Author: David Shama

David Shama is a former sports editor and columnist with local publications. His writing and reporting experiences include covering the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Gophers. Shama’s career experiences also include sports marketing. He is the former Marketing Director of the Minnesota North Stars of the NHL. He is also the former Marketing Director of the United States Tennis Association’s Northern Section. A native of Minneapolis, Shama has been part of the community his entire life. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he majored in journalism. He also has a Master’s degree in education from the University of St. Thomas. He was a member of the Governor’s NBA’s Task Force to help create interest in bringing pro basketball to town in the 1980s.

Lots of Questions about U Basketball

Posted on August 5, 2015August 5, 2015 by David Shama

The Gophers basketball team leaves for Spain next week, with the practices and games expected to improve the players and increase chances for a successful Big Ten season in 2016. When the Gophers return to campus later in the month they may have more answers, but there will still be intriguing questions about the future.

NCAA rules allow a college basketball program to schedule a foreign trip every four years. Because of the trip to Spain this summer, Minnesota has 10 extra practices and a few exhibition games to help prepare for next season. Here is a list of questions Gophers fans could be asking.

Q. What direction is the program trending?

Minnesota was a disappointing 6-12 in Big Ten Conference regular season games last season. Preseason expectations had them at 8-8 or better but the Gophers struggled in close games, losing eight league games by six points or less. Minnesota was 18-15 overall and not only missed an invite to the NCAA Tournament but also didn’t return to the NIT where the Gophers won the championship in 2014.

With key returnees a year ago including guards Andre Hollins and DeAndre Mathieu—and building off the NIT championship—the Gophers looked like a solid bet for the NCAA Tournament. Instead, they struggled through the conference season, producing a record that was better than only three other league teams.

Starters Hollins, Mathieu and forward-center Mo Walker, three of the team’s better players, have used up their college eligibilities. The returning personnel has plenty to prove, just like the team’s newcomers. That’s why the Gophers are a popular pick to finish again near the bottom of the Big Ten next season.

Head coach Richard Pitino acknowledged at his news conference yesterday that the expectations for next season by fans are low. “We try to get better everyday,” he said.

Q. Who steps up for the Gophers?

Everyone needs to but hopes start with sophomore guard Nate Mason and senior guard-forward Carlos Morris. Pitino wrote on his blog that Mason has all-conference potential. He’s also written that Morris, a very athletic but inconsistent player, will have much to do with determining the team’s success.

The 16-man roster consists of two seniors, four juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen. “We’re so young,” Pitino said.

Forward Joey King, a returning starter, is the team’s other senior and poster boy for max effort. Pitino has to hope his mostly unproven roster of players emulates King, and that they all try to take away his title as Minnesota’s best overachiever.

The Gophers will need help from newcomers including four-star freshman guard Kevin Dorsey from Waldorf, Maryland. Minnesota’s incoming recruits were rated No. 11 in the Big Ten by 247sports.com, and Rivals.com had four teams from the league in its top 30 national recruiting rankings but not the Gophers. Pitino’s incoming class has an opportunity to prove it’s better than expected.

Q. Will the roster stabilize after recent turnover?

During the last 12 months three players with remaining eligibility have left the program—Zach Lofton, Josh Martin and Daquein McNeil. Lofton and Martin transferred to other schools while McNeil has legal issues. A fourth player, incoming freshman Jarvis Johnson, was determined unfit to play because of a heart condition. All four players were once seen as either starters or key contributors. This spring the Gophers also lost assistant coach Dan McHale who became head coach at Eastern Kentucky.

Pitino and his staff have brought in two important transfers from other college programs, center Reggie Lynch and forward Davonte Fitzgerald. They will be eligible for the 2016-2017 season when the Gophers, with more experience and probably proven talent, could have their best team in four seasons under Pitino. With only two seniors on the roster now, the 2016-2017 team will be a veteran group.

Q. Will the Gophers receive commitments from top in-state high school talent like Amir Coffey and Gary Trent Jr.?

Coffey, who will be a senior guard-forward this fall at Hopkins High School, and Trent, a junior guard at Apple Valley High School, are nationally-recruited players. In recent years the Gophers have flopped in efforts to convince the state’s best prep players to stay home and play in Dinkytown.

Minnesota has homegrown talent that can compete with the better high school players in the country. Not every year will offer a prep group like 2014 with Tyus Jones, Rashad Vaughn and Reid Travis, but there are exceptional high school players in this state each season.

