David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Twins Trend: Home Box Office Decline

Posted on August 1, 2014August 1, 2014 by David Shama

As the Twins move toward the close of another disappointing season on the field, club officials are concerned about more than losing 90 games again. They wonder about next year’s Target Field attendance.

General manager Terry Ryan was on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” last Sunday saying the Twins need to put a better “product” on the field. He expressed concern about losing the attention of fans like in the 1990s when home attendance slipped to averages of under 18,000 per game from 1995 thru 2000 with a low of 13,093.

After winning Central Division titles in 2009 and 2010, the Twins lost 99 games in 2011, then 96 each of the last two seasons. The 2014 club has a 48-59 record compared with 45-59 a year ago.

The Twins ended an embarrassing 3-7 homestand last Sunday when their problematic play included falling behind early in games. That was a characteristic of last year’s Twins and something club officials like team president Dave St. Peter wanted to see left in the past.

St. Peter was also a guest on WCCO’s “Sports Huddle” on Sunday and was asked if attendance could be a problem next season. “Any time you go through four straight challenging seasons it’s going to impact your business…it’s going to impact your ticket sales,” St. Peter answered. “We understand that. We’re going to need to re-establish, and frankly regain, that trust with our fan base and credibility.

“Ultimately at the end of the day that comes down to putting a team on the field that’s exciting and that fans want to come watch. We’ve had that going at times this year but never consistently enough, and then this homestand has been a struggle.

“It’s going to get better. There’s no doubt in my mind that the minor league system that we have today is going to produce a number of high quality players that are going to be a big part of turning this thing around. The question is when is that going to happen? I know our fans want and deserve it to happen sooner versus later.”

The Twins are averaging 28,267 fans per home game, according to Espn.com. That is fewer fans per game than the club averaged during its last season in the much disparaged Metrdome. In that final 2009 season at the dome the Twins averaged 29,466 fans per game. Then came the move to outdoor baseball and beautiful Target Field where attendance jumped to 39,798 in 2010 but has declined every year since with averages of 39,112, 34,512 and 30,588.

Going into this year the Twins had the luxury of renewing season ticket holders by offering the perk of priority for MLB All-Star Game seats. That won’t be on the table in 2015 and a season ticket base believed to total 18,000 at the most will likely decline. “From a season ticket perspective, I think it’s only reasonable to expect that they’ll probably suffer some level of decline,” a former sports executive with knowledge of the Twins operation told Sports Headliners.

The source, who has marketing expertise and didn’t want to be identified, predicts there is a bottom to how far attendance will fall. “I would be surprised if they went below 2 million fans (any time). What is great about Target Field (the environment and many amenities) will keep people coming out simply because of the experience of it all. Do they (fans) want to see a winner? Absolutely. Does winning make it easier to draw people to the ballpark? Of course it does.”

The Twins drew a Target Field low of 2,477,644 last year. The club’s last five seasons in the dome attendance was always 2 million or more, although from 1994 thru 2004 the Twins never hit the 2 million mark in home attendance.

This year’s attendance could total 200,000 or so less than last year, although the team does have attractive games remaining at Target Field against the Tigers and Angels with superstars Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout, and the Athletics who have the best record in baseball.

It doesn’t seem likely the Twins, lacking talent almost everywhere, will suddenly become such a gate attraction that fans can’t ignore them between now and when the season ends in late September. And the Twins know that declining attendance can impact other parts of the club’s business including corporate sponsorships, merchandise sales and concession revenues.

The source referred to earlier describes attendance as the “lifeblood of pro sports.” He added, “Everything else is built on the foundation of attendance.”

Whether the Twins can significantly improve their on-field product between now and next season will have everything to do with how many season ticket holder accounts are renewed, the total number of fans that are in the stands and whether fans tune in games on radio and TV. The source is a supporter of Jim Pohlad and said the Twins owner is frustrated with losing, and willing to spend money on players.

“The truth of the matter is Jim desperately wants to win,” the source said. “He does care very much about the team and its success. He’s a fan. He’s at virtually every game. I think the Pohlads truly do get a bum wrap sometimes that they’re cheap. The reality is that Jim trusts people inside the organization—always has—to do their jobs. If they (Twins executives) come to him and say, ‘We should sign this guy, he can help us,’ I have every belief that Jim would say, ‘Go for it.’ “

Worth Noting

It’s been a rough few months for Dick Jonckowski, the Shakopee-based sports emcee and Gophers public address announcer. In April he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and in June the basement in his home was heavily damaged by water. In early July he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and is receiving chemotherapy.

Jonckowski’s niece, Michelle Beisner, is married to Joe Buck, the Fox baseball play-by-play announcer, who invited Jonckowski to join him in the broadcast booth for the MLB All-Star Game in Minneapolis last month. Jonckowski couldn’t accept the invitation because he was in the hospital but Buck extended best wishes during the telecast.

