Brainstorming Ways the Twins Can Engage Younger Fans in 2025

The Minnesota Twins brand is in a state of crisis. Hopes of growing attendance and interest coming off a breakthrough year were dashed, partially out of self-sabotage, as the team drew fewer fans, reduced TV access and collapsed late in the season. With the front office transparently admitting that they need to scale back spending and make tough bottom-line decisions this offseason, a sense of apathy is setting in, even among the diehards like myself.

In order for the franchise to enjoy a healthy future, they need to reverse course on their dwindling fan momentum. Attracting a younger generation that can turn into longtime followers is vital. This has been a concerted effort for MLB as a whole and should be one for the Twins as well. 

There are plenty of serious ideas to be discussed for rejuvenating fan engagement, from simply winning more games to, say, lowering concession prices. What follows is a series of decidedly non-serious suggestions for reaching young fans in the 2025 season. It should definitely be noted that the author is almost 40 and extremely out of touch, but hopefully that only makes the exercise more sadly amusing.

Refer to hot dogs exclusively as "glizzies" at Target Field.
Glizzy has become a popular nickname for hot dogs among the youth. The Twins should go all in on this trendy terminology at the ballpark. I mean menu listings, vendor shouts, the works. When people order a "hot dog" at the counter, the cashier should stare at them blankly. 

Will this weird out and alienate older people? Of course. That's part of the charm.

Buy TikTok and rebrand it as TwinsTok.
The beloved social media platform faces a potential ban in the U.S. next month unless a domestic buyer can step in and save it. This is the Pohlads' (or a new owner's) chance to play hero for the app's heavily youthful user base. With more than 1 billion daily users worldwide, a purchase of TikTok and subtle rebrand as TwinsTok would offer great opportunities for brand awareness. 

As a bonus, Twins ownership would have its own streaming platform for broadcasting games. The action would need to be transmitted to audiences in the form of brief clips but with the state of today's attention spans, that's just as well.

Start a rap beef.
We saw earlier this year the culturally transfixing power of a heated hip-hop rivalry, when Kendrick Lamar and Drake went toe to toe over a series of increasingly personal diss tracks. Maybe it's time for the Twins to follow this example by stirring up smoke with their opps.

If they want to build on the cross-border friction that Kdot and Drizzy sparked up, the Twins could set their sights on the Toronto Blue Jays and former hitting coach David Popkins. Or they could stay closer to home by taking aim at the neighborly Brewers. What about a civil war beef between the Twins and Saints? The possibilities are endless.

Of course, this would be dependent on finding someone to craft the bars, and they're gonna need to bring it. I wonder who on the Twins has the best rap writing skills? I'll happily volunteer my pen if called upon.

Institute team dress code requiring high socks.
Apparently wearing ankle socks is out -- a sign of dated fashion sensibilities. We can apply this shift to the Twins and deduce that the low-pants look is simply not resonating with younger observers. It's time for this franchise to take a page out of the Steinbrenner book and mandate a strict appearance policy; instead of outlawing facial hair, they can take hard stance on the "mother of all baseball fashion arguments" by requiring all players to rock high socks at all times. Fortunately team leader Carlos Correa is already ahead of the game here.

Fortnite Nights at the ballpark every fortnight.
If I know one thing about young people -- and that might be about accurate -- it's that they love Fortnite. The game is a generational sensation. One study found that almost two-thirds of players for the mega-hit battle royale video game are between 18 and 24. Well, there's nothing like glomming onto a mainstream trend to borrow some of that buzz! 

We've seen baseball teams dabble with Fortnite-themed events before. Minor-league teams have used it as a promo gimmick and last January the Red Sox hosted an offseason Fortnite game on the Fenway jumbotron. The Twins can make waves by going even bigger. 

Picture this: Fortnite Night at Target Field. Fans encouraged to dress up in creative "skins," and to play Fortnite rounds on their mobile devices in the stands, with occasional highlights piped to the big screen. Players doing celebratory dances and emotes on the field. The whole works.

And we're not doing this just once a year, but once every two weeks. Build some real sustained inroads with the Fortnite community. If the Twins aren't at home on a date the event falls, it's still happening at Target Field. 

Let's hear your best ideas for bringing younger fans to the ballpark and broadcasts in 2025. You're welcome to take the assignment a little more seriously than I did. Or not!