Minnesota Sports Forum

Jabari Young: And #Sixers announce plans for new, $1.3 billion privately-funded arena downtown Philly (Market St.) They estimate it'll provide $1.9 billion in economic output during construction & arena would contribute $400 million annually. Plans to open for 2031-32 #NBA season #SportsBiz pic.twitter.com/7plHYWBhEh - via Twitter

It's no secret that Lore and A-Rod will be seeking a new arena for the Wolves at some point. And there's no doubt in my mind that our new owners had a new arena in mind when they agreed to (probably encouraged) the win-now deal for Gobert - a deal that mortgaged future draft capital and that also has huge luxury tax implications in a couple years. We can be sure they'll seek public financing for a new arena. My guess is that they don't fully appreciate how difficult that will be in Minnesota. The Vikings hold a special place in Minnesota sports culture that the Wolves will never have; yet it still wasn't easy to get public money for US Bank Stadium. Hockey has a uniquely special place in Minnesota culture; yet it took a heroic effort by Norm Coleman to make the Xcel Energy Center happen. The Twins received public support for the new ballpark, but I think an outdoor baseball park was more politically popular than an NBA basketball arena would be. In any event, the political culture today is far less receptive to public investment in business enterprises - especially pro sports - in spite of the economic benefits they can generate. The Minneapolis City Council in particular is completely clueless when it comes to the importance of business and economic activity to the overall health and vitality of a city.

So the challenges are immense. Recent examples of new privately financed arenas will make it even harder for Lore and A-Rod to get any public investment in a new arena since public officials here will point to those examples as evidence that no public money is needed. You can see the most recent example in the excerpt I copied above - a new $1.3 billion arena for the Sixers that will be entirely financed with private money. Just a couple years ago, the Warriors began playing in a new $1.4 billion arena (Chase Center), which was also financed entirely with private money. I don't know the details behind the Sixers' arena, but I know Chase Center had massive financial report from the extremely wealthy Silicon Valley business community. The booming tech company, Salesforce, provided the land for free and Warriors ownership received huge investments from other tech companies, including the sale of $2 billion in tickets, suites and cooperate sponsorships. All of that plus the deep pockets of Warriors' ownership made a $1.4 billion arena feasible without any public support. And that was critical because the City of San Francisco, much like Minneapolis, harbors a cultural/political hostility to public support for businesses regardless of the broader economic benefits those investments might generate.

Perhaps Wolves ownership can find a community outside Minneapolis that's willing to provide some support - perhaps land if nothing else. That would be good for Wolves fans in Minnesota if it ended up keeping the team here, but it would be a real blow to Minneapolis. And it would be unfortunate; the urban vibe associated with a downtown arena is great, especially for NBA basketball.

The bottom line is this. The Wolves will need a new arena to support a financially viable, winning team in Minnesota. The question is whether Lore and A-Rod are willing and able to finance that new arena without any public funding because I suspect that's what they'll have to do. If not, then the Wolves might be headed to the Pacific Northwest or Vegas in 2030.

It will definitely be tough, like you said the Vikings are by far the most popular team in the state and we still almost didn't get a stadium for them. I truly believe if we were in a different part of the country the Vikings would have moved to LA. From what I remember Roger goodell personally met with Minnesota lawmakers multiple times to try to work something out, due to the team being in such a geographically important location.

1. Yes. A proclamation for a new arena will be delivered SOON. I spoke to a guy who is seemingly in the know about such things and he assured me last year that discussions were already underway.

2. Yes. Public financing will be a challenge. I guess the only "silver lining" I see is that the city council might be more willing to play ball since downtown Mpls seems to be struggling right now post-pandemic. It's no longer the cultural linchpin it once was. Most of the amenities people traveled to downtown for can be found in many other places, sans pro sports teams.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:1. Yes. A proclamation for a new arena will be delivered SOON. I spoke to a guy who is seemingly in the know about such things and he assured me last year that discussions were already underway.

2. Yes. Public financing will be a challenge. I guess the only "silver lining" I see is that the city council might be more willing to play ball since downtown Mpls seems to be struggling right now post-pandemic. It's no longer the cultural linchpin it once was. Most of the amenities people traveled to downtown for can be found in many other places, sans pro sports teams.