Jonckowski told Sports Headliners his cancer is curable, and he appreciates the support he’s received from friends. “I’ve heard from people from all over the country,” Jonckowski said. “I should be fine.”

The basement at his house is being remodeled after the water damage and Jonckowski is planning to sell about 60 percent of his extensive sports memorabilia collection that for years has been kept at his home. He has about 80 boxes of memorabilia and likely will have a sale in late August.

No one has ever won the 3M Championship in consecutive years but 2013 champ Tom Pernice Jr. is optimistic he can change that. “My game is in a good place,” he told Sports Headliners yesterday. “My putting is in good shape and you need to putt well this week because you need to shoot low.”

Pernice said he is playing as well or better now than last year at this time. He finished tied for third in the recent Senior British Open, a tournament won by Bernhard Langer who will also be here for the 3M Championship that starts today and concludes on Sunday at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine. Langer has twice won the 3M.

Why hasn’t anyone won consecutively in the senior tour event here? “You know I have no idea,” Pernice said with a laugh. “Golf is really a funny game. Several players have won more than one time (but) it’s just the way it goes.”

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer after being asked yesterday to evaluate the coverage work of rookie linebacker Anthony Barr: “Coverage is great. He moves well. He’s got a good idea. Somebody was telling me that he takes copious notes in the meetings. He’s got pages and pages of them…so he’s very, very into trying to learn what we’re trying to do and teach.

“He’s got a lot of raw, athletic ability that helps in the coverage aspect of things. There’s times when he may pull off of somebody a little bit too soon…he’s got to do better at (that).”

The Jefferson Football Golf Classic is today at Dwan Golf Club in Bloomington. In 13 years the event has raised about $45,000 to assist 39 former Bloomington Jefferson High School football players with college expenses. Event organizers are Rich Bird, Dennis Kane, Stan Skjei and Larry Swartout.

Nate Hanson, the 27-year-old Chanhassen native and former Gopher, is a first baseman with the Twins AAA Red Wings farm club. He is hitting .247 with two home runs and 11 RBI in 77 at bats.

Josmil Pinto, who could well be the successor to Kurt Suzuki as the Twins starting catcher, needs work behind the plate and is only hitting .250 with five home runs and 18 RBI in 96 at bats with the Red Wings. Unlike Hanson, the 25-year old Pinto is on the Twins’ 40-man roster.

Writing for the July 30 Gopherillustrated.com, Ryan James reported that highly recruited DeLaSalle guard Jarvis Johnson lists Minnesota, Baylor, Michigan State, Maryland, UNLV, Wichita State, and Wisconsin as schools he has heard from the most this summer.

The Minnesota Senior Games begin today at the University of St. Thomas with about 1,500 athletes ages 50 and over participating. The games go through August 9 and events include 5k and 10k races, archery, badminton, basketball, billiards, bowling, cycling, disc golf, golf, horseshoes, pickleball, racquetball, shuffleboard, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track and field and volleyball. Events will be held at sites in Bloomington, Eagan, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Athletes can qualify for the 2015 National Senior Games that will be held in Minnesota July 3-16.

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Taylor Not Pressured to Trade Love

Posted on July 30, 2014July 30, 2014 by David Shama

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners he isn’t feeling pressured to trade Kevin Love and isn’t discounting the possibility of starting the season with the star power forward on his roster. He also said late last week that a trade might have been made by now if the Wolves and one other club were involved, indicating a multi-team exchange is preferred by him and team president Flip Saunders.

Love and Jeff Schwartz, his agent, have done nothing to discourage media reports about the six-year veteran wanting to leave the Wolves with one year remaining on his contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent, possibly joining a winning team like the Cavs who have added LeBron James to their roster this summer. The Wolves haven’t made the playoffs since 2004.

Love’s desire to leave Minneapolis sets up an uncomfortable situation for him if Taylor and Saunders still have him on the roster when training camp starts in September. Love will be facing hostile fans in Minnesota, and it would be much easier for him to become acclimated to a new team in training camp rather than during the season.

“We would probably prefer to get it (a trade) done before camp,” Taylor said. “Not so much the pressure on us, but I think maybe on Kevin. It would be better for him to know where he stood before that.”

Taylor said neither Love nor his agent have pressured the Timberwolves about a trade. Taylor hasn’t pressured them either and said it’s possible Love could remain on the Wolves roster until a deal is made next year prior to the winter trade deadline. “There’s a possibility (of next year) in the sense that we don’t feel that we are under any type of time frame ourselves. We haven’t put that on ourselves that we have to get it done by a certain time. My preference is that Kevin would stay here.”

