Attendance for several teams in the Twin Cities, including the Twins, T'Wolves and Univ. of Minnesota football and men's basketball squads, has "been dismal this year," according to Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. The T'Wolves "rank last in the NBA in attendance, a mild surprise based on the buzz created by" coach and President of Basketball Operations Tom Thibodeau’s arrival and returning young talent. The team "finished top 10 in the NBA in road attendance by percentage last season and likely will finish high again, meaning they draw well as a visitor." That "makes sense given the national profile" of C Karl-Anthony Towns, F Andrew Wiggins and G Zach LaVine. Meanwhile, attendance at Target Field "plummeted to new lows this season, which wasn’t surprising given the Twins’ ineptitude." This season "marked the first time the Twins failed to draw 2 million fans at Target Field, their lowest attendance overall" since '04, when they played at the Metrodome. Just having a "wonderful ballpark ... is no longer enough enticement" for fans. On the college side, the UM men's basketball team is "drawing 8,642 fans (announced) for nonconference games." UM's football team "drew an announced crowd of 38,162 for their home finale against Northwestern, the smallest turnout in eight seasons at TCF Bank Stadium." Scoggins wrote the message being sent to these teams is that fans are "withholding their financial support until they see the product improve" (STARTRIBUNE.com, 12/6).
TWINS STRESS DIVERSITY: In St. Paul, Mike Berardino notes the Twins in recent weeks have promoted Deron Johnson to Senior Adviser to the Scouting Department and Sean Johnson to Scouting Dir, hired James Rowson as hitting coach and named former players Torii Hunter and LaTroy Hawkins "as special assistants in baseball operations." The common link between the moves is that all five men "are black." Twins Exec VP & Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey: "Diversity is important to us. I know it’s important to [Twins Owner] Jim Pohlad and [President] Dave St. Peter and the group here in Minnesota, and we’ll make a commitment to that. When you bring in senior leadership voices that have diverse backgrounds, diversity of thought, diversity of experiences, I think that’s important for us” (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 12/7).