The Gophers have a 2016 commitment from Rochester John Marshall forward Michael Hurt. That’s a step forward in closing the recruiting borders but the Gophers will have to do a lot more lockdown in coming years with players like Coffey and Trent and their successors. Minnesota’s potential to contend for Big Ten championships depends on it.

Q. Can Pitino answer the critics?

Pitino impressed with his coaching in his first season at Minnesota. His 2013-2014 team was 8-10 in the Big Ten and surprisingly won the NIT championship. The league record was the same as coach Tubby Smith’s last Minnesota team, a group with more talent than Pitino worked with.

The disappointment of last season has been documented but the last several months have triggered controversy, too. During the offseason Pitino’s name was rumored with job openings at St. John’s and Alabama. He was too slow in countering speculation and declaring his commitment to Minnesota, according to critics.

Does the 32-year-old Pitino want to coach here long-term? An East Coast guy, he had no connection to the state before leaving his head coaching job at Florida International in 2013. Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague has been all in on Pitino—giving him an opportunity in big time college coaching, and, according to recent media reports, he is boosting the coach’s pay by a reported $400,000 to $1.6 million.

Media and fans ask what Pitino did to earn the $400,000? If you read his contract, though, it calls for annual increases, even though the $400,000 amount is much more than the University is obligated to provide. Advocates for the pay boost argue it’s the cost of doing business in the “arms race” to retain coaches (see Alabama rumors).

Pitino’s popularity, as with any coach, will be tied to winning games but he could become more engaged with the public and media. If he wants a role model, there’s a guy named Jerry Kill who offices within several hundred feet of the basketball office.

Q. When will the Gophers upgrade the nonconference home schedule?

For years now—long before Pitino arrived—Williams Arena has been the state’s largest “bakery” in November and December when the Gophers serve up a schedule of “cupcake” opponents. Yes, it’s understood all Big Ten teams do a lot of this “bakery” stuff to win enough games to make the NCAA Tournament. But the Gophers nonconference scheduling annually ranks with the most unappealing in the Big Ten and is a deterrent to buying season tickets.

In a competitive sports market, the Gophers need to upgrade the pre-Big Ten home schedule with a couple of big-time opponents that are in addition to those provided by the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. This December the Gophers play Oklahoma State in Sioux Falls in a neutral court nonconference game. Minnesota fans are being encouraged to make “the short drive” to Sioux Falls to see the game against the Big 12’s Cowboys. Sorry, that doesn’t count as an upgrade, critics respond.

Q. How much decline in fan interest could be ahead?

For years the Gophers program was among the most popular and lucrative in college basketball. Decades ago Minnesota led the nation in average attendance per game. But interest and attendance is trending downward. The Gophers sold out only one game last season at Williams Arena (14,625 capacity) after selling out four the previous year. The program has an aging season ticket base and younger basketball fans are drawn to the Timberwolves.

The Gophers and Timberwolves once had a sort of stand-off in competition for basketball fans in this market. But the Gophers haven’t had a winning season in the Big Ten for 10 years and while the Wolves’ losing ways have sometimes been even more abysmal, fan excitement surrounds the pro franchise that has a roster loaded with former first round draft choices. It’s a marketing mismatch for Gophers basketball right now when the Wolves can advertise players like last year’s NBA Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins, hometown hero Tyus Jones and Karl-Anthony Towns, the No. 1 overall pick in last June’s NBA Draft.

It’s easy to see why Wolves fans are anticipating a bright future during the winters ahead. The Gophers’ future is less clear.

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Vikings Expect Noisy New Stadium

Posted on August 3, 2015August 3, 2015 by David Shama

Lester Bagley was looking a year ahead last week when he spent one hour talking with Sports Headliners about U.S. Bank Stadium. The Vikings’ vice president for stadium development said the NFL franchise will receive keys to the new downtown Minneapolis multi-use facility on July 29, 2016.

That date will symbolize the end of a journey for Bagley and the Vikings going back to the last century. The Vikings began lobbying for a new stadium in the late 1990s and Bagley initially joined the effort about 15 years ago as a consultant. For the last 10 years he’s been a club employee and key figure in the stadium saga including legislative efforts and stadium construction. He is now part of a stadium project team working for the Wilf family that controls Vikings ownership. The project group includes Vikings front office executives Steve LaCroix, Steve Poppen and Kevin Warren.