Like a veteran poker player, Taylor appears to be sitting at the trade table wanting adversaries to believe he holds a lot of winning cards—even the possibility that Love will remain with the team for years to come. Taylor called it “realistic” that Love could stay with his team, yet acknowledged the impression given by his player and agent certainly makes that appear unlikely.

“Do I think it’s possible? I certainly do think it’s possible,” Taylor said. “But at this time we’re looking at all the scenarios.”

Taylor believes Love could enjoy playing for Saunders who this spring added coaching to his front office responsibilities. Saunders relates well to players and Taylor wants to believe if the Wolves play well early next season Love might be convinced to re-sign with Minnesota in the summer of 2015. If not, a trade could still be managed next winter.

Taylor hasn’t spoken with Love since the trade saga surfaced after the 2014 season but if he thought the opportunity was right for a meeting the billionaire businessman would be available. “I would be glad to do it but I think at this point what we’re doing is looking at all the alternatives,” Taylor said. “A number of teams have come to us with different options and Flip is kind of looking at them all, and that’s where we’re at. It hasn’t been the right time to talk to Kevin because we’re looking at a lot of different things. But if I felt that was the last or most important issue, of course I would sit down with Kevin and talk to him…”

Love is a former NBA all-star and Olympic gold medal winner. He has established himself as one of the world’s best rebounders and is an extraordinary scorer, particularly away from the basket with his three-point shooting. The Wolves know his talent gives them leverage and they will want to maximize the return in a trade, whether it’s with one club or more.

“We think we can best be served by getting more than one team involved.” Taylor said. “We have time to work on these things, and we’ll probably take some time to get it done.”

If the Wolves can receive the best players from a team in their conference, they won’t hesitate to trade with that club or clubs even though it will mean playing more against Love. What about trade preferences for receiving draft choices versus veteran players?

“I know those are the considerations we’re considering right now,” Taylor said. “I don’t think it’s going to be quite as simple as just one or the other. I think we just got to look at everything.”

Worth Noting

Kevin Garnett had made $315.4 million in career earnings last spring, according to an April 29 Businessinsider.com story by Cork Gaines. That put Garnett at No. 1 for the most ever earned by an NBA player and he plans to play a 20th season with the Nets in 2014-2015, reportedly for $12 million. Maybe Garnett, who played 12 seasons for Taylor and the Wolves, might one day have interest in buying a minority share of the Timberwolves.

“I would always explore that,” Taylor said. “At one time Kevin and I had a wonderful relationship. We haven’t been in touch for awhile and I don’t know what the relationship would be. I have…a certain respect and relationship with Kevin that I hold highly.”

Losing money on the Timberwolves operation, including last season, is the annual norm for Taylor but he said depending on payroll the franchise could make a profit next season.

Taylor’s other team, the Lynx, has the second best WNBA record, 20-6, and is trying to win another league championship. Fourth-year forward Maya Moore, the WNBA MVP last year, may end up having her best season. She scored a franchise record 48 points earlier this month and has been leading the league in scoring at 24.3 points per game.

“Her potential (upside) is hard to tell,” Taylor said. “She has so many wonderful characteristics. Not only the physical, but the mental characteristics and leadership characteristics to just be superb in so many areas. Yet she plays team ball with the other players.

“I don’t know what her limits would be. One might just say the sky’s the limit with her…”

The Vikings didn’t practice yesterday but resume workouts today leading up to Saturday night’s annual passing scrimmage at training camp in Mankato. The team also doesn’t practice on August 3, 7 and 9 in Mankato.

Hollis Cavner, executive director of the 3M Championship, told sports radio 105 FM on Monday that he will take Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus to Saturday night’s Paul McCartney concert at Target Field. Palmer, Nicklaus and Gary Player will be among those playing in the Greats of Golf Challenge on Saturday as part of the 3M promotion at TCP Twin Cities in Blaine.

The Gophers home nonconference hockey game against Notre Dame, originally scheduled for November 8, has been moved to November 9. The team’s Big Ten schedule has also been finalized with more information at Gophersports.com. The 2014-15 season will be the 93rd for the program.

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Kill Leaves No Doubt about No. 1 QB

Posted on July 28, 2014August 3, 2014 by David Shama

Jerry Kill indicated today the Gophers might have benefitted last season by settling on a quarterback but made it clear now that Mitch Leidner is his No. 1. “I told all of our players he’s the guy in charge,” the Gophers coach said this morning at Big Ten Media Day in Chicago which was televised by the Big Ten Network.

Leidner, a redshirt sophomore, split starting time last season with then sophomore Philip Nelson. Nelson had started seven games the year before but never completely established himself as the No. 1 quarterback in 2013.

Kill has been impressed with Leidner since the end of last season including this summer when the former Lakeville South High School star stepped forward as a team leader. Kill praised how Leidner and senior defensive back Cedric Thompson have emerged as leaders, even helping with discipline among players.

