Stadium site owners put squeeze on Twins

Visiting with Mike Opat, a Hennepin County commissioner who played a big part in getting the vote for the new Twins ballpark, and Jerry Bell, the team's stadium point man, you get the scary impression that the ballpark might not be built if the purchase price for the land can't be worked out.

Negotiations for the land purchase are not going well.

Opat and Bell agree: If the land for the stadium has to be condemned, the lengthy court proceedings could delay construction, increasing costs so that building it would become prohibitive.

"We're trying to negotiate with the owners and not have to condemn it," Opat said. "And in that way, we get control of the land faster and hopefully we can avoid being in court with them.

"That could be a long deal and we have to weigh whether or not we would even go into condemnation, because if it comes out and the price of the land is too high, we wouldn't be able to afford the infrastructure, the bridges and the stuff that we need to do."

He added ominously: "The biggest thing that I worry about right now is, are we going to be able to buy this land and afford the project? If they want to hold us hostage, then we probably don't have a project. If they think that we're going to pay any price, they're wrong, and we'll face a decision whether or not to even do the project."

There is $90 million set aside for the stadium site land acquisition, pollution cleanup and other infrastructure.

Owners wanted ballpark

The owners of the land marketed their site as being right for a ballpark. After being champions of the site, they now could kill the project by seeking big money.

Opat said a decision on condemnation will be made sometime next month. The county filed a condemnation notice in November, a formality allowing the county to use condemnation as a backup plan if talks fail.

"We need to decide by January whether or not we will go through with condemnation," he said. "If we can't, if we can't get some assurances that they're going to negotiate with us, then we're going to have some tough days."

Hennepin County, Bell added, is making progress on buying smaller pieces of land at the site. But the biggest parcel, one owned by a limited partnership involving entrepreneur Bruce Lambrecht, is the sticking point, Bell said. "They're being stubborn -- they're getting greedy is what they are," Bell said. "They know they've got us over a barrel."

So it is no cinch the Twins ballpark will be built, if the landowners run the price up too high.

Tough loss

"How do you like Glen Mason now?" a fan yelled at me in the Williams Arena parking lot Saturday before the Gophers men's basketball game.

Yes, I have been a booster of the Gophers football coach. But Friday's Insight Bowl loss to Texas Tech after the Gophers had a 31-point lead in the third quarter is not going to help the program.

If you lose a game during the regular season, you can bounce back by winning the next week.

But the pain of this overtime loss to Texas Tech is going to linger through the offseason, and it will hurt ticket sales and other aspects of the program.

As I wrote Friday, the poor Gophers pass defense could kill any chances of winning the bowl game. Mason must find a way to improve the secondary to become a contender in the Big Ten.

Pat Williams waiting

Pat Williams, who along with Kevin Williams might make up the best defensive tackle combination in the NFL, was happy to see Kevin get a seven-year contract extension. Now Pat Williams is looking for an extension, too.

Pat Williams makes it clear he is very happy with his present situation with the Vikings and wants to end his NFL career here.

"They ain't talked to me yet -- hopefully I can get a deal because I want to play right beside Kevin and I want to finish here," he said.

Regarding the Vikings' 6-9 record and a disappointing season that ends today vs. the Rams, Pat Williams said he believes the team is just a few players way from being a Super Bowl contender.

He describes this season as an "on-and-off year."The offense does something, and then defense will have some bad games, but we kept everybody together this year," he said. "... Going into the last game [today], I think everybody needs to go out there and play hard and go on and finish this season strong and then in the offseason come and try to get all them parts fixed."

While some of the team's malcontents have criticized coach Brad Childress and how he operates, Pat Williams respects the job the new coach has done.

"I think he's going to fix it for us, because if anything's wrong, he always tells us straight up. You know what I'm saying? He's a straight-up coach, that's what I love about him," Williams said.

It's been satisfying being a part of the best run defense in the league, he added.

"It's still fun, though," he said. "I still enjoy it, I enjoy what I do. ... It ain't all about money and all that stuff like everybody thinks it is. I go out there Sunday and I just have fun -- that's how I always play."

Jottings

Tarvaris Jackson, who will start his second NFL game at quarterback today, said it will be a lot easier at the Metrodome than it was in his debut at Green Bay's Lambeau Field. "It helped me a lot," he said about the first start. "I was just excited being in that atmosphere and Lambeau Field and getting a chance to get a little game experience, and it helped." ... Drew Henson, a great quarterback at Michigan who started out with the Yankees farm system and then turned to football, would like an opportunity to win the Vikings quarterback job next season. "That's something I'd be real open to, I've enjoyed my time here, being here for the weeks that I have been here," said Henson, who is now with the team's practice squad for the second time this year.

After defeating Southeastern Louisiana Saturday, Gophers men's basketball coach Jim Molinari said: "I think we're making tiny steps, I think we've been in every game. We competed very hard against UNLV; we gave ourselves a chance, but if we let up the least bit, we're going to be in trouble because we have small margins for error. I think we're making progress on and off the court, finding the right combinations and that's what we're going to do every day. People ask: 'How are you going to do in the Big Ten?' Well, I've never seen Purdue in person, but my guess is they're pretty good. But we only control what we can do, so I think we're making progress with a long way to go in a lot of areas."

Ex-Gophers football player and coach Joe Salem, in town for a visit, said he enjoyed getting back into coaching last year as an assistant to his son Brad, who is the head coach of Augustana (S.D.). Augustana went 5-6 this season, a good record for that school. The elder Salem has a connection with the Vikings, having hired offensive line coach Pat Morris at Northern Arizona, then bringing Morris to Minnesota when Salem got the Gophers job. Salem also coached Vikings assistant line coach Jim Hueber at South Dakota State. And Joe's son Tim is offensive coordinator at Central Florida, and Tim's son Taylor is one of the highest-recruited high school quarterbacks in central Florida.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on Podcast twice a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com