St. Paul's chances of bringing an NHL team back to MN
"suffered a seemingly fatal blow" Saturday when the MN
Senate Tax Committee voted 11-8 against an arena financing
plan, according to Curt Brown of the Minneapolis STAR
TRIBUNE. The bill would have given the city a $65M
interest-free state loan. State Sen. Randy Kelly, the
bill's sponsor: "Obviously, this is the death knell for our
dream of an NHL team coming back to Minnesota." But Brown
noted that, "With the Twin Cities' large TV market, strong
hockey tradition, wealthy private investors and relatively
new Target Center still out there, there is still a slight
chance that the NHL might return" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE,
5/18). But Target Center GM Dana Warg of Ogden Corp. said
that he "can almost guarantee an NHL team for the arena in
the near future" if the Legislature will provide $40-50M for
upgrades (Sid Hartman, Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 5/18).
TWINS UPDATE: Also in Minneapolis, tobacco lobbyists on
Friday were "offering to accept" a cigarette tax increase
that would finance a new Twins stadium in order to remove
from a tobacco licensing bill "a provision that would
require disclosure of harmful chemicals in cigarettes."
Also on Friday, the Senate Rules Committee passed a bill
that would "commit the Legislature 'to make its best effort'
to keep the Twins" in MN (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 5/17).
