David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Wolves to Lose $5 Million or More in 2013

Posted on February 25, 2013February 25, 2013 by David Shama

Glen Taylor expects his Timberwolves franchise to lose $5 million to $10 million this season but hopes to “break-even” financially in 2013-14. During an interview with Sports Headliners the Mankato billionaire and Wolves owner also said he’s not close to selling the team, looks forward to having Kevin Love on the roster for many years and isn’t ready to evaluate general manager David Kahn’s expiring contract.

The franchise has been losing money for years but those deficits have apparently been reduced. In 2010, for example, there was speculation the Wolves would lose $25 million.

Taylor has seen the value of his franchise increase over the years from when he purchased it in 1995 for a reported $88 million. Forbes.com valued the Wolves at $364 million last month.

Taylor, 71, has been shopping the team for awhile. Taylor’s proposal has him remaining as the majority owner for “sometime” with a limited partner eventually taking over the franchise. Some prospective buyers desire control immediately but that’s not what Taylor wants.

“I am not close to anything,” he said. “I continue to talk to people who have shown interest.”

Love, the Wolves Olympian and All-Star forward, made national headlines earlier this season in a Yahoo! Sports article expressing frustration with the franchise. Taylor said the story conveyed the message Love doesn’t like his teammates and the fans, and doesn’t want to play here, but Taylor explained that’s not correct.

“Well, he does regret it (the story),” Taylor said. “He’s expressed that. He didn’t quite anticipate it would come out the way it did. …”

Taylor and Love have talked about the future. He expects Love to be with the franchise even beyond the remaining three seasons on his contract starting next fall.

“Yeah, that’s what he indicated to me, that he’s looking long run,” Taylor said. “I think he knows of Ricky’s (Rubio) potential. …He likes some of the other players on the team. He can see we’re building a good nucleus. He certainly likes the coach (Rick Adelman).”

Love hasn’t played since January 3 because of injury. Taylor said it’s been a frustrating season for the 24-year-old who missed the start of the season with a similar hand injury but that’s not a reason to bring him back on the court until the medical staff determines it’s the right decision. Whether Love will play again before the season ends next month is in doubt.

Kahn has been the team’s general manager since 2009. He and Taylor talk frequently including about how to manage the roster regarding personnel and salaries. During Kahn’s watch the team has added impact players in Rubio, Andrei Kirilenko, Alexey Shved and Chase Budinger but has yet to make the playoffs and almost for certain will miss again this spring.

Also frustrating is that except for Rubio, Kahn and his scouting staff has regularly misfired on their first and second round draft choices. Among first and second round picks since 2009, only Rubio and Derrick Williams are still with the team. Williams, the second pick in the first round of the 2011 draft, has teased with his potential as both a small and power forward but shown no consistency.

Taylor admitted he is “disappointed” with the first round draft results but said Kahn has “done a lot of things we’ve asked him to do.” And Taylor said he can’t hold Kahn responsible for a bizarre number of injuries that have at times sidelined many of the team’s most important players including starters and subs.

The Wolves have an option on Kahn’s contract. “We evaluate everything at the end of the year,” Taylor said. “To say that we haven’t done very well on the draft choices is a correct statement. Is that all of his responsibility? It’s certainly part of his responsibility.”

Worth Noting

Gophers coach Tubby Smith criticized the senior leadership on his team during the 1500 ESPN postgame show following last week’s 71-45 loss to Ohio State. Commentator Spencer Tollackson prompted the remark while talking about the importance of senior leadership late in the season and implying how that’s needed when a team is struggling. “Unfortunately we don’t have that type of leadership within our seniors. So it’s got to come from me and obviously I’ve done a poor job of doing that,” Smith said.

The Gophers had 24 turnovers in the game. “I have to admit obviously we’re not having as competitive practices as we have to have in order for us to get better because obviously we haven’t gotten better,” Smith said in the interview. “Our ball-handling has gone backwards. …Everybody kind of contributed to turning the ball over, especially our post players with 10 between Mo (Walker) and Trevor (Mbawke). Just baffling, to be honest with you.”

The Gophers, who have lost four of their last five games, are 6-8 in the Big Ten and 18-9 overall. Minnesota plays No. 1 ranked Indiana at Williams Arena tomorrow night.

The Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament in Chicago March 14-17 is a sellout.

At Sports Headliners’ request, prep basketball authority Ken Lien prepared the following rankings of Minnesota high school boys’ teams.

Class 4A: Apple Valley, Osseo, Park Center, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Lakeville North, Brainerd.

Class 3A: DeLaSalle, Austin, Marshall, Delano, Blake, Holy Angels, Waconia, Hermantown.

Class 2A: Melrose, Hawley, Fairmont, Maple River, St. Peter, Byron, Braham, Redwood Valley.

Class 1A: Upsala, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrose, Maranatha Christian Academy, Southwest Minnesota Christian, Rushford-Peterson, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, Browerville, Ada-Borup.

The MIAC announced last week that in 2012 the conference led all Division III leagues in football attendance for the seventh time in eight years. The conference’s nine teams hosted 48 games with attendance of 161,870, averaging 3,372 per game.

For the 15^th time in 20 years Saint John’s led all Division III schools in attendance, averaging 7,948 per game and a total of 39,741. Concordia finished No. 5 with total attendance of 24,197, averaging 4,839 fans. Concordia has been in the top five two years in a row and in the top 10 seven of the last eight years.

