Do Minnesotans Love the Twins?

[JensenGregory]

12 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

🙄

"I'm going to make a claim without anything to back it up and then roll my eyes when someone asks for the slightest bit of evidence." 

[JensenGregory]

9 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

No one said it was static, just consistently higher than this:  https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/attend.shtml

By sizable margins too.  That's the point, as it was in the article with the Rockies who outdraw the Twins by a ton and have only been good 4 times this century.

OK? 1) This still doesn't reflect capacity percentages and 2) It doesn't account for literally any other factor beyond that.

Until proven otherwise, the evidence that attendance is highly correlated with consistent competitiveness is much stronger than whatever you've shown me.

[JD-TWINS]

6 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I like a lot of the things that you write, but I take exception to this. Fans are fickle in many ways, no matter what. The sport and the twins have a long history starting with Calvin Griffith in which we have had a bad interaction between the team leaders and the general population. Some of it comes from stadium issues, some dates back to when Calvin drove rod Carew and others out. Some of it relates to when the Pohlads were ready to have the team eliminated from the league. Is it downsizing. Then they continue downsizing with their own team even when we feel like we're on the cusp of something really good. So yes, I follow the twins through all their ups and downs.  But like many of us in the country I am a radio fan and I know some would be TV fans if they could get the TV channel. 

Our area is filled with every major sport you can ask for and we are in every league in every season. But we're also a state that loves to be outdoors on the water and the forest and the parks. And an afternoon in the ballpark isn't always as attractive as you might expect. 

I think you can also see a real change in youth sports. When I was young, lacrosse was something we read about in the history books and now our grandchildren all play it. Soccer was a European sport and now it is everywhere. Basketball is inexpensive and can be played one-on-one. There are just a lot of good options. 

For me I will always follow the twins, but my loyalty might be questioned since I'm not really anxious to make the drive to the cities to see the games and then drive home. And it's not inexpensive to stay in the twin cities overnight. 

I actually do appreciate your raising this question and I'm not sure I did an adequate job of giving you my perspective. 

The broad array of outdoor things to do in Minnesota makes some sense but there’s LAX & Soccer in every MLB team’s city. Costs to stay in a city are no higher in the Twins than anywhere else. The Griffith’s and the history they had with the fan base is pretty much past tense…….,Carew getting traded is 46 years ago and the vast majority of the Twin’s target market is 50 & under & never saw Killebrew - Oliva - Carew step on the field.

I agree with the author that the level of angst and venomous behavior on TD is over the top. It’s a game that’s played nearly every day for 6 months so there is much more exposure to the Team than in other sports. The fact that a very good baseball teams lose 46% of their games seems lost on TD readers and posters. This % over 6 months offers up a whole bunch of opportunity for disappointment and for the ability to incessantly complain about anything that comes to mind to complain about. The viewpoint is that every inning and every game needs to be managed to win at any costs and if the next 6 days of games are considered to be equally important, the Manager should be fired! It’s nuts.

The TV situation can’t be helping over the ‘24 campaign. Tough to get fired up to go out to the park to support a Team and Organization that you can’t follow on TV, in 2024…….that too is nuts and inexcusable from an organization standpoint. If I could watch the Team in the 70’s on TV with an antenna ….,, 2024 should be pretty simple to solve for ownership.

The numbers year to year aren’t disturbing. People take baseball for granted as there’s always “a game in a couple weeks”. I live in Cincinnati & the media and general fan feel is this fan base is “very knowledgeable” & part of MLB history since they have the oldest franchise. ……….. some of the worst attended games year after year. Sure they have struggled to be playoff competitive. Last year I went to the 3 Twin’s games here in town and the Reds were on the edge of Wildcard………,hardly anyone at the games. It’s taken for granted in many cities. Why some more than others - complex question with a bunch of reasons….,,not sure?

Reds in 2022 - 1.395 million …….’23 & ‘24 just over 2.00 million ……..they must be selling a hell of a lot of corporate season tickets because there are tons of empty seats, regularly. the Twins are going to finish behind Cincinnati the last 2 years - I guess the attendance problem is bigger than I thought in the TC.

