Twins sale highlights stability after near contraction. So why did the North Stars fail?

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.