Vice president of marketing Patrick Klinger said the Twins have sold out all but one home game this season. Ticket availability for games in August is “very limited” even with standing-room-only sales. “August is tough,” Klinger said. “Frankly a lot of families are trying to get in before the kids go back to school.”
Klinger said the Twins capped season tickets at about 25,000 but demand indicates the club could have sold a few thousand more. The decision to put a ceiling on 25,000 ensures that more customers who can’t afford season tickets will attend games, he said.
While hundreds of names are on a waiting list for future season tickets, Klinger said the club hasn’t decided to go beyond the 25,000 mark in 2011. It’s a decision that could be made in the next few weeks.
With a winning team and state-of-the-art Minneapolis ballpark, the Twins might be more popular than at any time in their 50 seasons history. Klinger said Friday that TV ratings on Fox Sports North are up 26.4 percent over last year.
Football conflict: the Vikings play Denver at home on Thursday, September 2 in a game televised locally on KARE 11. That same evening the Gophers will be on ESPNU in their nonconference opening game at Middle Tennessee State.
Presumably the Vikings will see rookie Denver quarterback Tim Tebow and former Gophers wide receiver Eric Decker. The Gophers will play a Middle Tennessee State team that won its bowl game last December against Southern Mississippi and has an athletic quarterback in Dwight Dasher, smaller but similar to Minnesota’s MarQueis Gray. The Blue Raiders are an early betting favorite in the game.
Vikings rookie running back Toby Gerhart comes from an athletic family. He has a brother who is an offensive lineman at Arizona State, and triplet sisters who are college softball players.