[Squirrel]

10 minutes ago, JensenGregory said:

"I'm going to make a claim without anything to back it up and then roll my eyes when someone asks for the slightest bit of evidence." 

Google is your friend. Perhaps you are just too young to remember. There are plenty of articles out there about how the Braves didn’t sell out their games in the post season because winning in the season wasn’t enough to convince people to sell out the house in the post season. Winning wasn’t enough. This is just one of many.

“Braves fans have a reputation for being apathetic, at least as far as NLDS attendance goes, given their “ho-hum” run of 14 consecutive division titles that ended in 2005. The Braves have sold out only five of their past 13 NLDS games at Turner Field.”

https://www.ajc.com/sports/baseball/will-braves-fans-have-urgency-about-this-postseason/hQb49Sr0VEtGwizqpAbKNP/

[Craig Arko]

20 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

Google is your friend. Perhaps you are just too young to remember. There are plenty of articles out there about how the Braves didn’t sell out their games in the post season because winning in the season wasn’t enough to convince people to sell out the house in the post season. Winning wasn’t enough. This is just one of many.

“Braves fans have a reputation for being apathetic, at least as far as NLDS attendance goes, given their “ho-hum” run of 14 consecutive division titles that ended in 2005. The Braves have sold out only five of their past 13 NLDS games at Turner Field.”

https://www.ajc.com/sports/baseball/will-braves-fans-have-urgency-about-this-postseason/hQb49Sr0VEtGwizqpAbKNP/

And then there are the Red Sox, whose attendance figures are always good but don’t seem to follow the W-L record very much. I attribute it to Neil Diamond and The Standells.

And for the search-impaired: https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/attend.shtml

[TheLeviathan]

37 minutes ago, JensenGregory said:

OK? 1) This still doesn't reflect capacity percentages and 2) It doesn't account for literally any other factor beyond that.

Until proven otherwise, the evidence that attendance is highly correlated with consistent competitiveness is much stronger than whatever you've shown me.

Why does capacity percentage matter and why are you not doing that math (or any?) In service of your claim?

Your second paragraph is a strawman.  No one claimed winning wasn't correlated.  I suggest you go back to my post you "wholeheartedly" denied:  i said winning isnt the only thing.  Other factors clearly matter.  As demonstrated by the significant attendance advantages in Colorado (where they have won nothing and made a litany of bad decisions and frequently field stripped down garbage teams) and Milwaukee (who has low payrolls, sells off established vets just like we complain about, and have won at a similar clip)

To avoid another strawman, allow me to be clear: winning matters, but so do other factors.  Milwaukee and Colorado are doing something (probably many things) that are allowing them to draw hundreds of thousnds more fans than we are despite worse or roughly equal amounts of winning. Which, by definition, means your sole focus on winning is not supported by evidence.  Certainly not always and in all markets.

[TheLeviathan]

4 minutes ago, JensenGregory said:

Imagine being snarky when you could've literally just shared all this in the first place when I asked to see it 🙄

You are aware that you have yet to share a single link, study, or data set in support of your opinion....right?

[Craig Arko]

6 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

You are aware that you have yet to share a single link, study, or data set in support of your opinion....right?

The rest of us are, to be sure.

[Squirrel]

1 hour ago, JensenGregory said:

Imagine being snarky when you could've literally just shared all this in the first place when I asked to see it 🙄

My comment about being too young, as back in the 90s and early aughts is that this was pretty common knowledge in baseball discussion groups. Didn’t think I needed to provide much more because of that.

[Linus]

3 hours ago, Craig Arko said:

The rest of us are, to be sure.

This is one of the things I dislike the most about interactions on TD. “Ok man research this and show it to me man!”  If you are so worked up about something do your own research to prove it wrong. There is no obligation for anybody to research anything for anybody else. This is a site where people offer commentary about baseball. It’s not the Smithsonian. 

[Teflon]

5 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

The met was awful for football. Truly. 

But awesome for tailgating!

[Teflon]

Maybe Minnesotans are just more rational about things.

