A Letter to the Minnesota Twins Next Owner

[Matthew Lenz]

It's a great time to be a Minnesota sports fan. The Lynx recently made it to the WNBA finals, the Vikings had a 14-3 regular season, the Timberwolves are in the midst of their second consecutive playoff run, and the Wild are enjoying their fifth trip to the postseason in six years. Then… well, then there's the Twins.

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Dear Future Minnesota Twins Owner,

It's with great pleasure we welcome you to the Twin Cities. We couldn't be more excited for new ownership around these parts. We’re not sure if you heard, but our last ownership group alienated us, right after the team ended the longest playoff losing streak in North American professional sports history. The expression “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out” would be what we call “Minnesota Nice” if uttered toward a member of the Pohlad family. While being passive-aggressive is in our nature, you should know we’re anything but that when it comes to our professional sports teams.

We desperately hope that you are here to invest in the franchise. One thing about our fan base is that, when our teams show out, we show up. No questions asked. While we don't have the glamor of cities like New York or Los Angeles or the rich sports history of cities like Boston or Chicago, we come out in droves when we know our teams care. Consult your wealthy friends who own teams in the NBA or NFL. It's famously unenjoyable to play a road playoff game here. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Twins, that feeling has been missing for the past two seasons. We hope you're here to change that. If you need more convincing, let me take you through an anecdotal tour of the town.

Minnesota Timberwolves
Have the Timberwolves been one of the worst NBA franchises in the league since their inception? Sure have. Regardless, do we pack Target Center for the playoffs and create one of the most raucous environments in the league? Sure do.

For years, the Timberwolves weren't just the laughingstock of the NBA. but really of all professional sports. When Kevin Garnett was traded away in 2006-2007, it took an entire decade for them to make it back to the playoffs. Eight coaches later and with one of the best up-and-coming teams in the NBA, we finished in the top 10 in total attendance in the most recent season. Moreover, Game 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers drew over seven million viewers—the second-largest Round 1, game 4 audience ESPN has ever seen. That's all while being the self-proclaimed “State of Hockey” and competing with the Minnesota Wild.

Minnesota Wild
Speaking of attendance figures, guess which fan base led the NHL in capacity percentage for the most recent season. Yep, it was us, at 102.7%—and the number has jumped to 106.9% during the playoffs. We don't even need to be guaranteed a seat in the arena to show up for our teams.

While the Wild have been a little easier to root for throughout their tenure, we continue to pack the Xcel Energy Center despite six first-round exits in the previous nine seasons.

Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings have long been the most popular team in town. Once they earned the moniker “Purple People Eaters”, fans have continuously packed first Met Stadium, then the Metrodome, and now U.S. Bank Stadium. Arguably more than any other local franchise, the Vikings have given us heartbreak after heartbreak, going 0-4 in Super Bowl appearances and suffering multiple tragic playoff exits. Despite this, we fill the tailgate lots hours before kickoff, and more than 74,000 of us filter into “The Bank” proclaiming “this is our season”. However, that's not unique to game days. Recently, thousands of fans attended the Vikings Draft Party in anticipation of the announcement of the team’s most recent first-round pick—even though the team was picking 24th.

Minnesota Lynx
Unlike the professional teams above, the Lynx have triumphed more than they've tumbled. The three-time WNBA champions have given fans plenty of reason to support the team over the last decade and, as always, we’ve shown out. The crowds for the team's latest, not-quite-title-winning charge to the Finals were large and rowdy.

That brings us back to the Minnesota Twins and the conclusion of this letter. Dating back 25 years, when the team was almost contracted, fans have supported this club. Even when times were tough for the majority of the 2010s, we typically finished in the middle third of MLB teams in average attendance. However, when things were good, we were great. There's no better sight than 40,000-plus Minnesotans waving their Homer Hankies ahead of a playoff matchup. If you give us a reason to support this team, we will make it well worth your investment. Be smarter than your predecessors have been.

Sincerely,
A disgruntled but passionate Twins fan

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[Fire Dan Gladden]

New Owners:
You don't need to be smarter than your predecessor. You just need to remember that fans are passionate and loyal to owners that are passionate and loyal. Just act like you care about the on-field product and the fans will follow.

[NYCTK]

New Owners:

You can't take it with you, and your idiot children are going to prove to be failsons, unworthy of the obscene wealth you intend on leaving them, just like nearly all obscenely wealthy children prove to be. 

