[Mpls] "Stadiumus Giganticus!"

[Jenny Heiser]

Mark,

Yes, I am aware of all the facts you've cited and I bet a lot of this list's subscribers
are as well. And no, I am not a person who normally engages in fantasy. I am an idealist
in the sense that I truly believe we the people CAN wrest back control of this
"billion-dollar industry" as you yourself refer to it. I do not find it daunting to stand
up to such power elites by working to change the rules of a 'game' that is stacked
entirely in their favor. And I wish to once again state that I like baseball as a sport. I
enjoyed playing baseball and softball as a kid, I've attended Twins games in the past with
my daughter, Sylvia. What I am fully opposed to is the public-stadium-for-private-profit
deal without a public referendum that is currently on the drawing board.

Mark Said: "And if there have been and they've just been unsuccessful, what alternate
tactics or strategies do you propose that may possibly result in a different
outcome than what has occurred everywhere else? Or, if you have no ideas on
alternate tactics or strategies, why are you wasting our time with this fantasy?"

Jenny says: But, Mark, Phyllis Kahn HAS put a proposal in the public square that would
satisfy your question. And in fact I believe she submitted legislation for consideration
about community ownership. Perhaps my memory is faulty about this. I will check the Mpls.
List archives and see if I can find one or more of her posts that dealt with this issue.
More on this in a future post.

In fact, I do have an alternate proposal for Mark and other baseball lovers to consider.
My proposal has been spurred by re-reading pgs. 2-6 in Michael H. Shuman's book, "Going
Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities In A Global Age" [Rutledge, New York, 2000, ISBN
0-415-92768-4].  In these pages Shuman compares and contrasts two communities, Cleveland,
OH and Green Bay, WI and the outcomes they have dealt with around pro sports and sports
teams. Shuman relates clearly what the NFL rules have imposed on team ownership and thus
shut-out any additional community owned football teams: "Every franchise, with an
exception carved for the Packers, now must be at least 51 percent owned by a single
individual." An added note from Shuman's book: The City of Green Bay owns Flambeau Field,
the Green Bay Packers team is owned by the community via a non-profit corporation. These
two pieces of information are what spurred my most current thinking about baseball and
stadia and community ownership and our so-called 'free market' economy in the U.S. My
proposal is no doubt incomplete and is entirely hypothetical. I'm hoping there are others
on this list who might chime in with additional details or alternatives.

What IF: The City of Minneapolis purchased the Metrodome from the Metropolitan Sports
Commission. [Financial details can be worked out by financial wizards.]

What IF: After purchasing the Metrodome, the City partnered with a not-for-profit
citizen-owned organization that would bring old-time baseball back to Minneapolis, in the
Metrodome, as the St. Paul Saints have in their fair city. [No, this locally-owned team
would not be on ESPN, but games could be broadcast on MTN.]

What IF: Interested citizens of Minneapolis and/or Minnesota formed a not-for-profit
corporation (NPC) to recruit and field a baseball team that would play in the Metrodome.
Each citizen could buy stock in this NPC with no one citizen owning more than a certain
number of shares. Any "profits" made would go back into either the team or the facility.
[Note: MN has more food/grocery co-ops than any other state in the U.S. Many people in our
area know how to do this. Team ownership could follow a co-op model or be some other sort
of NPC model.]

What IF: There was a group of determined citizens committed to overcoming the obvious and
not so obvious hurdles at the state, county and municipal level, dealing with the zillions
of details, to make this happen.

Minneapolis could realistically become a two-baseball team city -- wowza! The success or
failure of either the NPC team or the Twins would be entirely up to the free market. Or
perhaps both teams would appeal to very different spectators and both flourish. Now
there's a dream :-)

Jenny Heiser
Whittier