Shama: Twins Missed on Retractable Roof

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Shama:

The Twins did okay with the weather for their 2019 home opening series in Minneapolis. Game time temperatures in their three-game series with the Cleveland Indians were 49 degrees on Thursday and 34 both Saturday and Sunday. The 34 degrees tied a record for the third coldest temperature in Target Field history. The coldest is 27 on April 7 of last year.

Not exactly balmy but better than early season weather in 2018 that led to postponements. Cold weather, rain and snow keeps ticket buyers away, and the Twins management knew this years ago when they pushed state officials for a retractable roof facility to be built along the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis.

Arne Carlson, Minnesota’s governor in the late 1990s and a sports fan, saw the advantage of a retractable roof facility. Reached by telephone last weekend at his residence in Florida, Carlson talked about Minnesota’s “adverse weather” in both the spring and late fall. “…So a retractable roof only makes good common sense,” he said.

A financial package couldn’t be agreed upon for a retractable roof baseball stadium in the 1990s and the club finally worked out a deal with Hennepin County to build open air Target Field, a facility in operation since 2010. The acclaimed ballpark is often ranked among baseball’s best stadiums, but it can’t guarantee that weather won’t postpone games, and that’s a challenge in selling tickets to potential customers who live near and far.

The proposed cost for a Twins retractable roof stadium years ago was $438.8 million. Target Field, with financing from the county and the Twins, cost over $550 million including original expenditures and later enhancements.

The Twins drew a sellout crowd of 39,519 for opening day, then announced attendances of 15,271 Saturday and 15,613 Sunday. The best numbers of the last few days for the Twins were winning two of three games against their AL Central Division rival Indians, the favorite to win a fourth consecutive championship.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Win Twins!!
 

No. I was all for a roof at first, but it wouldn't have worked on this site and after seeing Milwaukee I'll take a few cold/rainy days to live without it ruining the atmosphere the other 70 games.
 

It's all in the design. I suppose you could design a retractable-roof stadium that looks decent when the roof is open, but you would need a much larger footprint then the Twins had for Target Field. at that site, a retractable roof just wasn't possible.
 

Imagine big blue going down in downtown Minneapolis.
 

I suppose I'm an old man shaking his fist at a cloud if I say the season starts too early and ends too late, but the season starts too early and ends too late.

That said, what's too early? As a former softball dad, I remember tournaments in May where we were wearing winter coats.
 


There are about 15-20 games a year where having a roof may have been better. But the other 60 games, not having one is so much better. If you've ever been to Miller Park when the roof is open, it doesn't feel like you're outside at all. It feels like you're in a car with the sun roof open.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I suppose I'm an old man shaking his fist at a cloud if I say the season starts too early and ends too late, but the season starts too early and ends too late.
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I agree. NFL should be 14 games. Hockey should start Nov 1 and end April 30. Baseball should start mid April and end on Halloween. NBA can do what they want, I don't care.
 

Section2 said:
I agree. NFL should be 14 games. Hockey should start Nov 1 and end April 30. Baseball should start mid April and end on Halloween. NBA can do what they want, I don't care.
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You don't handle change well, deuce.
 




Section2 said:
Your diapers need a change.
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You've gotten noticeably crankier since you canceled your Netflix account. AOC has ruined your nice, orderly life. Wake up....post on GH two hundred times...watch some Netflix without any chill...go to bed. Rinse and repeat.
 

jamiche said:
You've gotten noticeably crankier since you canceled your Netflix account. AOC has ruined your nice, orderly life. Wake up....post on GH two hundred times...watch some Netflix without any chill...go to bed. Rinse and repeat.
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I think it's since he returned his Gillette razors in an angry huff and started shaving with a rusty axe to own libs. That's bound to make a guy cranky.
 

jamiche said:
You've gotten noticeably crankier since you canceled your Netflix account. AOC has ruined your nice, orderly life. Wake up....post on GH two hundred times...watch some Netflix without any chill...go to bed. Rinse and repeat.
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My life is great. I’m not filled with envy like you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

howeda7 said:
I think it's since he returned his Gillette razors in an angry huff and started shaving with a rusty axe to own libs. That's bound to make a guy cranky.
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No, I felt empowered by my decision. I don’t feel the need to try to control others. I just took my money elsewhere. Live and let live. I can see why it bothered you so much.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 




I've had season tickets going deep into the Metrodome days. I have sat in snow, rain, cold, heat, all of it. And it is all better than the Metrodome. I've been to Milwaukee and Houston, and those are UGLY ballparks. I'd gamble every ticket lost to weather uncertainty is balanced by the a family saying "man it is a nice day--let's go to the ballpark!" I have 20 games a year in my package, and I average 25 games a year, because a Thurs afternoon game in July is worth missing work for...
 

saintpaulguy said:
I've had season tickets going deep into the Metrodome days. I have sat in snow, rain, cold, heat, all of it. And it is all better than the Metrodome. I've been to Milwaukee and Houston, and those are UGLY ballparks. I'd gamble every ticket lost to weather uncertainty is balanced by the a family saying "man it is a nice day--let's go to the ballpark!" I have 20 games a year in my package, and I average 25 games a year, because a Thurs afternoon game in July is worth missing work for...
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I used to think that fans and especially large groups from ND, SD and outstate MN wouldn't come to games without a roof. That has not been the case, and as you say, for the rare ones that won't, they're made up for by walk up sales on a nice day.
 

howeda7 said:
I used to think that fans and especially large groups from ND, SD and outstate MN wouldn't come to games without a roof. That has not been the case, and as you say, for the rare ones that won't, they're made up for by walk up sales on a nice day.
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The other thing that helps is ticketing is more sophisticated than it used to be. Back at the Met, you bought a ticket for a rain out, you saved the coupon on your stub to get you into the rescheduled game, usually later in the season when that team came back to town as part of a double header.

Now, the Twins essentially treat your unused ticket as a coupon for a future game--you are no longer automatically ticketed for the rescheduled game. You can pick any game you'd like, and you get the full value of your ticket. (mind you, with dynamic pricing, you may still need to pony up some cash if the game you choose is more expensive than the one you paid for).

This means that if you came in from ND for a Saturday game, you can go to the ticket office, trade your unused ticket for Sunday's game, and wheee, you are in.
 

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