TWINS TO WORK EXCLUSIVELY WITH ST. PAUL ON NEW STADIUM

          St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman announced Friday that the
     Twins "have agreed to work exclusively" with St. Paul and
     will "add major new owners over the coming year, paving the
     way for city voters to decide whether to increase the sales
     tax for a new ballpark," according to Rybin & Kahn of the
     ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, who wrote that Coleman "still faces
     an uphill battle to build a Twins stadium in St. Paul."
     Coleman added that the Pohlad family "has agreed to sell a
     minimum" 49% share of the team by July 1, 2000.  Coleman: "I
     think new ownership would help this effort."  Rybin & Kahn
     wrote that 13,000 signatures were collected to put the new
     ballpark issue on the November 2 ballot.  More Coleman:  "We
     all believe the only path to making this happen is to have
     the people speak first" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 7/3).  In
     St. Paul, Rachel Stassen-Berger wrote that MN officials "who
     pushed for a new Minneapolis ballpark were left disappointed
     ... and assessed how to proceed" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS,
     7/4).  Also in St. Paul, Charley Walters wrote that the
     Twins "will have to chop" $16M from their payroll to break
     even this season (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 7/4).

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