Stadiums – Page 30 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Wild Never Got Started in Playoff Series

Posted on May 8, 2015May 8, 2015 by David Shama

Chicago swept the Wild 4-0 in the playoffs that ended last night at Xcel Energy Center. “We were chasing (from behind) every game,” said Wild coach Mike Yeo. “It was an incredible stat. We never had the lead.”

During the second round Stanley Cup playoff series the Blackhawks frequently used a lead to turn up their defense and make it more difficult for the Wild to score. Minnesota produced just seven goals in the series, once being shutout and in another game scoring one goal.

A year ago media and fans sat at Xcel Energy Center and recognized the team’s need for additional scoring. A common wish was for the Wild to acquire forward Thomas Vanek during the off season. That happened but during the playoffs this spring, including against the Blackhawks, Vanek didn’t score a goal.

The Wild’s offensive shortcomings weren’t just because of the 31-year-old former Gopher who had come home to help the Wild make a deeper playoff run. The series against the Blackhawks exposed the truth that Chicago had superior playmakers and scorers.

Former North Stars player and executive Lou Nanne acknowledged the Wild’s need for “more scorers” and that some Minnesota players didn’t do enough in the series. “They’ve got a couple superstars we don’t have,” Nanne said.

But Nanne said this season has been a success for the Wild and the 2015 team is the best in franchise history. There’s a nucleus to build upon while the Wild compete in what he described as the NHL’s best division (Central) and conference (Western).

After watching the Blackhawks’ impressive play against the Wild, Nanne said Chicago is his favorite to win the Stanley Cup.

Worth Noting

With yesterday’s win over the A’s, the Twins have now won 10 of their last 13 games. The Twins, 16-13 overall, are 6-1 in May and 12-5 this season at Target Field.

The Twins try to improve their 4-8 road record this weekend starting with tonight in Cleveland against the Indians. Mike Pelfrey, among the surprise contributors in the starting pitching, has a 2-1 record with a 2.63 ERA. Tonight he faces Cleveland’s Trevor Bauer, 2-0, 3.38 ERA.

During the weeks ahead Vikings rookies will have about 20 sessions to help them with life skills and behavior, according to Rick Spielman. The Vikings general manager said his organization offers diverse presentations ranging from all the negative things that can happen to players off the field, to the decision-making of buying or renting a car, or house. “We are very proactive,” Spielman said. “We’ve had guest speakers come in from all over the country that we feel can help educate our guys.”

Prior to drafting players, the Vikings devoted a lot of time to psychological test results and background checks. Character played a major role in who the Vikings were willing to select. Spielman knows, of course, that one or more of the 10 rookies drafted last week will make mistakes but hopefully not career threatening errors. “Everybody does (make mistakes), but we try to be as diligent as we can in that area (prevention),” Spielman said.

Spielman will speak next Thursday at the CORES luncheon at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans. Reservations for the program (deadline is next Monday) can be made by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

Spielman said his son J.D. Spielman, who will be a senior at Eden Prairie High School next year, has football offers from Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan and Minnesota. He potentially could be a slot back, defensive back or return specialist in college.

The Vikings will have 10 draft choices, 10 free agents and 40 other prospects in for rookie workouts this weekend including today. The club emphasizes inviting ex-college players from this area to workouts. Among the organization’s “finds” over the years have been cornerback and punt returner Marcus Sherels (Gophers) and wide receiver Adam Thielen (Minnesota State-Mankato).

Vikings marketing executive Steve LaCroix said the club has sold about 40,000 season tickets for the new stadium scheduled to open in 2016. The stadium capacity for football will be about 66,000 and eventually over 60,000 of the tickets sold could be season tickets. By state legislative mandate, some single game tickets at affordable prices must be made available for purchase.

The Vikings could have interest in some day hosting the NFL Draft that for decades was held in New York but this spring was staged in Chicago. Various fan activities drew about 200,000 people in Chicago.

Jerry Kill credits the late Dave Larson, who once gave $500,000 to the football program to pay for tutors, laptops and enhancements to the weight room, with playing a major role in improving academics. Kill said earlier this week his players have seven consecutive semesters of collective GPAs of 3.0 or better.

