Just to make sure the Twins weren't secretly working to host the Vikings-Bears game next Monday, I checked with club president Dave St. Peter.
``No," he said. ``To my knowledge no one from the Twins has been contacted as it relates to Vikings games.
``But, yes, this facility could hold both football and soccer games."
Like TCF Bank Stadium, Target Field would need several days to be brought out of, `hibernation.' Coincidentally, I was at Target Field for baseball-related business several weeks ago while it was being winterized.TCF Bank Stadium has two advantages over Target Field when it comes to being a home for an emergency NFL game: It holds 50,000 (TF hold 40,000 with SRO tickets, and there probably would be room for a couple thousand seats on the field) and The Bank has FieldTurf.
Football at Target Field, however, sounds intriguing. Where would the field be placed?
``We would work with a couple of configurations," St. Peter said. ``One would run down the middle of the field, the other would be from left field to right field."
There's a good chance Target Field will be used for different events in the future. The Twins said before the season they wanted the field to settle in for a year or two before having other functions there. They have expressed a willingness to host concerts, which would be great considering the only outdoor music venue we have in the area is the Zoo.
I guess TCF Bank is in that market too. U2's concert there last summer was postponed until 2011. The thought of having two options for major outdoor concerts makes me forget it's five degrees outside.