Part of leadership is identifying problems and finding solutions. Right now Timberwolves president Chris Wright and city of Minneapolis chief financial officer Pat Born know Target Center will need major renovations in the years ahead but they can only guess about funding sources.
Born told Sports Headliners the city-owned building, opened in 1990, “probably could use an $80 million” makeover. The figure came into a conversation because that was the cost of renovations at US Airways Center in Phoenix where the city faced competition from the nearby new Glendale Arena.
Minneapolis “doesn’t have the resources” to make that commitment to Target Center and would need another government entity like the state to help, Born said. Such a request isn’t in view on the city’s radar screen right now anyway. More immediate are smaller improvements to the building that either have been made or are ongoing such as roofing, plumbing, carpeting and electrical work. Born said the city set aside $15 million awhile ago and has spent a portion of that budget, with about half remaining.
The city recently entered an agreement with the highly regarded AEG company to operate Target Center with responsibility to bring more and better events into the building. Born said as part of that agreement AEG will spend $2 million on capital improvements to be determined.
While an $80 million renovation is appealing, the city already sees debt when it looks at Target Center. Born said the city still owes $66 million on the building it acquired from private ownership in 1995. As part of its agreement with AEG, the city has initially guaranteed to cover Target Center operating losses of up to $1.7 million per year.
The building has lost money the last three years, according to Born. Prior to the opening of the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul in 2000 Target Center was a profit center. Born said representatives of the two buildings are hopeful of working cooperatively together in the future to maximize profits and minimize losses.
Wright looks at Xcel and the venues coming to the marketplace and sees competition. The new Twins and Gopher football stadiums arrive in 2010 and 2009. A new or renovated Vikings’ stadium is highly probable. The amenities of the Xcel and these other facilities are appealing to fans who will enjoy environments and technology superior to Target Center. Plus, the new stadiums mushroom the number of private suites and club seating in the marketplace, adding more sales competition for the Wolves.
“What we’ve got to be concerned about is making sure Target Center does not get left behind,” Wright said. “That somebody develops a long term strategic plan for Target Center to make it viable for all our different consumers.”
Wright said the Wolves have made “substantial investments” in the building such as seating, scoreboard and club improvements but as a tenant there is only so much the franchise can and will do. From tattered carpet to uninspiring concession areas to crowded concourses, there are various aspects of Target Center that are less than ideal.
“It’s a little bit tired now and needs a lot of work to be done to it to become sort of the place that it was in the eyes of the general public in terms of THE destination,” Wright said.
He is asking questions about Target Center’s future, not making demands on behalf of the Wolves. “The Wolves have been very good partners,” Born said. “The relationship has not been contentious. …”
This much is certain: smaller improvements are coming for Target Center and likely a more successful bottom line because of AEG. Not certain at all is just how nice a building it can become once again and also avoid being at a competitive disadvantage with its venue rivals.
“I just hope we are able to figure out a way to work together to make this building once again the crown jewel of the Upper Midwest,” Wright said.