doodledee

The business section in last Saturday's Strib featured an article that ran under the headline 'Twins drop stadium's economic argument'. The story outlined the Twins' new [and improved] position on the economic impact a new stadium would have on Minneapolis and the greater Hennepin County area.

From Jerry Bell's lips to your eyes:

"I don't think the economic argument turns it one way or another, so why go there?" said Bell, president of Twins Sports Inc. "If there are side benefits, great. If not, so what?

"You get into an economic argument, and the bottom line is, 'Do you want to build it or not?' " he said.

Kudos to the Twins for finally admitting that the Salvation Through Stadiums argument was - and always has been - a bunch of BS. I'm not sure why their newfound commitment to honesty was buried in the business section, but whatever, I'll take my truth however they want to feed it to me.

Unfortunately, Sid Hartman must have skipped the D section that day, because today's column finds him worked into quite a lather over the City Council's recent "proceed with caution" resolution:

Twins officials say a new ballpark in back of Target Center could result in some big revenue for the city of Minneapolis, with a conservative estimate of $90 million, or $3 million a year, in sales taxes during the length of the 30-year lease.

In addition, there would be a tremendous amount of income from parking ramps owned by the city and more sales tax on purchases made by fans attending the games and the various restaurants in the loop, including the Warehouse District.

And if you don't believe that sporting and other events downtown don't result in spending, check with the various bars in the Warehouse District. And go to St. Paul and ask the operators of various bars and restaurants and parking lots and ramps how much business they have lost because of no Wild games. Don't believe reports otherwise.

He goes on to claim that the stadium will save City Center, Saks Fifth Avenue, and find tenants for the glut of empty office space downtown. He also basically guarantees that a new ballpark will bring back TGI Friday's, something that is apparently a good thing from his perspective.

Hey Sid, maybe you should take that silver butterknife steak out of your ears and listen to what EVEN THE TWINS are now admitting: the economic impact of a new stadium nets out to squatski. And after that, maybe it's time to pay a visit to your close, personal account friends over in St. Paul. I'm sure they'd be happy to show you how sales tax receipts actually increased this year, in spite of the NHL strike. Whoops, whoops, double whoops.

Full Disclosure: Yes, I'm aware that Sid is old and crazy and it's almost kind of unfair to pick on him, but in this case it was just too good to pass up, so shut it.