With the construction timeline on schedule for the $1.1 billion covered stadium, the timing was appropriate to talk with Bagley a year out from when the Vikings will be playing preseason games in their new home. Bagley spoke about how U.S. Bank Stadium could be a noisier stadium than the Metrodome, why team ownership probably isn’t done spending additional money on the publicly-privately financed facility, and that despite rumors a few years ago the Vikings never made plans to relocate. He also said the franchise will significantly improve its revenues and financial standing among NFL clubs at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Bagley is excited about the stadium and proud of the deal that will result in a facility used for a long list of events beyond the Vikings home schedule—10 games per year, plus possible playoff dates. The club will pay $10 million for annual rent, a figure Bagley said is the highest in the league. The new facility will host the Super Bowl in 2018 and college basketball’s 2019 Final Four. On a smaller scale, the stadium will be used many days a year for events like high school and college baseball games. (Note: unless the Vikings are involved as a promoter of an event in the stadium, the NFL club will not financially benefit.)

Bagley answered the following questions, with replies shortened for clarity and space considerations.

Q. Did you envision a stadium of this quality 10 years ago?

A. No. Over the last few months is when we’ve started to grow more confident that this stadium is actually going to be a game changer. That it’s going to be the best stadium in the league. It’s going to be the best fan experience—the most technologically advanced. With its indoor-outdoor space, its 60 percent clear roof—combined with the (five) pivoting glass doors (95 feet tall at their peaks)—we’re confident that this is going to deliver all the things that we advocated for and more.

Q. What is the most frequent question about the stadium and how do you answer it?

A. There’s an insatiable appetite by the public about the stadium construction. We get a lot of questions about the roof material. That’s the ETFE product, the ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene. It is a very durable, transparent fabric. Combined with the pivoting doors, it’s going to provide that indoor-outdoor experience.

We also believe based on feedback from the engineers and developers of this roof material, that the stadium is going to be loud. It’s going to be a home field advantage because this material is more acoustically reflective than the old Teflon (roof) at the Metrodome. We think it’s going to reverberate, and then we’ve got 40 percent of the roof that is going to be…metal.

It’s also going to be an intimate stadium (with fans close to the field).

Q. What element do you think fans will most be talking about?

A. I think they’re going to love the doors and I think they’re just going to love the feel of the place. It’s going to be such a dramatic difference and improvement from the Metrodome. It’s night and day. When you walk in, you can see all the way around. There will be views as you walk through the concourse (and) you can see into the bowl.

The old dome was a concrete bunker. Once you were out in the hallway you were jammed and then you couldn’t see anything. This is going to be two and three times wider in the concourses with views into the stadium. There will be lots of places to hang out, to watch the game. We think it’s in line with what the Twins delivered (at Target Field). We think the Twins ballpark is beautiful, contemporary. We think on the other end of town we’re going to match that.

Q. How much extra money have the Vikings owners contributed to the stadium to ensure all the amenities are included? And with additional expenditures, is the stadium still going to allow the Vikings to be profitable?

A. The legislation passed in 2012 had the private side putting in $477 million and public $498 million. Since the bill passed, the Wilf family has invested an additional $95 million, and that money may go up from there. Sort of 95 and counting. Fortunately our owners are willing to do that because they want to protect the vision and the great fan experience that we promised we would deliver. The only way to do it—since there’s no more money from our partner on the public side—is to invest additional dollars.

The Metrodome put us at the bottom of the NFL in terms of revenues (with the Oakland Raiders). There were just no opportunities. Now we’re not going to be at the top (among NFL franchises), but we’re going to be at the upper middle.

…I think this stadium is going to provide all the revenue opportunities that we need to be competitive and to be successful. We didn’t have them (the resources) at the dome—and that’s the premium seats for clubs and suites, the sponsorships, the signage, the (stadium) naming rights, and things like that we didn’t have necessarily at the old building.

This stadium solution is going to work great for the state, for the public. It also secured the team (for Minnesota).

Q. How clear is it the franchise will be profitable annually?

A. We’re still selling (revenue sources involving tickets and corporate commitments etc.). We will know after that first year in the stadium but, yes, we should be out of the red and into the black to be competitive in this league.

Lester Bagley (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Q. In retrospect, with the extra $95 million spent, would it have been a good idea to build a stadium with a retractable roof?

A. We looked long and hard at it. It’s a lot of money to add to a stadium for a roof that’s open maybe three or four games a year. Look at Indy (Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis). The first year they opened it up like five-six times. As the years went on, they only opened it up I think three or four times a year.