[spanman2]

Twins were the 1st MLB team to draw 3 MILL if my memory serves me correctly back in '88.  We have an long list of things to do here during a baseball season...if ownership is committed to the product on the field there is no reason they shouldn't draw 30ish or so per game during the summer months. 

[Rhyno006]

It's not Puckett's '91 heroics, but man my spine tingles listening to that crowd react to Royce's bomb... 

New owners: if you build it, we will come. 

[Karbo]

Don't forget about the Frost. 1st ever champion last season!

[Doctor Gast]

Twins need to win, IMO, we won't w/ this management. They needed to be fired, not promoted.

[Craig Arko]

Dear new owners: you have my condolences. 

[bean5302]

New owners: Make decisions based on fan experience and data rather than what your 30 year entrenched management or nephew thinks.

[Woof Bronzer]

24 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

Dear new owners: you have my condolences. 

Those poor billionaires!

[LA Vikes Fan]

As a life long Twins fan who lives in LA, I have a question for you guys. I grew up in Minnesota, but left after high school in 1975. Out here in LA we have teams that the community will passionately support regardless of whether they're good, bad, or indifferent in the Dodgers, Lakers, and the Kings. I know the last one is hard to believe but there is a hard-core hockey fan base in this town. It isn't huge but it fills up the arena and those fans are loyal and passionate. We have teams who have to win to get any real traction and support in the Clippers, and interestingly enough both football teams, the Rams and the Chargers. I think the football teams suffer from playing in the fall when the weather is usually pretty good here. The moronic 20 year hiatus of the NFL from LA left a football fan base that follows a lot of different NFL teams, plus we have USC and UCLA football. USC in particular has a very passionate and engaged fan base regardless of on field results. 

So reading the above, it sounds like the Twins really need to win to ignite the fan base, while people wall engage on the Vikings and the Wild people follow regardless. Am I reading this right? What do you guys think? I'm frankly just curious but it does strike me that it's a much tougher job being an owner of a team that needs to win to get that passionate engagement.

[Teflon]

It's a very limited field of owner candidates that are willing to pay over market value, take on $425 million in debt and still have Joe Pohlad calling the shots.

[Vanimal46]

23 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

So reading the above, it sounds like the Twins really need to win to ignite the fan base, while people wall engage on the Vikings and the Wild people follow regardless. Am I reading this right? What do you guys think? I'm frankly just curious but it does strike me that it's a much tougher job being an owner of a team that needs to win to get that passionate engagement.

Minnesota no different than anywhere else. We’re a front runner state and support the teams that make the playoffs. And push aside the teams that don’t. NFL is king so they’ll sell out whether they win 14 games or 3 games. The Wild have been consistent winners over the last decade+, but there were dark times when they weren’t winning and tickets were easy to come by. You don’t have to look too far back with the Timberwolves to see they were a laughing stock with no real fan base. 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

Twins need to win, IMO, we won't w/ this management. They needed to be fired, not promoted.

It took 5 whole comments before the "we need to fire everybody comment that attempts hijack an unrelated article" appears. It might be a new record!

[Rhyno006]

46 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

As a life long Twins fan who lives in LA, I have a question for you guys. I grew up in Minnesota, but left after high school in 1975. Out here in LA we have teams that the community will passionately support regardless of whether they're good, bad, or indifferent in the Dodgers, Lakers, and the Kings. I know the last one is hard to believe but there is a hard-core hockey fan base in this town. It isn't huge but it fills up the arena and those fans are loyal and passionate. We have teams who have to win to get any real traction and support in the Clippers, and interestingly enough both football teams, the Rams and the Chargers. I think the football teams suffer from playing in the fall when the weather is usually pretty good here. The moronic 20 year hiatus of the NFL from LA left a football fan base that follows a lot of different NFL teams, plus we have USC and UCLA football. USC in particular has a very passionate and engaged fan base regardless of on field results. 

So reading the above, it sounds like the Twins really need to win to ignite the fan base, while people wall engage on the Vikings and the Wild people follow regardless. Am I reading this right? What do you guys think? I'm frankly just curious but it does strike me that it's a much tougher job being an owner of a team that needs to win to get that passionate engagement.