[nclahammer]

I really enjoy articles that challenge my current line of thinking, and this is definitely one of those (thanks Thiéres Rabelo ).  I am a life-long Minnesota Twins fan, go to a dozen or so games a year (I am a 20 game season ticket holder since 2010 and live an hour from the Twin Cities), and I go so soley for the enjoyment of watching the game with friends and/or family.  I love how a baseball game, anywhere, is a great place to socialize, watch and enjoy the game and sights, and have time to look around, make observations, and have conversations.  I read BEAN5302's comment, "Again, I don't know how many times I need to state this.  PEOPLE DO NOT GO TO STADIUMS TO WATCH THE GAME."     This simply isn't true, for many fans.   I go to 30-40 baseball games every year (town ball, minors, majors, etc.) and it is to watch the game, make observations, take in the sights, sounds, and smells, watch the strategies, converse with fellow fans, and enjoy the surroundings that come with a baseball game (can't do that with many other sports.)   

I am very disappointed in the performance of this year's Minnesota Twins team, and it starts at the top with ownership and the front office.  I feel their lack of providing a viable product on the field through trades is negligent, and I feel it rippled down and affected the psyche of the entire team.  Rocco was trying to manage a team with several rookies expected to fill numerous holes, which became too many for even the little Dutch boy to plug.  If your slicing up the blame, I know he'll take a piece of that as well with some of the decisions he made.  Am I going to cancel my partial season ticket package as a result of this season?  No, because I am a Minnesota Twins fan for the long haul.  I truely love this team, moreso that any other Minnesota team.      I enjoy going to the games and usually very much enjoy the product I'm watching on the field.  So with one game left, the team out of contention, and the Minnesota Vikings playing at the same time, I will flip channels during a commercial break to see how the Twins are doing.  So, until next season, I'll avoid the ALL CAPS (wow, a lot of those among the comments) comments and laughing emojis, countdown the days until winter caravan and TwinsFest, and look forward to hopefully seeing an improved team take the field next year.

[Fezig]

18 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Going to a Twins game is largely seen as a nuisance for people

I agree with this statement, although not the part "won't have fun anyway".

It is a nuisance for anyone outside of the metro area.

Dealing with metro traffic is a pain (494 sucks and it's time in their life that no one gets back).

Then finding a parking is generally a pain. The days of the Met were great with one huge parking lot and summer tailgating was a ritual.

When you find parking it's generally an hour or two of middle class wages. After you've given up that time and money you have to go through a labyrinth to get out that takes another 30 minutes of your time.

There are many who run this website who have no idea or understanding of this. There are many, and in my job I talk to a LOT of people, who have sworn off Mpls since the riots. If you don't believe that, trail me for a week on my job and learn something. Just had someone I know return from Montana. They went to a wild west type show and the MC told the crowd that things in Montana were different than they were in Chicago and Minneapolis. Congrats. You're in the same convo as Chicago.

I love a good beer. I will overspend for a really good one. But I don't want to spend close to $20 for one in a plastic glass. The same goes for many food items. 

Lastly, prices. Ticket prices aren't cheap and bringing a family of four can easily cost over $200.

With that said, who wants to spend over $200 for tickets, drive from Frostbite Falls MN, and deal with the above? 

 

[silverslugger]

18 hours ago, ashbury said:

St Louis and Milwaukee are the standards the team should aspire to.

My view, from moving to the Twin Cities in 1978 and keeping tabs on things since I moved away in '96 is that it's just not a good baseball town.  Never been, in my range of experience - maybe you could have called it that during 1961-70 but it didn't last, and they began having occasional last-place attendance despite not fielding last-place talent. 

Could it be developed now into a good baseball town like the two I just mentioned?  Maybe, but it would take a decade or more to do it - this is like an ocean liner that can not be turned around on a dime.  I bet the Pohlads have paid for multiple market studies and concluded that long-term investment would not do what I would hope. 