Larson was a University of Minnesota regent and philanthropist. His widow, Janis Larson, told Sports Headliners late last year she will provide $15 million for the football complex that is part of the Gophers’ $150 million plan to build and renovate athletic facilities.

Kill is Honorary Chair of the group trying to bring the College Football Playoff National Championship Game here. “They’re going to move that game around just like the Super Bowls,” Kill told Sports Headliners. “There’s not a finer place than the Twin Cities. They have the Super Bowl and Final Four (already booked), and should have the national championship game.”

Kill said he hasn’t started lobbying efforts on behalf of a national title game for the new Vikings Stadium. Minneapolis is expected to bid for the 2020 game. “I am not that far along on all this,” said Kill, who agreed a few weeks ago to become Honorary Chair. Minneapolis and stadium promoters are aggressively pursuing national attractions for the domed multipurpose stadium that is expected to be among the most unique sports venues in the world.

Kill said all four of his players chosen in the NFL Draft are in “perfect” places for opportunities with their new teams. The four are tight end Maxx Williams, Ravens (second round); linebacker Damien Wilson, Cowboys (fourth round); running back David Cobb, Titans (fifth round); and safety Cedric Thompson, Dolphins (fifth round).

The 1950 NFL Draft was the last time Minnesota had four players selected in the first five rounds.

Former Gophers wide receiver Derrick Engel developed tendonitis in his knee awhile ago and that has slowed his pursuit of a pro football opportunity.

Congratulations to 74-year-old Bobby Bell who will be among University of Minnesota graduates receiving a degree next Thursday during ceremonies at Mariucci Arena. Bell, arguably the greatest Gophers football player ever, will graduate with a park and recreation degree. Friends and family will attend his graduation and celebrate at a party on campus Thursday evening. Among those expected at activities are former Chiefs teammate Willie Lanier and Bell’s son Bobby Bell Jr.

Bell was a two-time All-American tackle for the Gophers. He won the 1962 Outland Trophy, and during his three-year career at Minnesota the Gophers had a 22-6-1 record while playing in two Rose Bowls, and winning both a Big Ten and national championship.

Tom Obarski, the 2014 Concordia-St. Paul Division II AFCA All-American, has signed as a free agent placekicker with the Bengals.

Canterbury Park’s live horse racing season begins next Friday. The 70-day race meet is the longest since 1992. It’s estimated approximately $14 million in purses will be paid to horsemen, a record for the Shakopee racetrack. For the third consecutive season, Canterbury Park’s nearly 1,600 horse stalls will be at capacity.

Wednesday’s column about Verne Gagne prompted e-mails from readers with their own memories of local professional wrestling. A friend remembered going to the Minneapolis Auditorium as a youngster and bringing a squirt gun. “I sat at the end of an aisle with my arms folded. I then proceeded to squirt the Kalmikoff brothers as they walked by,” he wrote in an e-mail. “When they looked over, I was looking elsewhere with an angelic look on my face.”

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Mixed Results on Vikings First Rounders

Posted on May 1, 2015May 1, 2015 by David Shama

There’s nothing wrong with being upbeat about the Vikings’ choice of cornerback Trae Waynes with the No. 11 selection in the first round of last night’s NFL Draft. But fans are advised to evaluate the success of the selection in a few years.

The Vikings have made 11 first round selections dating back to 2007, including last night. In addition to Waynes, those selections were for Adrian Peterson (2007), Percy Harvin (2009), Christian Ponder (2011), Matt Kalil (2012), Harrison Smith (2012), Sharrif Floyd (2013), Xavier Rhodes (2013), Cordarrelle Patterson (2013), Anthony Barr (2014) and Teddy Bridgewater (2014).

All 10 of the previous first rounders from past years became starters as rookies. Seven were All-Rookie selections and four made the Pro Bowl. Peterson and Harvin were both NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. Peterson was also selected first team Associated Press All-Pro as a running back.

Honors are nice but performance over time is what matters most—individually and contributing to team success.

Peterson will one day be a Hall of Fame running back and was worthy of going even higher in the 2007 draft’s first round than his No. 7 selection. Harvin, despite his superb talents as a slot receiver and runner, became a “headache” specialist with the Vikings—both suffering from head pain and giving it to coaches and management before he was traded to the Seahawks.

