Nick Coleman is the biggest a-hole I know. I know my mom said I should never hate anyone, but I hate him. We had a discussion over email where he said if I called him “pal” as I did in my email, he inferred there would be fisticuffs. The guy is about as left as you can go and he would honestly be happier living in old communist Russia. I am not using hyperbole, it is true.
Another thing, the guy flat out lies and uses only information that he finds useful to feed his delusions of grandeur.
I’ll give you that it is bs that sports team stadiums are funded publicly for the most part. Unfortunately, that is the market. Close you eyes and imagine no Twins, no Vikes, no Timberwolves and no Wild. If you are honest, you feel like we have gone from a top US city to a vast tundra. We will no longer be attractive to corporations looking to set up corporate offices in the state. You might as well make the TV news, news and weather only. When you’re out in the boat, you’ll ask your buddy, how about those Brewers, or worse, how about those Packers. These are small and seemingly trivial examples, but they do add to the quality of life here. I could come up with enough like them that all of a sudden it isn’t trivial. Suddenly for a lot of us you would realize how much a part of our life pro franchises are.
I do also agree that the taxes should expire the moment they pay off what they were intended to. That should be cemented into any bill.
I’d lastly like to point out that at least Ziggy is putting up big money and investing in the area. I know, “Well of course he is, but he’ll make 10Xs that”. To that I say, great, we all win. At least he is investing in the state and the economic impact will benefit a great number of people, not just Ziggy. There is also no guarantee that he will make money. He is taking a risk. Heck, he’s probably already contributed money to our state economy by hiring consultants and surveyers to see if the whole project is viable.
I think stadiums and sports teams add to the value of life, quality of life, economy and are over all positive additions to the community. I think they are valuable investments. Look at what the Xcel Energy Center has done.
I’d be all for a vote normally. My fear is they get shot down and the teams leave eventually. Now with only the Wild and Wolves in town, you know probably enough people would be clamoring to the other side of building a stadium and getting those sports back that there will be a concerted effort. At that point the vote for a stadium at any cost would win because people will just want the sports back. At that point it costs us more and we have to start out with a new faceless identity like the Wild. The problem is with a vote, not enough people know all of the impact or how much more it will cost when they change their mind in the future. People vote now with their emotions with no foresight. That’s why we have a representative government. They can weigh all the factors. We just weigh taxes, greedy owners and over-paid athletes.
And a beer or two.