Can't replicate the tailgating experience in Milwaukee, and I don't know St Louis's secret sauce.  I am guessing though that both teams have forged a close relationship with the community in various little ways that are self-sustaining now but would be expensive to initiate from scratch.  The Twins seem to try to market their stars, and when those stars get injured or don't perform to their ceiling they are left with little.  I'd term the Twins' marketing as "transactional," meaning "you give us your money, we'll give you this."  And when expectations fall short, the Twin Cities behave a bit passive-aggressively and starve the franchise of revenue.  I feel sure the Brewers and probably the Cardinals market the overall experience more effectively than the Twins can.

It's above my pay-grade, sad to say, and I hold no illusions that I would do better than Dave St Peter if I were in his job.  I loved living in the Twin Cities and enjoyed the people, but I missed having good water-cooler talk with co-workers about the Twins, except in 1987 and 1991 when success was easy to talk about with front-running fans.  Twin Cities is a good sports town: it's Vikings, Vikings, Vikings.

But I've said this before in other threads recently and I'm not* going to keep banging the same drum.

* Probably.

I don't disagree that Milwaukee and St. Louis may be better baseball towns, but there are some very basic reasons why which starts with competition.  There's only one other pro sport of significance in each town.  In St. Louis, it's the Blues, in Milwaukee, it's the Bucks.  The Twins compete with the NFL (Neither of these teams do directly), the NBA, The NHL, and have a Major University with NCAA sports in town as well.  That's a lot more direct competition than either of the others.  Also, very few teams have the history of St. Louis Cardinal baseball.

[Craig Arko]

8 hours ago, Teflon said:

Maybe Minnesotans are just more rational about things.

Doubtful.

[Andrew Bryz-Gornia]

This is a very fair question to ask. While there are fans that say things like the Pohlads embrace mediocrity, which is a fair criticism, there are fans that act like they're legitimately angry over every bad thing that happens to this team, or every loss is justification that Rocco Baldelli is the wrong manager for this team / Derek Falvey is the wrong president of baseball operations. There's no doubt the organization is better off than the end of Ron Gardenhire's tenure, the Paul Molitor/Bill Smith/second Terry Ryan years, but some fans scream that anything less than a World Series is a failure and that organizational changes need to be made until that championship is realized (and even then, they'd still find reasons to complain). I personally would find it exhausting to be that angry all the time about a sport that I love. 

Tl;dr, turn off the sports talk radio, educate yourselves that many other teams operate in a similar manner, and why they act in that manner, learn that there is indeed a pitching pipeline, and those in charge are allowed to make mistakes as long as they learn and correct what caused those mistakes. Demanding perfection is a losing battle and turns off level-headed fans like myself. 

[JD-TWINS]

19 hours ago, ashbury said:

St Louis and Milwaukee are the standards the team should aspire to.

My view, from moving to the Twin Cities in 1978 and keeping tabs on things since I moved away in '96 is that it's just not a good baseball town.  Never been, in my range of experience - maybe you could have called it that during 1961-70 but it didn't last, and they began having occasional last-place attendance despite not fielding last-place talent. 

Could it be developed now into a good baseball town like the two I just mentioned?  Maybe, but it would take a decade or more to do it - this is like an ocean liner that can not be turned around on a dime.  I bet the Pohlads have paid for multiple market studies and concluded that long-term investment would not do what I would hope. 

Can't replicate the tailgating experience in Milwaukee, and I don't know St Louis's secret sauce.  I am guessing though that both teams have forged a close relationship with the community in various little ways that are self-sustaining now but would be expensive to initiate from scratch.  The Twins seem to try to market their stars, and when those stars get injured or don't perform to their ceiling they are left with little.  I'd term the Twins' marketing as "transactional," meaning "you give us your money, we'll give you this."  And when expectations fall short, the Twin Cities behave a bit passive-aggressively and starve the franchise of revenue.  I feel sure the Brewers and probably the Cardinals market the overall experience more effectively than the Twins can.

It's above my pay-grade, sad to say, and I hold no illusions that I would do better than Dave St Peter if I were in his job.  I loved living in the Twin Cities and enjoyed the people, but I missed having good water-cooler talk with co-workers about the Twins, except in 1987 and 1991 when success was easy to talk about with front-running fans.  Twin Cities is a good sports town: it's Vikings, Vikings, Vikings.

