In the wake of the Timberwolves' Kevin Garnett turning
down a $100M-plus contract offer and a public debate over
funding for facilities for the Vikings, Twins and an NHL
expansion team, the "new sports economy" was examined in a
front-page Sunday feature by Jay Weiner of the Minneapolis
STAR TRIBUNE. Weiner: "How we got here -- big salaries,
overspending owners and public subsidies -- is already
troubling to many Minnesotans. But where we're going is
even more uncertain." Jeffrey Pollack, Publisher of The
Sports Business Daily: "As long as the market is willing to
bear it, the owners have to be willing and capable of paying
it escalating salaries. It means that by buying tickets,
watching sports on television and purchasing T-shirts and
hats, fans are helping make sports a $52-billion-a-year
industry." Weiner: "What makes pro sports so maddening for
the average citizen-taxpayer, especially now in Minnesota,
is that 'the market' is not just driven by owners, agents
and customers. It is also driven by cities and states."
MN Stadium Task Force Chair/State Sen. Keith Langseth: "The
fear that people have is that we aren't at the peak of all
of this. If we put in public money now, are we faced with
being back here again? Somewhere along the line, this thing
has got to correct itself" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/17).
