Author: David Shama

John J. Arlotta, the new owner of the National Lacrosse League’s Minnesota Swarm, told Sports Headliners that the local franchise has never been profitable and won’t be for a few seasons.  He regards the Swarm, who start a fifth season next January, as a start-up business requiring time to become profitable.

Arlotta praised Minnesota Sports and Entertainment (the former ownership group that operates the Minnesota Wild) for building a “foundation.”  His goal is to find more customers and field a better team.

He will employ a full time ticket sales staff, instead of part time as in the past.  The Swarm averaged 11,000 fans per game last season and will target new customers including college students who will have an upper level seating area in Xcel Energy Center.  Another idea is to target small business owners with affordable suite options.

“I feel pretty good about where we’re at,” Arlotta said.  “I anticipate making money within a few years, or at least breaking even.”

The Swarm has never gone beyond the first round of the playoffs, although they have had front office personnel and others recognized recognized including team captain Ryan Cousins who scored nine goals and 14 points in 16 games last season on his way to a second straight NLL Defensive Player of the Year award.  Two of his nine goals were game-winners in overtime. Arlotta wants to “enhance” scouting, evaluate more players and add additional Americans to the roster (league personnel is heavy with Canadians).

Arlotta wouldn’t say how much he paid for the team but media reports valued the recently purchased Rochester, New York club at $5.5 million.  Without being specific, he projected losses for next season to be in the “six figure range.”

His view is that the Minneapolis-St. Paul lacrosse market is “ready to explode.”  He quoted research that ranks Minnesota as the seventh fastest growth state for youth soccer.  High school programs, for example, are growing in popularity.  He also said college students, who haven’t been marketed to here, love the game.  He said except for Boston, this metro area has more college students than any other.

The local love affair with hockey is a plus, too, Arlotta said.  Lacrosse and hockey are cross-over sports that draw people interested in playing and watching both.  Opinion and data aside, Arlotta will know from observation when and if lacrosse is booming here.  “The ultimate gauge is watching lots of kids walking with sticks and flipping the ball,” he said.

New Wild owner Craig Leipold is a friend who knew of Arlotta’s interest in lacrosse and suggested he buy the Swarm franchise.  Although he’s never formally played the sport, Arlotta, 59, was asked to play club lacrosse as a student at Notre Dame.  He regrets declining the invitation.  Several years ago while living in Baltimore he became a lacrosse fan watching national power Johns Hopkins University.  More recently he and wife Bobbie, who played high school lacrosse, provided the lead gift of $5 million for a new men’s and women’s lacrosse stadium at Notre Dame.

Arlotta is the former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Denver-based Coram Inc., a privately held provider of home infusion and specialty pharmacy services.   Told that while his business accomplishments hadn’t earned him a bio on Wikipedia but that success with the Swam might, Arlotta replied, “Man, maybe that’s what I should be striving for.”

A couple of opinions on the Brett Favre fiasco.  One, he will never play for Green Bay again.  Too many egos involved.  Two, the only way he ever shows up in a Vikings’ uniform is if within a year or two a team other than the Packers trades him here.

Subhub.com lists a ticket range of $1 to $319 for the Vikings’ home preseason opener against Seattle on August 8.  The site shows a range of $28 to $6,000 for Green Bay’s preseason opener against Cincinnati on August 11.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship event on August 9 at Target Center has already generated over $3 million in ticket sales revenue, according to a source.  That’s a record amount for a Target Center event and although the event isn’t sold out yet it’s expected to do so.

At 25 years old and in his third season with the Twins, Scott Baker is being characterized more and more as the franchise’s best starting pitcher.  Last Sunday against Texas he lost for the first time since June 15 at Milwaukee.  It was the third time this season Baker has started a game that ended with the Twins losing 1-0.  His season record is 6-3 with a 3.26 ERA.  He has an ERA of 2.66 during his last 10 starts with a record of 4-3 in those games, and the Twins have scored a total of only 27 runs to support him.