Ponder was mostly ineffective and didn’t follow the script to become the quarterback savior. Kalil is supposed to be the team’s franchise left tackle but he’s been inconsistent and sometimes awful. Safety Smith and cornerback Rhodes form half of a talented and promising defensive secondary. Floyd, a defensive tackle, started one game as a rookie and 13 last season, and faces a prove-it season in 2015.

Patterson’s talents—he was All-Pro as a kick returner for 2013 and flashed promise as a receiver—reminds us of Harvin’s skills, but he seems unfocused and perhaps difficult to handle. Barr and Bridgewater teased with their abilities and promise last season as rookies, and left coaches and fans anticipating how much more they can contribute in future years.

The report card is mixed for the 10 players referenced above, and more importantly so are the team results on the field. The Vikings have had losing seasons three of the last four years, making the playoffs once and compiling an overall record of 25-38-1.

That record, of course, isn’t just the responsibility of the 10 first round draft choices. Other players—whether they were later rounds selections or veterans already on the club—are accountable too. Coaches and personnel decision makers are also part of the story. But what would the team record be the last couple years if Ponder had been a franchise quarterback? If Harvin had been All-Pro every year? Or if Patterson was the equal of Harvin in making explosive plays by catching passes and running for extra yardage? And if Kalil was mentioned in the same breath with the league’s best left tackles.

Get the idea? Let’s wait a few years and see what the impact really is of Waynes and past first round draft selections, and how the wins and losses are adding up for the Vikings.

Worth Noting

With their selection of Waynes in the first round last night, the Vikings tied the Bengals (1984-1987) for most NFL first round selections in a four-year period, with eight.

Last Sunday’s first round Game 6 between the Wild and Blues from Xcel Energy Center was the most watched hockey game ever on NBC in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. Late in the game 53 percent of all television households in this market with TV’s on were tuned to the Wild game.

The Wild will host a Playoff Pep Rally at the IDS Center Crystal Court in downtown Minneapolis today from noon to 1 p.m. The Wild face the Blackhawks in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight in Chicago. Fans are encouraged to wear Wild team colors on Friday and for future playoff game days. Team mascot Nordy will join former Wild captain Wes Walz, 1995 Stanley Cup Champion Tom Chorske, and others on stage at the rally.

Round 2 Rally Towels will be distributed to 500 fans beginning at noon. One lucky fan will win a Zach Parise autographed jersey. Complimentary raffle tickets will be distributed beginning at 11 a.m. There is a limit of one raffle ticket per person and the winner must be present when announced.

The new Capital Club featuring local sports figures as speakers meets on selected mornings at Town & Country Club in St. Paul. Gophers football coach Jerry Kill will speak next Tuesday. For more information contact, Patrick Klinger, patrickklinger@klingercompany.com.

Patrick Talty, the SMG executive working on attracting events to the new Minneapolis Vikings stadium, said a bid will be submitted by the end of May to host the college football national championship game. The downtown facility, opening in 2016, might be the site of the game in 2018, 2019 or 2020.

Among other attractions, the stadium could also host the WWE’s WrestleMania. Talty said the economic impact for a city having the event can be $100 million.

Condolences to family and friends of Verne Gagne who died earlier this week at age 89. Gagne played football for the Gophers and was a two-time NCAA wrestling champion. As a pro wrestling champion and promoter, he made the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association a household phrase in this marketplace. His zest for life and entertaining will long be remembered by Minnesotans.

Gagne impacted the development and livelihoods of many athletes who made careers out of pro wrestling. Among them is former Gophers football player Jim Brunzell who became part of the famous “High Flyers” tag team along with Gagne’s son Greg Gagne. “Verne played a major part of my early wrestling career,” Brunzell wrote via e-mail. “He trained me, booked me, and enabled me to learn my trade from some of the greatest wrestlers of all-time. …

“He was a tremendous competitor, no matter what the activity—wrestling, racquetball, or tennis. He’d just as soon knock your teeth out, than lose! He loved the outdoors, fishing and hunting, and probably would have preferred to live in the early Wild West! He loved his family, and the University of Minnesota, and was truly a modern day icon!”

A sold out crowd of more than 800 is expected Sunday when The Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame hosts its 8th Annual Minnesota Football Honors event at the Hilton Minneapolis. See the April 16 issue of Sports Headliners for a listing of individuals being honored.