A few  replies to this but I don't think you're far off either way:

1. The biggest difference is the LA area has had multiple major sport champions where MN hasn't. But much like LA, MSP has a lot of different teams to choose from given it's size.

2. Speaking of size, per wikipedia the greater LA area has a population of 18.3 million people versus MSP about 3.7. I think that desparity can account at least for some of the reason even poor teams in LA have a decent following. It's just a numbers game at that point.

3.   The Twins need to win, yes. BUT- baseball especially has a politicing (maybe not the right word) side to it given there's no salary constraints. If you don't spend enough on players, you're more likely to not be as good a team and therefor not win as many games.  Part of that isn't the Twins' fault (I.E. lack of a salary floor/ceiling), but the Pohlad's aren't/haven't done themselves any favors either and that in my opinion is what seems to be weighing on and driving us fans away from the team, myself included. 

[Vanimal46]

Dear new owners:

Don’t blame the fans for your inability to make improvements on the team, and you’re already off to a much better start than the last group. 

Give people a reason to care about your new team. We’re tired of being sold the same bill of goods year after year with Buxton, Correa, and Lewis. More Keaschalls,  and less Mirandas are needed to change the identity of this team. 

[NYCTK]

31 minutes ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

It took 5 whole comments before the "we need to fire everybody comment that attempts hijack an unrelated article" appears. It might be a new record!

They're not wrong. A new owner would be dumb not to clean house. 

42 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Minnesota no different than anywhere else. We’re a front runner state and support the teams that make the playoffs. And push aside the teams that don’t. NFL is king so they’ll sell out whether they win 14 games or 3 games. The Wild have been consistent winners over the last decade+, but there were dark times when they weren’t winning and tickets were easy to come by. You don’t have to look too far back with the Timberwolves to see they were a laughing stock with no real fan base. 

In my mind, mediocrity, and the aspiration for it, is most evident in baseball. Maybe that is because it's the only sport without a salary cap, therefore all personnel decisions are only restricted by imagination. 

The Twins have rarely, if ever, actually attempted to put together a championship team in my life. They've almost always rather just had the goal of winning the worst division in baseball. And Twins fans have become wise to the con.  

[Sjoski]

1 hour ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Am I reading this right? What do you guys think? I'm frankly just curious but it does strike me that it's a much tougher job being an owner of a team that needs to win to get that passionate engagement.

I agree 100%—and after living in L.A. for 8 years, I know exactly what you're pointing out. The numbers would back you up too. The only time the Twins were consistently supported during losing seasons was when Target Field was still new and the novelty hadn’t worn off.

Just look at St. Louis..a far better comparison than LA.

They’ve got a passionate fanbase that shows up even when the team isn’t winning. So what’s so different about St. Louis compared to Minnesota? That’s the real question.

St Louis only has 2 teams.  It's long been my belief that Mpls-StP area can only support 3 major league teams.....for all to succeed that is.  One of the four teams will suffer. And toss in losing...your toast. 

 

[Mike Sixel]

I mean, I think it's healthy people don't go to watch losing teams. We don't keep going to bad restaurants, well, most of us don't. 

[Sjoski]

1 hour ago, Rhyno006 said:

2. Speaking of size, per wikipedia the greater LA area has a population of 18.3 million people versus MSP about 3.7. I think that desparity can account at least for some of the reason even poor teams in LA have a decent following. It's just a numbers game at that point.

Here's a breakdown of the numbers game. 

LA’s ratio:

18.3 million people / 8 teams = ~2.29 million per team.

Now...

Apply that ratio to MSP:

3.7 million ÷ 2.29 ≈ 1.62 teams

So based strictly on population alone, if MSP operated like LA, it would only support about 1.6 teams — basically 1 or 2 pro teams, not 4.

So...I am correcting my earlier post. 

Mpls/StP can't even support 2 teams to maintain support during losing seasons. 

If potential owners are looking at the Twins this way...why aren't we?

If you include the Lynx and Frost in this equation...it's an even worse numbers game for Minnesota sports. 

[CRF]

The only letter I want to send to the new owners is...WHERE ARE YOU? HURRY UP, BUY THE TEAM ALREADY!

[Rhyno006]

12 minutes ago, Sjoski said:

Here's a breakdown of the numbers game. 

LA’s ratio:

18.3 million people / 8 teams = ~2.29 million per team.

Now...

