Minnesota Sports Forum

Article on Target Center... with a bit of history behind it and some more insight into the public funding side.

https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2015/06/target-never-ending-effort-fix-twin-cities-least-beloved-venue

Personally, I don't want to pay for any new stadiums for awhile. Wait until this cycle of billionaire handouts ebbs just a bit...? One can hope.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:
Personally, I don't want to pay for any new stadiums for awhile. Wait until this cycle of billionaire handouts ebbs just a bit...? One can hope.

I no longer live in Minnesota so I don't really care one way or the other outside of not wanting them to lose any teams. On the other hand I've attended many games at both the Target Center and Excel, both regular seating and suites. Excel is unquestionably a better overall experience with the more open, airy feel, but in the end I was there to see either the Wild or Wolves and really never gave much consideration to amenities. Personally give me a great team and I won't care, much less notice any stadium deficiencies, give me a garbage team and no matter how nice the stadium I won't care as I'm unlikely to even go to the game.

If the Wolves put a great team on the floor they'll fill TC, if the put a dud on the floor they couldn't fill Excel.

TheSP wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:
Personally, I don't want to pay for any new stadiums for awhile. Wait until this cycle of billionaire handouts ebbs just a bit...? One can hope.

I no longer live in Minnesota so I don't really care one way or the other outside of not wanting them to lose any teams. On the other hand I've attended many games at both the Target Center and Excel, both regular seating and suites. Excel is unquestionably a better overall experience with the more open, airy feel, but in the end I was there to see either the Wild or Wolves and really never gave much consideration to amenities. Personally give me a great team and I won't care, much less notice any stadium deficiencies, give me a garbage team and no matter how nice the stadium I won't care as I'm unlikely to even go to the game.

If the Wolves put a great team on the floor they'll fill TC, if the put a dud on the floor they couldn't fill Excel.

I'm like you SP. I guess I don't pay too much attention to how nice the building is (or maybe it's that I'm always in the cheap seats!). How old is Madison Square Garden? I have no idea if that is considered a "nice" arena or not by most people...but I've always had a blast going there! I'm okay with putting some lipstick on Target Center to get another 10 years out of it. As someone else wrote...a lot can happen in 10 years! We'll all be commuting in self driving cars by then, so parking won't be a problem - right?

My favorite place to watch a game remains Williams Arena.

And that one is lacking just a few of the amenities of other arenas.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:My favorite place to watch a game remains Williams Arena.

And that one is lacking just a few of the amenities of other arenas.

Ha, ditto...may they never change it. Target Center is fine for what it is...a sterile, typical NBA arena. Sightlines are fine, corridors are wide enough, bathrooms are okay. But like all other NBA venues, it will always lack the ambience Williams Arena has. I'm glad they're not proposing a new building and I'
m sure the renovations will make the fan experience more enjoyable. But the real issue is we need a winning team.

As a person that's been going to 20-30 games a year for the last 15 years, my biggest gripes about Target Center are the concessions, concourse (its dark and dated) and the scoreboard. The seats are fine, although there seem to be more broken seats each year. I'm there to watch the Wolves play, not to enjoy a fancy meal or hangout at a club and socialize, so I can definitely get behind the renovations. The exterior upgrade is definitely a bonus since its always nice to have attractive buildings filling downtown Minneapolis. Also, based on the renderings, it looks like it will resemble Mayo Clinic Square and with the shift of the box office, it should add a more inviting feel to the building.

fiddlestyx wrote:As a person that's been going to 20-30 games a year for the last 15 years, my biggest gripes about Target Center are the concessions, concourse (its dark and dated) and the scoreboard. The seats are fine, although there seem to be more broken seats each year. I'm there to watch the Wolves play, not to enjoy a fancy meal or hangout at a club and socialize, so I can definitely get behind the renovations. The exterior upgrade is definitely a bonus since its always nice to have attractive buildings filling downtown Minneapolis. Also, based on the renderings, it looks like it will resemble Mayo Clinic Square and with the shift of the box office, it should add a more inviting feel to the building.

I will say this about Target Center based on my one experience there last season...

There's no place to watch the game other than your seats. I know that's USUALLY not a problem... but we got free tickets and my 8 year old niece got vertigo because they were so damn high. The place was full (early in Garnett's return) so we couldn't be moved to another spot. I asked about a place to watch the game on television... "nope, not really."

It was weird that 10 feet outside the inner bowl... you'd have no idea a game was even going on.