Minnesota
Twins sale highlights stability after near contraction. So why did the North Stars fail?
How the North Stars failed
FOX 9 interviewed fans, media members and former team employees about the North Stars’ financial struggles as part of an upcoming documentary about the franchise leaving Minnesota.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) – The Minnesota Twins could now sell for $1.5 billion less than 25 years after they were nearly contracted out of baseball altogether. The North Stars also nearly folded in the 1980s. But after changes in ownership, the team failed to find stability in Minnesota before relocating to Texas. Why did one franchise thrive while the other died?
Backstory
The Minnesota North Stars relocated to Dallas, Texas, in 1993 after a dispute over stadium financing.
The move stunned fans who still resent former owner Norm Green.
Green was initially credited with saving the franchise when he took control in 1990.
Like the Twins, the franchise had nearly folded.
Similar struggles
The North Stars survived thanks to a merger with the Cleveland Barons in 1978.
“That was a circus because, OK, the North Stars were crap, Cleveland was crap so you just put more crap together,” said FOX 9 Sports Director Jim Rich.
“You got a bag of nothing and another bag of nothing, and you put them together, and now you have two bags of nothing,” said Tom Reid who played for the Stars prior to the merger.
READ MORE: Minnesota Wild to wear North Stars colors 15 times this season. Will the logo ever return?
FOX 9 interviewed fans, media members and former team employees as part of an upcoming documentary about the North Stars leaving Minnesota.
“That was a pretty shaky set-up,” said Bill Lester, the former Executive Director of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Commission.
Similar success
The Twins and North Stars both appeared to rally.
After near contraction, the Twins advanced to the American League Championship Series in 2002 and won the next three division titles.
The North Stars went to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1981, just three years after the merger.
The Twins’ string of success ultimately led to stability, culminating with the opening of Target Field in 2010.
The North Stars took another nosedive.
Owners need deep pockets
In the 1980s, owners George and Gordon Gund were on the verge of moving the franchise to San Jose after failing to secure funding for renovations to the Met Center.
Lou Nanne, a former North Stars player and executive, negotiated a deal that essentially split the franchise in two. It allowed the Gunds to take over an expansion team in the Bay Area and left the North Stars for Minnesota.
“Worked out a deal with them where we could keep half a team and the Gunds could go to San Jose, and we could move on from there and, hopefully, thinking we could make things work,” Nanne said in an interview for the upcoming documentary on FOX 9.
After two more ownership changes, Norm Green took control of the franchise in 1990 and the team again found success after nearly disappearing.
The North Stars advanced to the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals and Green was hailed as a savior.
But John Blackshaw, former General Counsel for the North Stars, said Green didn’t have deep enough pockets to truly stabilize the franchise.
“He was very overleveraged,” Blackshaw said.
Green bought the North Stars after building a portfolio in Canada centered around shopping malls.
“I think he was getting pressure on his real estate investments in Canada,” Nanne added.
Everything is bigger in Texas
Green moved the franchise to Texas just three years after buying it.
But that too failed to stabilize the team’s financial footing.
Less than two years after relocating the franchise, Green sold the Dallas Stars in 1995 for $84 million to Tom Hicks, who also owned the Texas Rangers.
The deal allowed Green to wipe out more than $70 million in debt, according to press reports at the time.
The Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999. Green was later inducted into the Dallas Stars Hall of Fame.
In Minnesota, his name still invokes derisive chants.
Blaming the owners
The Pohlad family, which has owned the Minnesota Twins since 1984, also became the target of angry chants by the end of last season.
Fans demanded the family sell the team after cutting payroll and failing to make trades before the team fell apart and out of playoff contention.
READ MORE: Minnesota Wild want to renovate Xcel Center. Has debate over public funding changed?
The family announced its plan to sell the team days after the season ended.
“We truly respect and cherish what the Twins mean to Minneapolis, St. Paul, the great state of Minnesota, and this entire region,” Joe Pohlad said in a statement.
“NO STARS: When Minnesota Lost Pro Hockey” premiers Nov 14 on FOX 9 and FOX LOCAL.
UNDATED (WJON News) — A new report says hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans are caring for a loved one.
The AARP says its report indicates 840,000 Minnesotans are caregivers for adults, providing care for older parents, spouses, neighbors, and other loved ones.
They spend about 480 million hours of care each year, work that would be valued at $11.1 billion per year if it were paid in the marketplace, based on a value of about $23 per hour.
AARP says family caregivers are averaging about 27 hours each week.
More than half, 57 percent, are providing high-intensity care, meaning they spend more hours helping with daily tasks like bathing and dressing, as well as complex medical and nursing tasks like wound care and administering injections.
AARP says these numbers are why it advocated to help secure Paid Family Leave and Medical Leave in Minnesota, giving family caregivers the ability to be there for their loved ones without sacrificing their jobs.
AARP also helps families navigate caregiving challenges by connecting them to resources.
Thanks For The Memories In MN Adam, SKOL Vikings
With the Minnesota Vikings waiving Detroit Lakes-native, former Minnesota State Mankato Maverick, Adam Thielen today, it’s only natural to go back and revisit his time with the hometown team. Here are some pictures of Adam in purple from his two stints with the Vikings, and his stats during his time with the Vikings.
Gallery Credit: Getty Images
Minnesota
Politics Friday: Mike Lindell ‘all in’ for Minnesota’s governor’s race with Trump backing or not
Millions of people around the country will take to the streets this Saturday in the latest round of “No Kings” protests that aim to denounce President Donald Trump’s subversion of the rule of law and attacks on democracy.
“Masked secret police terrorizing our communities. An illegal, catastrophic war putting us in danger and driving up our costs. Attacks on our freedom of speech, our civil rights, our freedom to vote. Costs pushing families to the brink. Trump wants to rule over us as a tyrant. But this is America, and power belongs to the people – not to wannabe kings or their billionaire cronies,” the NoKings website states.
The flagship event in St. Paul is expected to draw over 80,000 people to the Minnesota capital, including Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda, legendary folk singer Joan Baez, rock icon Bruce Springsteen, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
It is one of 3,000 events planned nationwide, according to organizers.
“Our goal is to continue to build a peaceful and nonviolent movement that gets us to the place where we have a healthy, functioning democracy, and communities and state and country where we can all thrive,” Indivisible Twin Cities event organizer Rebecca Larson told Minnesota Public Radio.
The rally comes in the wake of Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, which drew widespread national attention and resulted in the deaths of Americans Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents.
Springsteen, who is scheduled to perform at Target Center in Minneapolis later this month, penned a protest song in honor of Good and Pretti titled “Streets of Minneapolis.” He also plans to perform at the rally on Saturday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
“When you have the opportunity to sing something where the timing is essential and if you have something powerful to sing, it elevates the moment, it elevates your job to another level. And I’m always in search of that,” Springsteen told the publication.
Saturday’s gatherings are the third such mass protests under the “No Kings” banner, the first of which was held last June as a counter-event to Trump’s military parade celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, which also fell on the president’s 79th birthday. The second “No Kings” protest occurred in October of last year.
Since then, a litany of events has captured the nation’s attention, including immigration crackdowns, government shutdowns, the fight over the release of the Epstein files and the ongoing war in Iran. “No Kings” organizers plan to hone in on Americans’ frustrations with these issues to increase turnout and attention for Saturday’s demonstrations.
“Now, President Trump has doubled down. His administration is sending masked agents into our streets, terrorizing our communities. They are targeting immigrant families, profiling, arresting, and detaining people without warrants. Threatening to overtake elections. Gutting healthcare, environmental protections, and education when families need them most,” the organization states on its website. “The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings – and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty.”
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