Wild – Page 49 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

City Fighter Seeks Bigger Spotlight

Posted on June 25, 2019June 25, 2019 by David Shama

Jamal James of Minneapolis is the No. 5 ranked middleweight by the WBC and is positioned for more notoriety. He headlines the July 13 pro boxing card at the historic Minneapolis Armory that will include nationally-televised bouts.

James, 25-1, fights Mexico’s Antonio DeMarco, 33-7-1, in a 10-round bout that will be seen on FS1. James has 12 career knockouts, DeMarco, 24. DeMarco is a former world lightweight champion.

James fights in both the welterweight and middleweight divisions. His bout with DeMarco is listed as a welterweight matchup, but middleweight is where he could make an even bigger name for himself. A local boxing insider emailed this prediction about James: “…Definitely in the global conversation for a title fight.”

The middleweight division is loaded with talent including WBA title holder Manny Pacquiao, 61-7-2. He fights Keith Thurman, 29-0, next month. IBF, WBO and WBC are other organizations where James might have a path to title opportunities.

Professional boxing has found a home at the Armory and continues to generate awareness in this marketplace. The building was once the site of Minneapolis Lakers and city high school basketball games. Renovated now and being used for corporate events and entertainment, three previous boxing cards have attracted announced attendances of 3,149, 3,320 and 3,417.

Attendance of more than 3,000 is expected again in July and as of late last week 1,678 tickets had been sold. Ticket prices range from $25 to $250, with the average at $115.

Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions is the promoter for the July 13 card. PBC fights are seen on Fox and FS1, with recent cards being watched in approximately 1.5 million homes.

Boxing has been struggling for decades to regain its foothold with the American public. In the first half of the 20th century boxing was one of the most popular sports along with baseball, horse racing and college football.

Worth Noting

The Minnesota Wild’s 2019-20 regular season schedule was released today. The Wild opens the season in Nashville on October 3, the first of three straight road games. Minnesota has its home opener on October12, hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild plays 17 of its first 26 games of the season on the road (October 3 thru November 30). The nine home games in October and November are the fewest in franchise history.

Charlie Danielson, the 25-year-old Osceola, Wisconsin native accepted a sponsor exemption into the 3M Open today. The Illinois alum and 2016 Big Ten Player of the Year recently qualified for the U.S. Open. The new PGA Tournament begins next week at TCP Twin Cities in Blaine.

The Twins, who split four games on the road with the Royals in their most recent series, hold the No. 3 spot in yesterday’s Yahoo.com power rankings of MLB teams, trailing the No. 1 ranked Dodgers and No. 2 Yankees.

Cbssports.com dropped the Twins from No. 2 to No. 3 in its rankings that came out yesterday. The Yankees are first, the Dodgers second.

The Twins, who start a home series tonight against the Rays, are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing by displaying a full-sized statue of Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit at Target Field. The statue is accessible to all fans, and is located outside the Bat & Barrel entrance on the Delta SKY360° Club level.

A Forbes.com June 11 article lists the top 100 wealthiest athletes in the world, with $25 million the cutoff figure to be ranked. Lionel Messi, with $127 million in earnings in the last 12 months, leads the list. He is followed in the top 10 by Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Canelo Alvarez, Roger Federer, Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. The top three in earnings are all soccer players, followed by boxer Alvarez.

The Timberwolves’ Andrew Wiggins is No. 91 with a reported $26.1 million in pay. He is the only Minnesota athlete to make the list.

Romain Metanire, the Minnesota United defender who will play in the July 31 MLS All-Star Game in Orlando, reportedly earns $305,000 in base salary, according to multiple news sources.

The United has seven of its next 10 matches in St. Paul at the much acclaimed Allianz Field that includes the Brew Hall with its many local beers. Unlike soccer venues in Europe, fans fan consume beer in the seating areas at Allianz.

Ex-Gophers Amir Coffey and Jordan Murphy will have tryouts respectively with the NBA’s Clippers and Timberwolves. They could eventually play in the NBA’s development league. During the 2018-19 season, players with G League contracts earned base salaries of $7,000, or $35,000 for five months.

Prior Lake five-star forward Dawson Garcia continues to attract impressive scholarship offers, with news yesterday Kansas hopes he will be part of its 2020 recruiting class.