Very good point Abe on #2. The pre-pandemic office occupancy and daily commuters will NEVER come back to what the levels were before. Not even close in fact. So cities had better find compelling reasons for people to spend time downtown since there will no longer be as large of a captive office worker population.

Q-was-here wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:1. Yes. A proclamation for a new arena will be delivered SOON. I spoke to a guy who is seemingly in the know about such things and he assured me last year that discussions were already underway.

2. Yes. Public financing will be a challenge. I guess the only "silver lining" I see is that the city council might be more willing to play ball since downtown Mpls seems to be struggling right now post-pandemic. It's no longer the cultural linchpin it once was. Most of the amenities people traveled to downtown for can be found in many other places, sans pro sports teams.

Very good point Abe on #2. The pre-pandemic office occupancy and daily commuters will NEVER come back to what the levels were before. Not even close in fact. So cities had better find compelling reasons for people to spend time downtown since there will no longer be as large of a captive office worker population.

Another point is I could see them leaving the city and wanting that Arden Hills location that I know talking to legislatures the Wilfs preferred location.

There is so much land there and so much more money for a guy like Lore and Arod to make by building around the stadium as well.

Not that it's breaking news or anything but when Lore was on Dane Moore's podcast Dane basically said in asking some other question that a new arena will probably be coming soon and Lore said "There will be a new arena."

Idk who is gonna finance this arena but I think Lore and Arod know that if they do things right they are going to make a ton of money on the Wolves. I don't think they are gonna figure things out and also if they find it themselves they can do whatever they want to more than otherwise. If Minneapolis doesn't want to have them downtown in some way another community in the area as has been suggested will be happy to do so. Could the Wolves move? Sure but I don't think that's gonna happen.

monsterpile wrote:Not that it's breaking news or anything but when Lore was on Dane Moore's podcast Dane basically said in asking some other question that a new arena will probably be coming soon and Lore said "There will be a new arena."

Idk who is gonna finance this arena but I think Lore and Arod know that if they do things right they are going to make a ton of money on the Wolves. I don't think they are gonna figure things out and also if they find it themselves they can do whatever they want to more than otherwise. If Minneapolis doesn't want to have them downtown in some way another community in the area as has been suggested will be happy to do so. Could the Wolves move? Sure but I don't think that's gonna happen.

I think you're probably right Monster. I agree that the need to keep attractions like the Wolves downtown Minneapolis has never been greater than it is now in the wake of the pandemic and you'd think that even the Minneapolis City Council members would understand that. Moreover, Jester is right that there are other communities like Arden Hills with land that might be interested in getting an arena. And that sort of location would give Lore and A-Rod other real-estate revenue opportunities.

lipoli390 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Not that it's breaking news or anything but when Lore was on Dane Moore's podcast Dane basically said in asking some other question that a new arena will probably be coming soon and Lore said "There will be a new arena."

Idk who is gonna finance this arena but I think Lore and Arod know that if they do things right they are going to make a ton of money on the Wolves. I don't think they are gonna figure things out and also if they find it themselves they can do whatever they want to more than otherwise. If Minneapolis doesn't want to have them downtown in some way another community in the area as has been suggested will be happy to do so. Could the Wolves move? Sure but I don't think that's gonna happen.

I think you're probably right Monster. I agree that the need to keep attractions like the Wolves downtown Minneapolis has never been greater than it is now in the wake of the pandemic and you'd think that even the Minneapolis City Council members would understand that. Moreover, Jester is right that there are other communities like Arden Hills with land that might be interested in getting an arena. And that sort of location would give Lore and A-Rod other real-estate revenue opportunities.

Good points in this thread. Haven't the Wilfs made a ton of money via this model just with their practice facility? I think Lore has a vision of how he wants to make his money with the franchise and I think it could be either outside of Minneapolis or if the City wants to build an arena downtown he is willing to make that work. Quite frankly he could probably make more money outside of downtown...although right now maybe there are investment opportunities downtown. Lore and Arod are in a good position and I think they may have different abilities to get something done than Glen did partly because they are likely going to be around for longer than a few years. Glen has been considering selling the franchise for what like 10 years?

even privately funded arenas aren't totally private depending on how your state does things.

The money needed to spent surrounding the area almost always gets political. Even if the arena spot was a go, then it's about revitalizing the neighborhood which costs a pretty penny that the team owners don't pay.