But I've said this before in other threads recently and I'm not* going to keep banging the same drum.

* Probably.

St Louis secret sauce is two fold, IMO. (I worked there 5 years from 2011-2016) Tradition & location. The Cards have won the 2nd most Series titles behind Yankees. Kids grow up going to the Park and it gets in your blood as part of a fun/winning experience! To be succinct, there’s nothing else to support in St. Louis and surrounding area……it’s a big draw for people from Western Tennessee - Western Kentucky - Arkansas - and a bunch of Missouri - Illinois - Iowa………….the radio history getting to people for 100 years (mostly 100 - 40 years ago) got “families” attached to their Cards and the fandom perpetuates through to today’s generations. Many of the Twins fans at TD are obviously 60+ and attach to their team similarly ………..the Twins lack of real success, other than just making the playoffs, over the past 30+ years has caught up to Today’s potential fan base. The historical connection is waning and it reflects in attitudes about the Team from many aspects & points of view.

Winning cures all ills:

2006 & 2011 Series Titles in St. Louis and ELEVEN overall.

100 wins in 2015 & over 90 wins three other times since ‘15.

That’s probably the obvious “secret sauce” in St Louis.

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, silverslugger said:

I don't disagree that Milwaukee and St. Louis may be better baseball towns, but there are some very basic reasons why which starts with competition.  There's only one other pro sport of significance in each town.  In St. Louis, it's the Blues, in Milwaukee, it's the Bucks.  The Twins compete with the NFL (Neither of these teams do directly), the NBA, The NHL, and have a Major University with NCAA sports in town as well.  That's a lot more direct competition than either of the others.  Also, very few teams have the history of St. Louis Cardinal baseball.

Just to be clear, there are many more Packer fans in Milwaukee and suburbs than there are in Green Bay. The Packers operate (due to chance, of the Team history) in what would be Winona relative to the Twin Cities. The competition in a metro area is still there, 100%. I used to attend Vikings games in Milwaukee…….. Anyway, Cards are heaped in History, as you point out and Winning! The Brewers Win regularly and are a great underdog success story year after year.

Being successful on the field - court - rink will always bring fans!! Once people start to come for a winning product, optimism gets into fan’s blood and they come back under all kinds of circumstances. Twins reverting to ‘21 payroll, having major local TV issues, and starting 6-13 all contributed to this year’s issues with fandom.

[TheLeviathan]

2 hours ago, nclahammer said:

  So with one game left, the team out of contention, and the Minnesota Vikings playing at the same time, I will flip channels during a commercial break to see how the Twins are doing.  So, until next season, I'll avoid the ALL CAPS (wow, a lot of those among the comments) comments and laughing emojis, countdown the days until winter caravan and TwinsFest, and look forward to hopefully seeing an improved team take the field next year.

The Twins need to start asking people like you how they have won and retained their loyalty and how to replicate that.  Great post!

[TheLeviathan]

1 hour ago, Fezig said:

I agree with this statement, although not the part "won't have fun anyway".

It is a nuisance for anyone outside of the metro area.

Dealing with metro traffic is a pain (494 sucks and it's time in their life that no one gets back).

Then finding a parking is generally a pain. The days of the Met were great with one huge parking lot and summer tailgating was a ritual.

When you find parking it's generally an hour or two of middle class wages. After you've given up that time and money you have to go through a labyrinth to get out that takes another 30 minutes of your time.

There are many who run this website who have no idea or understanding of this. There are many, and in my job I talk to a LOT of people, who have sworn off Mpls since the riots. If you don't believe that, trail me for a week on my job and learn something. Just had someone I know return from Montana. They went to a wild west type show and the MC told the crowd that things in Montana were different than they were in Chicago and Minneapolis. Congrats. You're in the same convo as Chicago.

I love a good beer. I will overspend for a really good one. But I don't want to spend close to $20 for one in a plastic glass. The same goes for many food items. 

Lastly, prices. Ticket prices aren't cheap and bringing a family of four can easily cost over $200.