Gophers’ football marketers are trying to improve ticket sales in 2019 after last season’s announced average attendance of 37,914 for seven home games. That figure was reportedly the lowest since 1992. Season tickets in 2019 are offered for as low as $35 per game. Mini-plans starting at $60 (three games) went on sale yesterday.

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Timberwolves, Wild Need Draft Buzz

Posted on June 20, 2019June 23, 2019 by David Shama

The Timberwolves and Wild need to stir up excitement amongst their fan-bases during the next three days.

The Wolves have the No. 11 and No. 43 selections in Thursday’s NBA Draft that consists of two rounds. The Wild has eight selections, including the No. 12 overall, in the seven-round NHL Entry Draft that starts Friday evening and concludes Saturday.

Neither franchise made the playoffs last spring. Fan outlooks right now for next season can probably be fairly characterized as “ho-hum.”

A Twin Cities sports marketing authority, who didn’t want his name identified, has heard both the Wild and Wolves have concerns about season ticket renewals and new sales. The Wild needs box office buzz and hopes to obtain it in the free agent market this summer. NHL franchises, including the Wild, are more dependent on gate receipts than the NBA with its larger TV revenues. The Wolves have a superstar and ticket draw in All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns, but need more stellar personnel to become a factor in the talent-heavy NBA Western Conference.

The Wolves, according to the marketing authority, are interested in moving up in the draft and could offer the gifted but so far under-achieving Andrew Wiggins, who has played his first four NBA seasons in Minnesota but is still only 24 years old. Interestingly, this week Nbadraft.net’s mock draft had the Wolves using both their draft choices on small forwards, the same position Wiggins plays.

The website’s speculation Minnesota will draft North Carolina’s Nassir Little and Oregon’s Louis King could fit in with conjecture about parting with Wiggins. Taking Little and King would also make sense if the Wolves choose to play the 6-foot-8 Wiggins exclusively at shooting guard next season. The position switch could take advantage of his height against smaller defenders—posting up, or easily shooting over them.

This will be the Wolves’ first draft directed by new president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas. He is expected to shape and direct the organization in a strong manner, and there certainly could be major reshuffling of not only the roster but support positions, too.

This week Wild general manager Paul Fenton leads his second draft for Minnesota. The expectation is the Wild will be determined to add goal scorers in the draft and free agent market in the coming days and weeks, although there is some thought Minnesota might use its first draft choice on goalie Spencer Knight, a Connecticut native.

The club has many needs but probably should prioritize goal scorers in the draft who can contribute within a couple of years. Ideally, whoever Minnesota selects in the first round will cause some anticipation among fans who know fortunes can change quickly in the NHL—most commonly within a couple of years, but perhaps sooner.

That was substantiated dramatically by the Blues this year, who went from being one of the NHL’s worst teams to Stanley Cup champs within a matter of months.

Worth Noting

The Wild will hold a development camp for draft choices and other prospects in the organization from June 25-28 at its practice facility in downtown St. Paul. The June 25 and 27 practices (start at 9:20 a.m.) are open to the public with free admission at the TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center.

Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub in St. Paul is the Wild’s official viewing party location for the draft on Friday night. NBC Sports Network televises the first round beginning at 7 p.m.

Minnesota hockey legend Lou Nanne said yesterday on Dan Barreiro’s KFAN Radio show he would be cautious about trading Wild forward Jason Zucker, who he predicts will score 25 to 35 goals next season.

Sports Headliners is told Mike Modano, the retired NHL star who has joined the Wild as an executive advisor, is assisting the franchise with ticket and sponsorship sales.

The Timberwolves host a free draft party tonight from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cargo inside Target Center. Josh Okogie, last year’s No. 1 draft choice, is scheduled to attend. ESPN will televise the draft.

Canterbury Park holds its Mystic Lake Derby on Saturday, offering a $200,000 purse that is the largest of the season. The field includes filly Spectralight who was bred in Ireland and has raced exclusively in Italy, but is based now at Canterbury Park.

Former Golden Gopher great Bobby Bell, the two-time All-American tackle on Minnesota’s only Rose Bowl teams, turned 79 on Monday.

The average base player salary is $345,867 in soccer’s MLS, according to the Major League Soccer Players Association.

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Wild to Make “Noise” in Player Market

Posted on April 28, 2019April 28, 2019 by David Shama

Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold is anticipating July 1, and the period when NHL teams can pursue free agents to help their teams.