Twins marketers like this year’s home schedule that has the club playing 48 dates at Target Field between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

New Twins manager Paul Molitor told Sports Headliners the first month of the season and 22 games played isn’t a large enough sampling to know what he’s got for a team including decisions on who deserves to stay on the roster. “I think probably 30-40 games is a little better gauge…so let’s see how it plays out a little bit longer.”

Molitor said on Wednesday morning first baseman Joe Mauer is achieving more “quality at bats” than anyone else on his roster. Mauer, who entered this year with a career batting average of .319, hit just .277 last season. Molitor wouldn’t predict what Mauer’s average will be this season, but as of today he is at .318. Mauer is hitting .366 in his last 10 games, while driving in 12 runs in the past 14 games. “I do have confidence he’s going to have a good year,” Molitor said. “I am just not going to put a number on it.”

Jessie Aney, who won the MSHSL girls singles tennis title as an eight grader in 2011, has joined the Rochester Century High School boys team. Now a junior in eligibility, she is ranked No. 8 among Class AA players in the state by the boys tennis coaches association. A senior academically, Aney will be attending North Carolina on a tennis scholarship next fall.

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Nobody Builds Stadiums Like Minneapolis

Posted on March 27, 2015March 29, 2015 by David Shama

Like it or not, by the year 2018 the Minneapolis-St. Paul market could have five new stadiums that opened during a 10-year period.

Dr. Bill McGuire’s intent to build a soccer-specific stadium to house his Major League Soccer expansion franchise puts MSP in unique territory on the American sports scene. Three or four years from now it looks like this town will be the only area in the country that can list the opening of five major stadiums in a decade—at a cost of about $2 billion.

“It is an incredible phenomenon,” said Bill Lester.

Lester (center) with dome colleagues Steve Maki & Dennis Alfton.

Lester was executive director of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission from 1987-2012. Part of that period he contended with restlessness among the Metrodome’s major tenants who wanted their own buildings. The campaigns to move on were all successful, with the Gophers opening TCF Bank Stadium in 2009, the Twins moving into Target Field in 2010 and the Vikings now working toward a first season in their new covered stadium in 2016.

The independent baseball St. Paul Saints will open their new $60-plus million stadium in Lowertown this spring. And this week comes news the MLS is granting a franchise to McGuire and his group who want to build an open air soccer stadium in the Minneapolis Farmers Market area that might cost between $100 million and $150 million.

The Gophers, Twins, Vikings and Saints facilities received major funding from the public sector. Indications are most city, county and state political leaders aren’t in favor of public money for a soccer stadium. Yet even if the facility is privately financed there surely will be at least indirect taxpayer money involved to help with surrounding roads and other elements. “There are some ways you can help them without it being a direct subsidy,” Lester said.

The real possibility of five new stadiums at a $2 billion collective price tag is completely different than what’s going on around the country where building one major venue sometimes gets done, but not always. Atlanta is building new football and baseball stadiums for its NFL and MLB teams at the same time but that’s unusual. Los Angeles has been trying to agree on a football stadium plan for decades to attract an NFL franchise—perhaps the Rams who once called LA home but now find themselves trying to convince the city of St. Louis and state of Missouri to build them a new palace. Oakland is in danger of losing its baseball and football teams because no progress has been made for years in finalizing a plan for new stadiums. Other cities and teams are at odds, too.

Long ago there was a reluctance here to invest in facilities but Lester thinks that changed with the successes of the Metrodome and Xcel Energy Center. He noted the dome was “built on time and on budget,” sending a message of accountability to a skeptical public. The versatile facility also kept the Twins and Vikings from moving out of town for 25 years. “The public portion of the investment was very successful,” he said.

The Xcel Energy Center had a cutting edge design and enhancements. The facility showed the public how a gameday experience there, or later at Target Field, could be so much more than what fans once experienced in other Minnesota sports venues.

MSP, once a reluctant player in the stadium building game, has become the parade leader among American cities. Lester believes the change in attitude is also explained by how team owners are no longer viewed as billionaires running out of town with the money from their new riches generated in new stadiums. “It just didn’t hold up to very much scrutiny,” Lester said.

