push-polling, Sidney?

"This newspaper ran a poll in Sunday's newspaper asking for opinions about the Hennepin County stadium plan.

Well, I am not a professional pollster, but I would have added a couple of questions that I think are important.

The first question I would ask is: Would you rather have a Hennepin County-wide sales tax of 0.15 percent to build the stadium, or allow the Twins to leave here and lose baseball?

Believe me, if this stadium plans falls through, the Twins are done fighting for a stadium and the owners will either cut the payroll to $25 million from the present $56 million or sell the team to somebody who might move it.

Second, I would ask if the people polled knew the state income tax paid by the Twins and visiting players, combined with the additional sales tax earned, could run up to an estimated $11 million a year in a new stadium. The sales tax from building materials also would provide a lot of money to the state.

Third, I would have asked if the people polled understood the number of jobs a stadium costing $478 million would provide.

Fourth, I would ask if there should be a referendum on the stadium, when there wasn't one when the Minneapolis City Council spent $4.7 million moving the Shubert Theater and gave $35 million to the Guthrie Theater and other government-sponsored projects.

Then I would ask if the people polled had any idea of the extent of the crime problems downtown and what 81 home games would do to improve that situation. Those games would attract more business downtown.

And last but not least, I would have made sure I polled some of the nursing homes and some shut-ins and get their reaction on how different their lives would be if they didn't have 162 Twins games to listen to on radio and watch on television.

Incidentally, the callers on WCCO Radio on Sunday morning voted 14-2 in favor of a stadium, although some also wanted a roof on it."

Steve Brandt
Star Tribune/Kingfield