A quarterback, of course, is supposed to be a leader but not necessarily a defensive back like Thompson who approached Kill awhile back about leadership. “He came up after the season and said, ‘Hey, coach I want to be that guy. I want to have that pressure. It’s my time to lead.’

“To be honest with you, I thought he would be a good leader but I had no idea he was going to do the job what he’s done since he stepped up. …Both him and Mitch have been extended coaches.”

The Gophers won eight games last season after winning three and six during Kill’s first two seasons as coach. Minnesota minimized mistakes and played physical football on defense. The Gophers struggled on offense in some Big Ten games including with passing, and Minnesota ranked last in touchdown passes among conference schools with 12. Leidner had three touchdown passes.

“I think when you know you’re going to be the guy it’s a little bit different,” Kill said when talking about potential offense. “Mitch has spent a lot of time with the receivers. We know we gotta do a good job when you start seeing eight, nine people in the box. You gotta be able to throw the ball down the field and make some catches.”

But Big Ten Network analyst Gerry DiNardo said after Kill’s remarks that the Gophers need to remember who they are—a physical team that offensively focuses on running the ball—and play within their limitations. “You can really get distracted when people start saying we have to throw the ball better. Of course they want to throw the ball better but if they lose their identity they’ll win less games next year.”

Worth Noting

Kill said on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” yesterday that “seven, eight or nine” offensive linemen will compete for playing time including former center Jon Christenson who is being moved to guard. Kill singled out defensive lineman Steven Richardson among incoming freshmen likely to play early in the season.

The Big Ten announced its Players to Watch list this morning as chosen by a media panel. No Gophers were included among the 10 players with the biggest names including Ohio State’s Braxton Miller and Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon.

In a poll of sportswriters by Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, Ohio State is predicted to win the East Division and Wisconsin the West. The Gophers will finish fifth in the West Division, ahead of Illinois and Purdue, according to the July 25 story on Cleveland.com.

Congratulations to Minneapolis entrepreneur and Gophers sports loyalist Mark Sheffert who was inducted into the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame last week. Sheffert and four others who also attended the University of Minnesota were recognized by Twin Cities Business Magazine at a dinner and program in Minneapolis. For Sheffert the honor came during the 25th anniversary year of Manchester Companies, a business he started in 1989 to assist troubled organizations.

Sheffert, who is part of the group working to raise $190 million for Gophers facilities, played football at Robbinsdale and Cooper high schools. He was a walk-on for the Gophers in 1965 but injured a knee that has twice undergone replacement surgery. At the initial practice of his second season he suffered three compressed fractures in the neck which ended his football career.

Sheffert’s goals had been to play in the Big Ten Conference and in the NFL for legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi. The end of his football career was a life lesson. “Your dreams can be wiped out in an instance by something you didn’t plan on,” he told Sports Headliners.

The Gophers head football coach in the 1960s was Murray Warmath. When Sheffert’s father passed away in 1967 the coach made time to attend the funeral. “My dad was my best friend, mentor and hero,” Sheffert said. “It was a tough time emotionally. To have the coach show up meant the world to me.”

Sports Illustrated pro football writer Peter King will visit Mankato to watch the Vikings on August 5. The July 28 issue makes that announcement while King asks: “Can anyone here play quarterback?”

Celebrities were among those attending the Edina funeral of Gophers football legend Bob McNamara on Saturday. Speakers included ex-Vikings coach Bud Grant who broke down while recalling his affection for McNamara who played for Grant with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

In new coach Richard Pitino’s first season the Gophers won 20 of 23 home games, with a supportive crowd helping to fuel upset wins in 2014. He wants sometimes raucous Williams Arena to become the most difficult place in the country for opponents to win. “We can generate unbelievable home crowds. Moving into year two, if you want to do what we all want to do (winning more), you can’t lose at home, and we lost three times at home. …It’s got to be the toughest place to play in the country, and hopefully we’ll continue to build that momentum.”

The Gophers return four experienced seniors from last year’s 25-13 team, guards Andre Hollins and DeAndre Mathieu, and centers Elliott Eliason and Maurice Walker. Pitino said that kind of experience is a “huge” asset but he won’t predict the Gophers are Big Ten championship contenders, deferring the assignment to media.

Wisconsin reached the Final Four last spring. Pitino described the Badgers as “phenomenal,” and there is no doubt they will be a consensus choice to win the Big Ten title. “They were playing their best basketball towards the end (of the year),” Pitino said. “They have everybody back except one guy so I would think they’ve got to be the favorite going into the season.”

The field for the 3M Championship that starts at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine this week is expected to include defending champion Tom Pernice, Jr. He won $262,500 last month after finishing first in the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines. He ranks 10th on the Champions Tour with earnings of $764,959 so far this year.

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