Minnesotans have come to realize stadiums ensure the commitment of teams to stay here and the facilities make major league sports entertainment possible. Fans enjoy the experiences in the stadiums and realize those venues create jobs, generate taxes and can lead to neighborhood developments providing more economic stimulus. There’s also the benefit of maintaining and building this area’s national image of being a high quality place to live, offering exceptional education, health care, housing, live theatre, major league sports and more.

Lester said the diversified sports scene here plays a role in attracting and keeping young professionals and entrepreneurs, “part of a broader picture” to feed the vitality of this area.

By 2018, Minneapolis-St. Paul will be home to not only major league baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer but also big time college basketball, football and hockey with the Gophers. In addition, MSP has professional women’s basketball with the Lynx and men’s pro lacrosse with the Swarm. No other city can match that lineup, including metros with three and four times the population of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

The already intense competition among teams for ticket buyers, sponsors, suite purchasers and advertisers will kick up a notch with an MLS club and new stadium. Can all those pro teams, and the Gophers, be successful at the box office and with their overall balance sheets?

Lester isn’t sure while taking an optimistic but cautious view. “If the economy is healthy and the business climate is okay…I am not so sure anymore that there is a point at which it implodes. I used to think there was but I am not so sure anymore.”

Worth Noting

Sports Illustrated’s baseball preview issue, on newsstands this week, predicts Twins AL Central Division rival Cleveland will not only win the division but also will defeat the Nationals in the World Series. The Tigers, White Sox and Royals will trail the Indians but finish ahead of the Twins who will be last in the division, per S.I. The magazine forecasts a Twins record of 67-95, the worst in the AL. The club was 70-92 last season and S.I. believes the 2015 team is improved but so is the division with tough competition.

The magazine—quoting an anonymous scout—said “the starting pitching is respectable now.” But outfield defense, including with a declining Torii Hunter, is a minus and while the club has power hitters in Oswaldo Arcia and Kennys Vargas, the long ball isn’t part of Joe Mauer’s future, S.I. wrote. “Joe Mauer has lost his power, and in that ballpark (Target Field) it’s not coming back,” said the scout. “He’s an opposite-field singles and doubles hitter now.”

New manager Paul Molitor? “The team stopped listening to Ron Gardenhire, so the manager change was smart,” the scout said.

The Gophers hockey team and coach Don Lucia have plenty of incentives in the NCAA Tournament. The Gophers have a tournament opening Northeast Regional game late this afternoon against Minnesota Duluth. A win advances Minnesota to the regional title contest tomorrow, with the winner earning a place in the Frozen Four April 9-11 in Boston. The Gophers were the national runner-up last year at the Frozen Four.

A national title would be the third for a Lucia-coached Gophers team. If Lucia is successful in winning the NCAA title, he receives a bonus of $75,000, according to a schedule of incentives document he and the University agreed to in July of 2012. Lucia has already earned $30,000 and $15,000 bonuses for winning the 2015 Big Ten regular season and conference championships, according to that document.

Union defeated the Gophers in the national championship game last April but didn’t qualify for this year’s NCAA Tournament after a 19-18-2 season. The Union team of last year showed the Gophers an aggressiveness and physical style that could help Minnesota in this year’s tournament.

Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk is 2-0 against the Flames this season with a 0.98 GAA and one shutout. The Wild play the Flames at Xcel Energy Center tonight. While the Wild is 2-0 this season against Calgary, Minnesota is 0-2 versus the Kings who are at Xcel tomorrow night.

Should be fun having the Matthews brothers in the NFC North together next fall. The Vikings signed linebacker Casey Matthews as a free agent this week. Casey’s older brother, Clay Matthews, is a six-year NFL veteran and standout linebacker for the Packers. Casey started a career-high 11 games for the Eagles last season. A four year pro, he also had a career-best 62 tackles last season.

Timberwolves president Flip Saunders and general manager Milt Newton rank No. 24 in ESPN.com’s listing this week of the NBA’s front office decision makers. The top five front offices among the 30 league franchises are the Spurs, Warriors, Rockets, Heat and Trail Blazers. ESPN ranks Saunders No. 25 among the league’s best coaches, with Gregg Popovich of the Spurs No. 1, the Hawks Mike Budenholzer No. 2 and the Warriors Steve Kerr No. 3. Former Wolves coach Randy Wittman, now head coach of the Wizards, ranks No. 26 despite a winning record in Washington.

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