Twins Owner Carl Pohlad said "he is considering taking
advantage of a possible change" in MLB rules that would
allow him to issue shares of Twins stock to the public,
according to Jay Weiner of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE.
Weiner added that "if the Twins decided to go public the
team would use the proceeds to pay of debt and raise working
capital" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/9). Pohlad: "The
Anaheim and Atlanta teams are owned by companies who are
listed on the New York Stock Exchange, so why shouldn't
everybody in baseball be given that same opportunity? I
think the time is past when individuals can afford to
provide the finances to run a major league team." Acting
Commissioner Bud Selig: "There will have to be a lot of
study before we allow teams to go public. Pohlad and other
owners have been pushing this, but there is a lot of
opposition" (Sid Hartman, Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/9).
ANOTHER STEP: In Minneapolis, the City Council voted 8-
5 Friday to approve a nonbinding resolution backing Mayor
Sharon Sayles Belton's plan to offer public land for a
riverfront ballpark. Sayles Belton and Pohlad visited the
site, and Pohlad called its development potential
"unbelievable" (Chuck Haga, Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/9).
CITY NOTES: The Twins released a statement saying they
have retained Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin "to analyze its
strategic alternatives and assist in implementing a
resolution to the Twins financial difficulties" (Twins)....
In Sunday's STAR TRIBUNE, Jay Weiner wrote that the Vikings'
pursuit for a new stadium is "complicating the decisions for
a legislative task force that will begin examining specific
funding sources," and their demand has revived talk of a
dual-purpose stadium. Twins President Jerry Bell, on
sharing a facility: "[T]he more we think about it, the more
we think we're fools to pursue it" (STAR TRIBUNE, 8/10).
...MN Gov. Arne Carlson named MN Commerce Commissioner Dave
Gruenes as the legislative liaison in talks for a new
ballpark and stadium (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 8/10).