Apply that ratio to MSP:

3.7 million ÷ 2.29 ≈ 1.62 teams

So based strictly on population alone, if MSP operated like LA, it would only support about 1.6 teams — basically 1 or 2 pro teams, not 4.

So...I am correcting my earlier post. 

Mpls/StP can't even support 2 teams to maintain support during losing seasons. 

If potential owners are looking at the Twins this way...why aren't we?

If you include the Lynx and Frost in this equation...it's an even worse numbers game for Minnesota sports. 

Thanks for extrapolating those numbers for us! That indeed does make it look worse for MN teams. Too much to choose from, and add in that baseball is the only real draw most of the summer and we have nice weather with other things to do than watch a bad baseball team, etc.... 

[Rhyno006]

3 hours ago, Rhyno006 said:

It's not Puckett's '91 heroics, but man my spine tingles listening to that crowd react to Royce's bomb... 

New owners: if you build it, we will come. 

OK so I just listened to it again, and the way the crowd decibels go up even higher as he's rounding first while the ball is landing in the seats... damn it all, someone must want to buy this team??????

[nicksaviking]

4 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

As a life long Twins fan who lives in LA, I have a question for you guys. I grew up in Minnesota, but left after high school in 1975. Out here in LA we have teams that the community will passionately support regardless of whether they're good, bad, or indifferent in the Dodgers, Lakers, and the Kings. I know the last one is hard to believe but there is a hard-core hockey fan base in this town. It isn't huge but it fills up the arena and those fans are loyal and passionate. We have teams who have to win to get any real traction and support in the Clippers, and interestingly enough both football teams, the Rams and the Chargers. I think the football teams suffer from playing in the fall when the weather is usually pretty good here. The moronic 20 year hiatus of the NFL from LA left a football fan base that follows a lot of different NFL teams, plus we have USC and UCLA football. USC in particular has a very passionate and engaged fan base regardless of on field results. 

So reading the above, it sounds like the Twins really need to win to ignite the fan base, while people wall engage on the Vikings and the Wild people follow regardless. Am I reading this right? What do you guys think? I'm frankly just curious but it does strike me that it's a much tougher job being an owner of a team that needs to win to get that passionate engagement.

LA football has more challenges for local fans than the other pro sports. First, no one in LA is from LA, people move there and bring their fandoms with them. But it's still cool and hip to go see a Laker, Dodger or Kings game, because those are considerably easier to do. On a whim you can still decide get something to eat near the stadiums, show up fashionably late to the game (as per LA tradition), leave early and go get a nightcap before jumping on the freeway and waiting in traffic. And you can plan this out at 3PM on a Wednesday if you want to.

Going to a football game takes at least month of planning since the away fans have already bought most of the tickets. To top it off, it's way out in the middle of nowhere in Inglewood where you'll spend most of your morning driving through city streets to get there. There is NOTHING to do there because it's one of those new stadiums where the owner wants to own and develop all the land around it. So it's either go to that stupid casino half mile away, or do absolutely nothing before or after the game.

The Twins should be the Lakers/Dodgers/Kings of the Twins cities sports, just like they used to be. Easy access, easy tickets, can do it on a whim and there is loads of other entertainment nearby. Ownership has absolutely squandered what should be a goldmine of an entertainment option for the metro area population. They're taking the football approach trying to convince people from Thief River Falls to plan one complicated and expensive trip a year to the stadium instead of convincing the locals to go a half dozen times easily and more affordably.

 

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Dear new owners:

Don’t blame the fans for your inability to make improvements on the team, and you’re already off to a much better start than the last group. 

Give people a reason to care about your new team. We’re tired of being sold the same bill of goods year after year with Buxton, Correa, and Lewis. More Keaschalls,  and less Mirandas are needed to change the identity of this team. 

Great post. Especially the first paragraph. 

[The Great Hambino]

4 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

As a life long Twins fan who lives in LA, I have a question for you guys. I grew up in Minnesota, but left after high school in 1975. Out here in LA we have teams that the community will passionately support regardless of whether they're good, bad, or indifferent in the Dodgers, Lakers, and the Kings. I know the last one is hard to believe but there is a hard-core hockey fan base in this town. It isn't huge but it fills up the arena and those fans are loyal and passionate. We have teams who have to win to get any real traction and support in the Clippers, and interestingly enough both football teams, the Rams and the Chargers. I think the football teams suffer from playing in the fall when the weather is usually pretty good here. The moronic 20 year hiatus of the NFL from LA left a football fan base that follows a lot of different NFL teams, plus we have USC and UCLA football. USC in particular has a very passionate and engaged fan base regardless of on field results. 

