Francisco Liriano...new star rising...Good day to be a Twins fan!

[SaveElmer]

Minnesota Twins pitcher, 22 years old...awesome...really beautiful stuff...Santana like

Santana, Liriano, Baker, Bonser in the same rotation...

And a new stadium to play in in 4 years...

All in all a good day to be a Twins fan yesterday...

[Deja Q]

1. But not a taxpaying fan, who's gonna get double-dipped!

:D

Great players, but if they can afford the saleries, they can afford the stadium. Or do they like being seen as welfare queens?

[SaveElmer]

2. You are rainin on my parade man...

It's been a rough season so far...just wanted one day to bask in Twins gooodness!!

[Deja Q]

3. More of a sprinkle, actually.

I'm not anti-Twins. The stadium issue is the only thing on my nerves. Especially given the problems of today, they're rather shell out millions to support somebody who's far richer. Particularly when the same politicians tell us to work hard and pull up our own bootstraps, damn straight I'm mad. The hypocrisy is annoying, and you'll never see that on FOX 9 news. ;)

[SaveElmer]

4. Well in a perfect world I might agree with you...

There is no doubt the Twins could have probably built this stadium on their own dime. In the panoply of stadium deals that have cropped up the last few years, this on comes in the middle. The Twins are contributing more toward the constuction than most owners do.

There are some upsides to public ownership.

1. The city and county have a significant say in how the stadium is developed, what it will look like etc. Had Carl done it himself, there would be no (or significantly less) input.

2. The County owns the stadium collecting rent from the Twins who are going to be signing a 30 year lease. Had Carl built in, this guarantee would not be there. The Twins are paying 130 million for a stadium they won't own.

3. The County can now collect the entertainment tax on tickets that they could not do before...a new city revenue stream

4. The state will own the Twins name, records and trophies if they ever do leave (after 30 years)

5. Twins are contributing money for library upgrades

6. And while over 30 years the public contribution is about 350 million. The actual yearly contribution is pretty small. It's like saying I'm a millionaire because I have made 50,000 a year for 20 years. The sales tax does not include clothing, food and medicine so it will not adversely impact the poor.

7. While it does stick in my craw a bit thet public money is being spent to support priivate business, it would feel even worse if the Twins left. And really, there is public investment in private industry all the time that goes uncommented on. Tax breaks to large corporations (Best Buy, 3M etc), convetion centers, infrastructure improvements. Ultiimately the Twins are an important community asset worth preserving. This deal does that in a relatively painless way.

Now I am going to go back and watch that masterful Liriano performance from last night!



7.