The Wall Street Journal-20080126-WEEKEND JOURNAL- Sports -- Rivalries- Now Leaving Minneapolis- An exodus of pro stars to Boston has left fans fuming
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WEEKEND JOURNAL; Sports -- Rivalries: Now Leaving Minneapolis; An exodus of pro stars to Boston has left fans fuming
It's a bleak winter for Minnesota sports fans. Their pro teams are pathetic. But worst of all, some of the city's most famous athletes are playing better than ever -- they're just doing it in Boston.
Thanks to help from Minnesota exports, the Boston Red Sox won their second World Series in four years, the Boston Celtics are enjoying a renaissance and the New England Patriots are playing in the Super Bowl next weekend.
This has caused an outpouring of bitterness in the Twin Cities, where one talk-radio host now calls his hometown "Loserville, U.S.A." and online sports forums have threads like "Why I Hate Boston." "I can't think of a place that's been so tortured by another city's success," says Justin Gaard, a producer at Minneapolis sports-radio station KFAN.
It could get worse. The Minnesota Twins have discussed trading ace pitcher Johan Santana to, not surprisingly, the Red Sox.
The cities have some similarities. Each is a top 15 U.S. media market, based on television viewers. Both are home to a number of large corporate headquarters, and both ranked in the top 20 U.S. cities in per-capita personal income in 2006, according to the Department of Commerce.
Yet Boston is leagues ahead in the competitiveness of its sports teams, and the recent exodus of talent has only fueled the pessimism in Minnesota. The Twins released first baseman David Ortiz in 2002, only to see him become a cult hero in Boston. Randy Moss, who once starred for the Vikings, was traded to the Patriots last year and this season led the National Football League in touchdowns, with 23. The biggest gut-punch was losing basketball star Kevin Garnett, who spent the first 12 years of his career with the Minnesota Timberwolves and once vowed to finish his career with the team. He was traded to the Celtics last July. Boston has lost only seven games this season as of yesterday, while the Timberwolves have won just seven of their first 41 games.
Resources aren't the problem. The owners of the Twins, Vikings and T-Wolves have a combined net worth of nearly $7 billion, and with the large corporations in the area, including General Mills, 3M and Target, there are plenty of potential sponsors and luxury-suite buyers.
But both the Twins and Vikings play in the publicly owned Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, which opened in 1982 and is one of the older facilities in pro sports. The teams have complained about the lack of amenities and luxury suites, particularly as clubs in smaller cities moved into new stadiums. (New England owns its 68,756-seat stadium, which was privately financed and has 86 luxury suites.)
The Twins have about 10,500 season-ticket holders -- one of the smallest totals in baseball. In Boston, the Red Sox have no problem selling seats despite having the highest average ticket prices in baseball. This season, Dugout Box seats at Boston's Fenway Park will cost $270 each -- nearly five times as much as comparable tickets at the Metrodome.
After trying to convince reluctant taxpayers and government officials for nearly a decade, the Twins reached a deal in 2006 with the county government to help fund a 40,000-seat stadium. It's due to open in 2010. That hasn't turned Twins owner Carl Pohlad, with an estimated net worth of about $3 billion, into a Steinbrenner-like spender. Last year's team payroll was about $71.4 million, higher than only four other clubs in the American League, and less than half of what Boston spent on talent. This past off-season, all-star center fielder Torii Hunter was allowed to sign with the Los Angeles Angels.
Still, the Boston-Minnesota connection is largely coincidental. The Twins were frustrated with Mr. Ortiz's nagging injuries and lack of power, and the burly hitter was passed over by every team in baseball before the Red Sox signed him to a one-year deal for the 2003 season. The Timberwolves tried for years to surround Mr. Garnett with better players, but his giant contract -- a six-year, $121 million deal signed in 1997 -- limited the team's ability to maneuver within the NBA's salary cap. The deal was made with Boston in part because Minnesota didn't want to trade Mr. Garnett to a Western Conference foe, says Timberwolves CEO Rob Moor.
Mr. Moss arrived in New England via Oakland, where he spent two unproductive seasons after seven years in Minnesota. Yet he remains a fan favorite among Vikings fans like Shane Nackerud. "Every touchdown he catches for the Patriots is like an ice pick in my heart," says Mr. Nackerud, 35, a Webmaster for the University of Minnesota's library system. "I hate Boston." He'll be rooting for the Giants next Sunday.