So reading the above, it sounds like the Twins really need to win to ignite the fan base, while people wall engage on the Vikings and the Wild people follow regardless. Am I reading this right? What do you guys think? I'm frankly just curious but it does strike me that it's a much tougher job being an owner of a team that needs to win to get that passionate engagement.

I think that's a pretty fair assessment of the local teams.  I'd say the Timberwolves are similar to the Twins in that regard, while the Loons and Lynx are similar to the Wild - a passionate niche fanbase, just with a smaller niche than hockey.  

Based on how you laid out the LA teams, it seems to me that to get sustained passionate support two ways: service a passionate niche, or have a long run of sustained relevance.  You earn that unconditional support that the Vikings, Dodgers, and Lakers (and USC football) get. Those teams aren't all pumping out dynasty after dynasty (I suppose the Lakers kinda have), but they don't have sustained stretches of irrelevance either.  The Clippers were run like a dollar store for decades, and their interest relative to the Lakers reflects that.   They've actually been pretty competent lately, and they're still just beginning to develop that goodwill with fans.  And you can't get much more irrelevant than ceasing to exist like LA football did.

So yeah, it is a tougher job to be an owner of a team that doesn't get passionate engagement win lose or draw.  But that engagement doesn't just get bestowed upon certain franchises, it gets earned with competence over time.  New owners would have some work to do to earn that for the Twins

[Doctor Gast]

4 hours ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

It took 5 whole comments before the "we need to fire everybody comment that attempts hijack an unrelated article" appears. It might be a new record!

The article is about the new ownership taking over the Twins & how fans can get on board. It has everything to do with winning. Joe Pohlad wanted to maintain some control over the team after he sells the team. A smart new ownership will never go for that. They'll want to change the direction of where the team is going. Maybe that's part of the reason the Twins weren't sold.

[DocBauer]

To any future potential owner:

I don't know if you are looking to clean house or go status quo for the time being and then make decisions. But I'd like to point out a few things for your consideration despite errors made by the current regime in charge.

1] When the Twins have a good product on the field, the fans show up. History of that is proven, especially when the Twins are in the playoffs. 

2] The organization has assembled a quality MILB system complete with a wonderful complex in Ft Myers for everything from ST, to a couple MILB clubs, to rehab facilities.

3] Target field is one of the best, most beautiful ballparks in all of MLB.

4] There's a lot of potential to drive the Twins fanbase if you actually care to invest in the Twins themselves, but also engaging the fans in a way they haven't been included in years. FINALLY, fans who live inside a multi-state demographic can now be allowed to actually watch the games.

Despite the Pohlad's looking for a somewhat higher asking price...mostly to bail them out from losses they've forced the franchise to incur as they've looked for liquid cash where they could find it...there's actually some good stability at the core of the franchise. If you like baseball, there's a lot of opportunity here to grow the Twins brand. All you need to do is actually care. You don't have to re-build the organization from scratch.

[dxpavelka]

P.S.:  Eventually we'll hate you.  A very large portion of our fan base doesn't remember the joy we felt when current ownership purchased the outfit from THEIR predecessors.  They have heard of but don't really comprehend the fact that we won the World Series twice before the ink on the purchase agreement was 8 years old.  Nor do they comprehend that BOTH ownership groups made significant contributions to said titles.  They don't understand that MOST new ownership groups DON'T win so much as one title within the first 8 years much less two.  

So buckle up.  You'll be expected to win one very shortly.  You will read on sites like this one that the only way to do so is to spend money like drunken sailors.  ANY free agent signing with ANY other team will be because of the fact that YOU are cheap bastards. 

You'll have a couple of years grace.  By year three if we haven't had to build a designated parade route for all of the World Series parades you'll start to hear rumblings that maybe you're not in this for the right reasons.  Just want to use your billion dollar plus investment to make more money.  By year four we will be screaming for the manager we screamed for you to replace Rocco with to be fired. 

But don't forget, we're Minnesota Nice.

 

[TopGunn#22]

Great article Matthew !!  Well written and timely.  Thank You.