Patrick Klinger & Company is presenting a seminar titled “Using Sports to Drive Your Business” on Tuesday, March 19 at the University of St. Thomas. The seminar’s intent is to help businesses identify the right sponsorships to maximize investments and produce measurable results. Prior to establishing his company, Patrick Klinger was Twins vice president of marketing for more than a decade. More information about the seminar is available at klingercompany.com or by calling 612-366-0419.

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‘Fate’ for Retractable Roof 60 Days Away

Posted on February 22, 2013February 22, 2013 by David Shama

Vikings’ stadium executive Lester Bagley told Sports Headliners he expects to know this spring if the new $975 million downtown stadium that will be home to the local NFL team will have a retractable roof, or fixed roof. “In the next 60 days we should know the fate of a retractable feature,” he said.

Knowledgeable observers are pessimistic that the state-mandated $975 million budget is large enough to pay for a retractable roof, likely to cost $25 million to $50 million. But Bagley doesn’t describe the chances of a retractable roof as a “long shot.”

The Vikings, the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, the architects (HKS) and the construction management firm (Mortenson Construction) are considering options to provide enhanced amenities in the new facility scheduled to open in 2016. Those options include not only a retractable roof, but a window opening to the skyline and a moveable wall providing proximity to the game day outdoor plaza. “We think it’s a pretty decent opportunity for the retractable feature (of some kind),” Bagley said.

While neither the Vikings, state or city of Minneapolis are expected to commit any more money to the stadium budget, Bagley is already encouraged by cost savings for the project. “It (a retractable feature) is going to be a budget issue but we’ve been able to have an architect and builder (Mortenson) come in under budget,” Bagley said.

The expertise of HKS and Mortenson is also expected to maximize the best outcome for a retractable feature. HKS was the architect for the acclaimed football stadiums in Dallas and Indianapolis that have multiple retractable features including roofs. Mortenson built Target Field and TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Bagley didn’t identify the amount of the cost savings with HKS and Mortenson but it’s been reported the HKS fee will be $34 million and the Mortenson fee $12.5 million with incentives that could reach $15 million.

Bagley said the Metrodome will be demolished on February 1, 2014. Ground for the new stadium—to be located adjacent to the Metrodome—is expected to be broken this September or October.

The 2013 season will the Vikings last at the dome, and then the team will play at TCF Bank Stadium in 2014 and 2015. The Vikings and University of Minnesota are expected to have an agreement finalized within about 30 days, according to Bagley.

Sports Headliners believes the Vikings will pay in excess of $2.5 million per year to use TFC Bank Stadium. In addition, the Vikings will pay for costs to make the stadium acceptable for them. This includes paying for a new field with heating coils under the artificial turf, and then replacing that turf after the 2015 season. TCF Bank Stadium was built for fall football but Bagley said the Vikings need the facility to be suitable for the team and its fans through January.

Stadium capacity for Gophers games is 50,805 but will be expanded to nearly 53,000 by the addition of temporary seating in TCF Bank Stadium’s west end, according to Bagley. That figure was targeted to accommodate Vikings’ total season ticket holders.

The Gophers’ baseball program and other amateur baseball teams in the state have annually played games in the Metrodome when the weather otherwise forces them to be in warmer states. Leaders of those programs have been concerned about an initial field design for the new stadium that will have a baseball foul line of less than 300 feet. The Vikings are determined to build a fan-friendly football stadium that includes seats with close proximity to the field.

Bagley said design work regarding the issue is now on “option six” and he’s hopeful a solution will be finalized within a week or so. “I don’t know exactly what the foul line dimensions will be but they should accommodate the baseball community,” he said.

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Gagliardi Saw Grant as SJU Successor

Posted on February 22, 2013February 22, 2013 by David Shama

John Gagliardi misses coaching “a lot,” and he told Sports Headliners he expected Eden Prairie High School coach Mike Grant to succeed him at Saint John’s in Collegeville.

Gagliardi, the winningest college football coach in history with 489 victories, retired after last season. The 86-year-old legend was head coach at Saint John’s for 60 years and before arriving in Collegeville coached four years at Carroll College in Montana.

“How could I not I miss it?” Gagliardi asked.

Grant played for Gagliardi at Saint John’s and many Johnnies followers thought the long time prep coach would one day coach at his college alma mater. “I thought Mike was going to take that job,” Gagliardi said. “I don’t know exactly what his reasons were (for turning it down). Mike had wanted it and we had talked a lot about it.”

Instead Saint John’s hired Gary Fasching, a Gagliardi assistant and former player for him. Fasching headed the Johnnies’ recruiting in the past and is the former head coach at St. Cloud Cathedral.

It will be Fasching’s challenge to improve on last year’s disappointing 5-5 record and try to loosen the stranglehold St. Thomas has on MIAC football. Gagliardi said St. Thomas has superior resources such as facilities, enrollment and endowments but he doesn’t believe the Tommies—who almost automatically get penciled in as league champs—are opening a permanent gap between themselves and the rest of the conference teams.

Gagliardi said there are some “incredibly great colleges” in the MIAC and other league teams are playing close games against the Tommies. He remembered when for years the Tommies couldn’t beat the Johnnies, making the point that winning goes in cycles.

Gagliardi keeps an office on campus but this January and February have been different for him than other winters when he used to fill his time with recruiting players. He visits the office a couple times per week and enjoys receiving visitors but admitted retirement represents “uncharted waters.”

“I thought I could coach forever,” he said. “Forever turned out to be a little longer than I thought.”

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