I am all for professional sports team making improvements to existing stadiums, when it is reasonable to do so. I am all for improving the fan experience at games. The Minnesota Timberwolves, who play in a city owned facility, would like to see a number of very expensive improvements made. The price tag is right around 150 million dollars. Of course the team would like the public to pick up a big piece of the expense, and that has me thinking if their owner, Glen Taylor, out of his mind.
The Timberwolves are a bad team, have been a bad organization and the last time I checked the city of Minneapolis is on the verge of losing its NFL franchise. I hate to break it to everyone but a NFL team is a far better thing for a city to invest in that a poorly run NBA team. Sure Taylor is trying to make seeing a NBA game more pleasurable for his fans, and I commend him on that, but I wonder how much money Minnesota taxpayers would like to shell out for a 11-36 NBA team.
More to the point the Target Center is just 21 years old. It was built in 1990, and I find it hard to believe a stadium 20 years old is past its prime. Taylor says he would like a new stadium but as a former member of the Minnesota Government he knows that is not going to happen, especially given the Vikings situation.
I think the better way to raise the attendance at Timberwolves games would be to build a better team. Currently this team ranks 23rd in NBA attendance and given the economic situation I don’t think they are worthy of any pubic money to improve their stadium. If Taylor wants to use his own money that is a different story.