We just felt that for this market, for this climate, and for this fan experience, we gravitated toward that clear roof and pivoting doors. Leave those doors open as long as we can during the season. Get a real good feel for the weather…and then have the luxury of closing it up on brutally cold days at the end of the season and for the playoffs.

Q. After securing a stadium deal has it been financially rewarding for you and other key members of the Vikings management team?

A. Well, it’s been job security for all of us, and it’s been a labor of love. The Wilfs have been loyal to us and have been great to work for. No complaints there. We’ve got a great team with Steve Poppen, Steve LaCroix, Kevin Warren and Don Becker. The five of us are kind of the leads on the project. Don Becker coming from the Wilfs real estate development company fits in well. He’s got the real estate and development experience that none of us have. This is our first stadium. We’ve learned a lot.

We’ve got a great team and so that’s what’s been most rewarding. One year to go (for the stadium opening), and then we’ve got a Super Bowl coming. We’ve got other major projects coming, and then we’ve gotta run this stadium, and make it work for our fans as well.

Q. When will the first time be that thousands of Minnesotans can walk into the stadium? What will the event be?

A. We’re working on that right now with the stadium authority and with SMG, the building manager. We’re talking about what event is appropriate. We’re also kicking around the concept of some sort of opening ceremony that would be an open house for the public to kind of come in and kick the tires.

It’s got to be somewhere after July 29 and somewhere before about mid-August because that’s when we start our preseason games. We may play our first two preseason games on the road in 2016 to give us another couple of weeks to sort of kick off Vikings football. We’ll have some ability to provide some input on scheduling, but not much. The NFL does their own thing.

Q. Did the Vikings come close to giving up during all those frustrating years of trying to win legislative approval for a new stadium? Were the Wilfs close to relocating the franchise?

A. I don’t know that we ever gave up, nor were we ever ready to relocate. There were times when it appeared it might not be possible to resolve this issue—which was frightening and the consequences were significant. I don’t believe the Wilfs would have ever moved this team. But at some point if there’s no solution they may have sold the team to somebody else. There was definitely interest in the team from other markets.

Our (stadium) strategy was simple: we went to the capitol for 12 years. We tried to build momentum, and persistence and perseverance. Build that momentum and that coalition of support from business, labor, fans and elected officials…in hopes of getting a breakthrough, and fortunately we did.

Q. How will you personally react when the keys to the stadium are given to the Vikings?

A. (Laughs). I don’t know. Kevin Warren says, I am gonna cry like a baby. I don’t know about that. …This building is going to exceed everything we advocated for many years. The jobs, the economic development, the growth in downtown east. The stadium has been a catalyst. The world class events (coming). We’ve already got the Super Bowl and the Final Four. The college football (national title game) on its way—more than likely. A Wrestlemania. Those things will be very rewarding.

Q. What about hosting the Big Ten Football Championship Game that has been played exclusively at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis?

A. We very much expect to be in the rotation for that game going forward.

Q. Why was it important to locate the stadium in Minneapolis?

A. We basically looked under every rock at every location. Ultimately we realized that we didn’t really have a say where the stadium was going to be built. The public—who was investing significantly—had the most to say about the location.

In hindsight we couldn’t be happier. We think it’s the ideal location. It’s right on the light rail line. It’s right on the edge of downtown. It’s accessible to 394 and 94, 35W, 55. It’s a catalyst for all the economic growth that’s going on down there. It (downtown) was also the most cost effective location given that the 55 acres for the Metrodome site were contributed. We didn’t have to acquire more property.

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Kill: U Facilities Project Nearly Set

Posted on July 31, 2015July 31, 2015 by David Shama

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill predicted this morning on the Big Ten Network that work will soon start on a long anticipated new football complex at the University of Minnesota. The complex—which is expected to include an indoor practice facility and coaches offices—is part of a $190 million athletics project to upgrade facilities for Gophers men and women student-athletes. The entire project’s start date was delayed in June but Kill expressed no concern today when asked if it will be completed.

“Just got out of meetings…three or four days ago. We’ll be starting at the latest probably late September, early October,” Kill said from Chicago at a news conference for Big Ten football coaches. “We’ve already got a finish date where it needs to be finished.

“The hold up there (on the overall project) was probably football a little bit because we wanted to make sure everything we had in there, and what we wanted, was right before you take it any farther. We want it to be the state-of-the-art. We don’t want to do something and do it over again.

“It will be started and hopefully part of it will be finished at a year and a half, maybe even quicker.”

