New Wolves owners want to leave Target Center. Here’s what’s at stake for downtown Minneapolis.

Other structural challenges hinder revenue and the fan, player and performer experience, too: The building has among the lowest number of premium seats in the league, and the concourses are narrow. Storage space is limited compared to other venues, as is loading space, an important consideration for many concert acts.

“It needs to be a two-block solution to get to the scale of what they’re talking about,” said Don Kohlenberger, who represented the building owner in the 2014 transformation of the former Block E building now known as Mayo Clinic Square.

Kohlenberger said there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work happening to support and verify the viability of efforts to keep the arena downtown.

A key advantage of urban core is the transportation infrastructure to support large venues, said Adam Duininck, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council.

Even if the new arena were to be located near the Minneapolis Farmers Market, a rumored site contender, Duininck is hopeful the project could mimic the economic impact that the construction of Target Field had on the North Loop and U.S. Bank had on the east side of downtown.

“It might feel a little more distant,” he said. “But not that long ago, the North Loop didn’t feel like a part of downtown. As downtown grows and evolves, it really does get hopefully woven together in a more cohesive manner.”