Well traveled Sidney “Suitcase” Ponson, 31, was the starting and winning pitcher for the Yankees on Monday when they defeated the Twins 12-4.  Ponson, who is 4-1 on the season, has pitched for six major league teams.  Going back to 1998 he’s pitched for Baltimore, San Francisco, the Yankees (two different stops), St. Louis, the Twins and Texas.

Robert McChesney, writing for nbadraft.net, came up with a system to rank the 80 greatest NBA players since 1956.  The top five (in order) are Tim Duncan, Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  Former Timberwolf Kevin Garnett earned a No. 19 ranking. More at https://www.nbadraft.net/mcchesney005.html

Former Mounds View basketball player and assistant coach Mark Sembrowich has been added to head coach Johnny Dawkins’ staff at Stanford, according to https://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/061608aab.html

Minnesota Thunder interim coach Donny Gramenz won his first game last night as his team defeated Seattle, 2-1, at the National Sports Center stadium in Blaine.  The Thunder had been 0-6-4 in its previous 10 USL games.

Thunder general manager Djorn Buchholz told Sports Headliners that the team’s record and play on the field prompted a coaching change when Gramenz succeeded Amos Magee earlier this week.  “At the Thunder now, losing is not accepted,” Buchholz said.  The Thunder, in the first season of new ownership, will be looking for a permanent head coach who is a “proven winner,” Buchholz said.  He hopes that a new coach will be hired by late September or early October.  Gramenz will be considered for the position if he’s interested, Buchholz said.

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) will induct its 2008 Hall of Fame honorees tonight at the Best Western Kelly Inn in St. Paul.  Inductees are Irv St. John, Bemidji State University; Nancy Trebbensee, Southwest Minnesota State University; Randy Sullivan, Minnesota State University Moorhead; Brian Paulson, Winona State University and the 1993-94 Northern State University women’s basketball team.

Canterbury Park will host a dedication ceremony beginning at 6 p.m. on Monday to celebrate the opening of the Dean Kutz Memorial Chapel, located in the stable area of the Shakopee racing facility. The 3,000 square foot facility includes a large multi-purpose area, meeting room, office and kitchen.  The chapel will be used for worship services, events, and group meetings.  The facility is named for Kutz, the deceased jockey who twice led the track’s jockey standings and was the first rider inducted into Canterbury’s Hall of Fame.

Six years, $80 million.  It looks like a bargain.

Earlier this year the Minnesota Twins signed first baseman Justin Morneau to a contract for those terms, making him the highest paid player in franchise history.  The 27-year-old Morneau has rewarded the Twins with team leading totals in home runs, 15, RBI, 74, plus a batting average of .318, second on the club (among full season regulars) to Joe Mauer’s average of .319.

His home runs are about 22 percent of the team’s total of  69.  That’s huge on a team that lacks power and has the fewest home runs in the American league, yet finds itself only 1.5 games out of first place in the Central Division behind Chicago.

Former Twins star Tony Oliva, who works for the team as a part-time coach, thinks Morneau could hit 40 home runs in a season.  Except for Oliva’s former teammate, Harmon Killebrew, no Twin has ever done that.

But Morneau is a special player adept in both the field (two errors this season, five last year) and at the plate, and he’s already won one American League Most Valuable Player award (2006) and could win another this season.   He ranks second in the league among RBI leaders and his batting average of .318 is only six percentage points behind Ian Kinsler of Texas.  A second league MVP award would be a first in Twins history.   Zoilo Versalles, Rod Carew and Killebrew were one time winners.

Morneau is making $8 million this season, according to espn.com.  Albert Pujols of St. Louis and Ryan Howard of Philadelphia are both first basemen and former MVP winners in the National League.  Their salaries are $13,870,940 and $10 million, per espn.com.  Outfielder Valdimir Guerrero of the Los Angeles Angels and Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, the most recent AL MVPs other than Morneau, earn $15.5 million and $28 million.

The Twins wouldn’t trade Morneau’s salary, reportedly $8.4 million, for any of those mentioned above.  With Morneau’s talent and upside (he’s younger than all four of them), it’s debatable whether they would swap him either.