With that said, who wants to spend over $200 for tickets, drive from Frostbite Falls MN, and deal with the above? 

 

Look, I'm going to be as blunt but as fair as I can be here:

The prices you're talking about are not reserved for the Twins.  Expensive beer and expensive parking is what you get in 100% of pro sports experiences.  Traffic and parkings snarls too.  The Twins building their stadium on the edge of 394 has easily made it a top 10% stadium I've been to for ease of entrance.  (I don't live in Minnesota but when I return I travel from outside the metro, I"ve also gone to half the major league ball parks in addition to non-baseball arenas in many places too) It's easier to get to than the Dome was and way easier than the vast majority of stadiums.  These complaints simply aren't valid in the larger context.  You may feel them to be true, but they're true everywhere and do not explain the original article's point.

"Chicago.  Riots.  Swore off Minneapolis" I grew up in rural Minnesota.  Now that I've lived in urban areas and many other states I can tell you this:  I know what that's code for.  You don't have to be stuck in that kind of backwards thinking and it's ok to grow as a person past it.  Minneapolis - and all it's fine citizens - are perfectly wonderful to enjoy a game with.

[USAFChief]

Yes, I love the Twins. 

My fandom dates from 1963, when my father spent money he didn't have to take me to my first game at the Met.

I've followed the team closely ever since, through thick and thin. Lots of thin, BTW. Had my little portable radio under my pillow at night for west coast games as a kid, naively thinking mom and dad didnt know. Followed through 11.5 years stationed overseas, when there wasn't internet or TV or radio and my mother-in-law used to record games off WCCO on cassettes and mail them to me where I'd listen to each one half a dozen times, simply to have Herb Carneal take me back home. I spend money to watch them, and to go to games. Quite a bit of money, in fact. Half my freeking wardrobe is t-shirts with a Twins logo of some type. I infected my kids with this love, and now they follow the team as I do. 

Hell, I volunteered for the better part of a decade as a moderator on TD, and it's maybe the worst GD job I ever had.

 

So yeah, I love the Twins.

And BTW, I have every right to question the organization as I see fit.

[Craig Arko]

11 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

Look, I'm going to be as blunt but as fair as I can be here:

The prices you're talking about are not reserved for the Twins.  Expensive beer and expensive parking is what you get in 100% of pro sports experiences.  Traffic and parkings snarls too.  The Twins building their stadium on the edge of 394 has easily made it a top 10% stadium I've been to for ease of entrance.  (I don't live in Minnesota but when I return I travel from outside the metro, I"ve also gone to half the major league ball parks in addition to non-baseball arenas in many places too) It's easier to get to than the Dome was and way easier than the vast majority of stadiums.  These complaints simply aren't valid in the larger context.  You may feel them to be true, but they're true everywhere and do not explain the original article's point.

"Chicago.  Riots.  Swore off Minneapolis" I grew up in rural Minnesota.  Now that I've lived in urban areas and many other states I can tell you this:  I know what that's code for.  You don't have to be stuck in that kind of backwards thinking and it's ok to grow as a person past it.  Minneapolis - and all it's fine citizens - are perfectly wonderful to enjoy a game with.

Gotta disagree with the premise here. I’ve been living in Minneapolis for 40 years now, right across the river from downtown. That city overdeveloped the hell out of itself, starting basically with Riverplace and ending with the high-end retail, hotel, and office buildings, many housing failed and failing operations. Because they projected an economy of the 70’s and 80’s and not the 21st century. By then the Dome was already ensconced of course (I used to walk across the Stone Arch bridge to go to a game).

Minneapolis has economically cannibalized itself with overreaching ambition, and is now trying to double down on its error. The metro area has 6? major professional sports franchises and that’s more than can be adequately supported. I expect to see failure, and will not be surprised if the Twins are the first to go.

[TheLeviathan]

1 minute ago, Craig Arko said:

Gotta disagree with the premise here. I’ve been living in Minneapolis for 40 years now, right across the river from downtown. That city overdeveloped the hell out of itself, starting basically with Riverplace and ending with the high-end retail, hotel, and office buildings, many housing failed and failing operations. Because they projected an economy of the 70’s and 80’s and not the 21st century. By then the Dome was already ensconced of course (I used to walk across the Stone Arch bridge to go to a game).