Leipold told Sports Headliners he’s excited about the summer ahead and upgrading Minnesota’s talent pool. “For the first time in seven years we have some cash (payroll flexibility) to go out and get involved in unrestricted free agents,” he said. “You know we haven’t had money since (signing Ryan) Suter and (Zach) Parise. …”

The Wild, who missed the playoffs this spring after six straight years, had only two goal scorers with over 20 goals last season. Parise, who along with Suter signed $98 million deals in 2012, had 28 goals and Eric Staal scored 22. The Wild ranked 27th in the 31 team NHL in regular season goal scoring with 210, or about 2.5 per game.

Before the season ended, general manager Paul Fenton made payroll moves to create more flexibility, to spend money this summer to acquire one or two productive goal scorers. “We’re excited about that,” Leipold said.

The owner would welcome a 25-plus goal scorer. “They’re hard to come by and they are expensive,” Leipold said. “But there are some people out there like that and we’re anxious to talk to them.”

Leipold didn’t mention names but among those Minnesota seems certain to consider is former Edina and Notre Dame star Anders Lee of the New York Islanders. He scored 28 goals and had 23 assists last season, and becomes an unrestricted free agent in July.

Lee turns 29 that month and is in the prime of his career. He might command a new contract of $7 million or more per season not only for his offensive production but also because of his leadership.

Could the Wild sign even two premiere goal scorers? “It would be hard to get two premier goal scorers but I guess it defines what you mean by premiere,” Leipold said. “I mean if we have $12 million available to us this summer we can make some noise and that’s what we plan to do.”

What’s the likelihood of Minnesota coming up with at least one very productive forward? “I think the likelihood is very good. I think we will,” Leipold said. “Minnesota is a great place to play, and we have a lot going for us right now.

“We’ve got some really young players that would be appealing to anybody looking at coming to our team. And we have some experienced players that know how to do it, know how to win, and know how to play in the playoffs. We will be in a good place come this summer so I am excited about that.”

Worth Noting

Did Leipold labor over whether to retain Bruce Boudreau as coach after the Wild didn’t make the playoffs? “Not at all,” Leipold said. “Done deal.”

Leipold has a high regard for Boudreau who has coached the team for three seasons. “I like Bruce. I like the way he coaches,” Leipold said. “I think he’s got command of the players.

“Last year, I am not blaming Bruce on how things ended up. This is a tough league. I don’t know if everybody understands that. Only half the teams make it (into the playoffs). We got knocked out there at the end. But that happens.

“Look what’s happening (upsets) in the playoffs, this is completely crazy. There’s a lot of parity in this league.”

Ex-Vikings defensive lineman Bob Lurtsema had a blue-collar mentality when he played in the 1970s. He looks at players in the NFL Draft and sees impressive athletic skills, but not necessarily hard workers. “I would draft on work ethic alone, almost,” he told Sports Headliners.

What percent of players have a work ethic meeting Lurtsema’s expectations? “Not enough, I will tell you that. If I say 50 percent, I would be high.”

Lurtsema on Kirk Cousins, the Vikings’ $84 million quarterback: “The kid has a work ethic like you wouldn’t believe.”

Former Vikings center Matt Birk is a Renaissance man with his varied activities including public speaking, starting a new Catholic school in Burnsville and doing comedy at local venues for charity. Unity High School plans to open in the fall, and Birk will do his comedy act for a school fundraiser on May 4 at Royal Cliff in Eagan. Birk will perform at the Gasthof in Minneapolis May 3 for Teach for Christ.

During playing days with the Vikings, Birk owned two Minneapolis-St. Paul restaurants. He told Sports Headliners he’s not likely to go back into that business.

“No, never. (Well), never say never.”

The Twins try for a home sweep against the Orioles in today’s series finale at Target Field. Minnesota has won 11 straight over Baltimore dating back to last year.

Minnesota designated hitter Nelson Cruz is hitting .455, with four home runs and six RBI against the Orioles in five games this season.

The Twins have placed catcher Willians Astudillo on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain, an injury he suffered yesterday afternoon running the bases. Astudillo has played in 16 games, hitting .327 (16-for-49) with four doubles, two home runs and seven RBI. The Twins recalled outfielder Jake Cave from Triple-A Rochester to replace Astudillo on the 25-man roster.

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