Kill didn’t elaborate on what parts of the athletics facilities project will start first but the implication from his remarks today and in the past about the importance of the football complex leave no doubt about it being at the top of the construction list. Kill has often referred to the importance of facilities to his recruiting and continued success at Minnesota.

The Gophers existing football complex has long ranked toward the bottom among Big Ten facilities. Iowa is the latest Big Ten program to move into a new facility. “The impact it’s had on recruiting has been exciting,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said yesterday.

The Gophers were 5-3 in Big Ten games last season, the program’s best league record since 2003. There are a lot of predictions the Gophers won’t match last year’s conference record that was part of an overall 8-5 record.

“We keep improving and keep getting better,” Kill said today. “Last year I said we’d have a better team (than) we had a year ago. We firmly believe that we’ll be more athletic and a better football team this year.

“But there are lot of other people that are here today that can say the same things but we feel good about our football team and the talent.”

Worth Noting

Colorado State, the Gophers second opponent of the season, was picked by the media on Wednesday to finish third in the six-team Mountain Division of the Mountain West Conference. Rams wide receiver Rashard Higgins, an All-American candidate, was chosen as the conference’s preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

Among the storylines at this weekend’s 3M Championship at the TPC in Blaine is whether Tom Lehman can become the first Minnesotan to win the nationally televised senior tour event. David Graham, a 2015 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, was asked yesterday about the Alexandria, Minnesota native.

“I think he could very well win,” Graham said. “He’s one of the dominate players on the Champions Tour. I would think that if he got off to a good start—which you have to do in any tournament to get into some kind of a rhythm and some kind of a flow—he would certainly be somebody who is more than capable of winning. No question.”

At age 56, this could be the time for Lehman to make a strong run at winning the 3M Championship. Graham said it’s proven golfers from 51 to 54 years old are the most likely to win on the Champions Tour. “Statistically, when you get to 55 or 56 you start to go down a little bit,” he said.

Admission and parking are free at this year’s event that includes a promotion with golf legends Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. Graham, too, is playing in the Greats of Golf Challenge on Saturday. The Champions Tour event here has donated over $23 million to charity since 1993.

Men and women participating in the University of Minnesota’s 23 sports averaged an impressive spring semester GPA of 3.27. The highest GPA was women’s track at 3.49. The football team, with the largest number of athletes in any of the 23 programs, had a GPA of 3.04.

The Vikings organization receives keys to the new downtown covered stadium on July 29, 2016. Shortly after that the team will play two preseason games in U.S. Bank Stadium, a facility boosters are predicting will be the best in the NFL. Although no preseason dates or opponents have been determined, don’t be surprised if the Vikings play their first two exhibition games on the road and then host a rivalry opponent like the Packers in the preseason home opener.

There will not be a major college baseball team in the country playing in a billion dollar stadium like the Gophers. Starting in 2017 the Gophers will play early season games in the projected $1.1 billion dollar U.S. Bank Stadium. Other college baseball teams from the state will use the stadium too.

Timberwolves forward-center Gorgui Dieng is expected to play for Team Africa tomorrow against Team World in the first NBA game ever in Africa. Dieng, a native of Senegal, is part of an NBA roster of players from Africa that also includes former Wolves forward Luc Mbah a Moute (Cameroon). The Team World roster includes NBA stars and brothers Marc and Pau Gasol. The exhibition game from Johannesburg will be televised on ESPN starting at 8 a.m. Minneapolis time.

The 11th annual Little League Wood Bat Tournament is a charitable event for Little League teams ages 10-12. The tourney began Thursday and 23 teams from the metro area are playing at Lakeview Terrace Park and Lee Park in Robbinsdale, and Isaacson Park (Honeywell Fields) in Golden Valley. Games are from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. today (Friday) at all three playing sites. The tournament, which goes through Sunday and exclusively uses wood bats, benefits Baseball in Benin. The goal is to bring a team from Benin, a small country in West Africa, to participate in next year’s Wood Bat Tournament. More at BaseballinBenin.org.

That was former Minnesota Daily sports editor Marshall Tanick, for decades a prominent Minneapolis attorney, explaining in an opinion article for the Star Tribune that there is precedent for considering revocation of Bill Cosby’s Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to him by George W. Bush. Tanick, writing in the July 28 Star Tribune, cited examples of organizations that have withdrawn honors in the face of controversy including the 2014 Chicago Little League Baseball team which had its national championship taken away. Tanick suggested President Barack Obama should consider revocation of Cosby’s honor in light of revelations about the famous comedian’s conduct toward women.

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