The independent American Association St. Paul Saints' new CHS Field opened this week with a "Mardi Gras-style parade, with stilt-walkers, fire-eaters and jugglers roaming the warning track," according to Rachel Blount of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Since the team first unveiled plans for their $64.7M ballpark project, they have been "fighting the assumption that they will lose the boisterous irreverence that defined their long run" at Midway Stadium. Saints Dir of Broadcasting & Media Relations Sean Aronson said, "I promise you, it will take about five seconds of looking at that parade to realize that not only have we not changed, but we’ve gone to the absurd." Blount wrote Midway Stadium "functioned as a stage for the Saints’ brand of entertainment." With that in mind, the Saints "sought to create a park that preserved the spirit born in Midway while adding modern amenities." Minneapolis-based Snow Kreilich architect Julie Snow, who designed CHS Field, said, "We weren’t trying to make a ballpark that’s as quirky and surprising as the Saints are, because they do that. We were trying to do a ballpark that allows that to happen." Blount noted the Saints have "incorporated a few artifacts" from Midway Stadium, including a pig weather vane and a copy of late artist Andy Nelson’s mural (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 5/17). Saints Exec VP Tom Whaley said, "The building at Midway was a great home in a great location and had a charm about it, but it wasn't a comfortable place for fans or a comfortable place to operate" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 5/16). In St. Paul, Joe Soucheray wrote CHS Field "is a gem, an absolute gem" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 5/17).
CARBON FOOTPRINT: In St. Paul, Frederick Melo noted the Saints are the "latest team to go green." Recycling, rainwater re-use, solar power and "even 'rescued' timber benches are all on deck" for the new ballpark. There is "even a dry goods purchasing program for environment-friendlier concessions." American Association President Dan Moushon said that it "would be fair to call the new St. Paul ballpark the most environmentally conscious of the 13 ballparks in the league." Saints officials said that more than 95% of the "original Gillette building was recycled," and about 20% of the building "remains on-site in the form of retaining walls and floors or as crushed material used for the ballfield drainage system" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 5/17).
TAKE IT TO THE BANK: Also in St. Paul, David Fondler noted the logo of Twin Cities-based CHS Inc. "will be highly visible around the ballpark -- even on packages of sunflower seeds." CHS Head of Consolidated Sports Branding Jim Poulter said of the company's naming-rights deal, "One of our major goals with doing sports and sports sponsorship marketing was to increase awareness of the CHS brand, because we did not have an outward consumer-oriented brand focus. A number of our cooperatives are completely CHS-owned, but it might not be readily apparent. So we're going through some identity components there, and that's a huge initiative that takes a team of folks to do across the U.S." (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 5/17).