Minneapolis has economically cannibalized itself with overreaching ambition, and is now trying to double down on its error. The metro area has 6? major professional sports franchises and that’s more than can be adequately supported. I expect to see failure, and will not be surprised if the Twins are the first to go.

So help me out, which part did you disagree with?  I'm not sure on what premise you were taking issue with.

I understand your point about Minneapolis being stretched too thin/overstuffed, I wouldn't disagree with that.

[Craig Arko]

3 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

So help me out, which part did you disagree with?  I'm not sure on what premise you were taking issue with.

I understand your point about Minneapolis being stretched too thin/overstuffed, I wouldn't disagree with that.

That placing multiple teams in downtown locations was in any way a good idea.

[TheLeviathan]

Just now, Craig Arko said:

That placing multiple teams in downtown locations was in any way a good idea.

Yeah, I tend to agree with that.  I'm hopign the Wolves and Wild (who are both due soon) either stay out of Minneapolis (Wild) or move out (Wolves).

Still, given how they built, I think Target Fields' location on 394 was brilliant.  It really is much easier than most stadiums.

[Craig Arko]

Just now, TheLeviathan said:

Yeah, I tend to agree with that.  I'm hopign the Wolves and Wild (who are both due soon) either stay out of Minneapolis (Wild) or move out (Wolves).

Still, given how they built, I think Target Fields' location on 394 was brilliant.  It really is much easier than most stadiums.

Fair enough.

[Linus]

17 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Yes, I love the Twins. 

My fandom dates from 1963, when my father spent money he didn't have to take me to my first game at the Met.

I've followed the team closely ever since, through thick and thin. Lots of thin, BTW. Had my little portable radio under my pillow at night for west coast games as a kid, naively thinking mom and dad didnt know. Followed through 11.5 years stationed overseas, when there wasn't internet or TV or radio and my mother-in-law used to record games off WCCO on cassettes and mail them to me where I'd listen to each one half a dozen times, simply to have Herb Carneal take me back home. I spend money to watch them, and to go to games. Quite a bit of money, in fact. Half my freeking wardrobe is t-shirts with a Twins logo of some type. I infected my kids with this love, and now they follow the team as I do. 

Hell, I volunteered for the better part of a decade as a moderator on TD, and it's maybe the worst GD job I ever had.

 

So yeah, I love the Twins.

And BTW, I have every right to question the organization as I see fit.

Love the part about getting cassettes mailed to you. I also felt Herb Carneal was part of the fabric of my kid years. I shed a tear when he died. 

[doug78k]

Salary cap and revenue sharing take most of the ownership blaming out of other sports. That said, I'm dismayed by the relentless Vikings fandom here when all we get is heartbreak....

I'm a Twins fan because of the good vibes from the championships in my childhood and the piranha teams of my early adulthood. Great memories and good feelings create fans. Bad vibes and inexcusable decisions lose fans. Ya gotta string together good vibes to create those good memories. 2023 was a great opportunity to start that. Instead we all just have a bad taste in our mouths. 

[FargoFanMan]

As an outsider I can relate. Living in Tennessee I get to watch every game on mlbtv. Even when we lived in minnesota to attend a game was a huge deal. Just for a trip to “the cities” was at least a $300 to $500 expense to make a weekend out of it. As a young family that was a maybe once a summer trip. That was in the 2015-2019 time era. Can’t imagine what it is now. We were able to watch the team on Bally but it cost a cable subscription which was like $120. I can’t imagine the headache that it is now. We will probably never attend another game at Target field and while being in Tennessee that makes sense that is a problem for the Twins. I get all the advantages not being in Minnesota, Iowa, or the Dakotas. Also, when the front office sets the off-season in motion with not capitalizing on the run they made in 2024 what was to be expected? Attending live events in general has become and is more becoming a rich man’s game and in the economical climate we’re in what does anyone expect?