twins/mlb

Not with a bang, but with a whimper the Twins stadium proposal fizzled late Monday at the Legislature.

Legislation in the House and Senate directing the Legislative Commission on Planning and Fiscal Policy to study financing for a new ballpark failed to make it to the floors of either chamber. Legislative leaders said they were not inclined to take it up on the final day, fearing a stadium debate would delay more pressing matters.

The joint legislative commission can convene without the prompting of the Legislature. So House Speaker Phil Carruthers, DFL-Brooklyn Center, who is its chairman, and Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe, DFL-Erskine, soon are expected to appoint a subcommittee of legislators to tackle the issue this summer. Debate not over

The ballpark debate has clarified some sentiments: Minnesotans want the Twins to stay, but not if it means subsidizing leagues and team owners who haven't gotten the economics of their own sports houses in order. And not if it means using general tax money for a retractable-roofed stadium whose pricetag has grown to $506 million.

"There's a real class warfare between pro sports and the citizens," said Senate Minority Leader Dean Johnson, R-Willmar, who said he would be a member of the legislative study group. "There's more anger here than we ever imagined. The Minnesota Legislature, I think, responded in a respectful way to our citizens."

Still, the Twins can escape from the Metrodome after the 1998 season. What's more, the pro sports debate will probably get more complicated before the Legislature convenes in special session or returns for the 1998 session in January.

The Vikings, who stayed in the background this session, are sure to seek their own public funding for a Metrodome makeover when the study commission meets. So, the future of the Dome and the ability of the Twin Cities to support a major league hockey franchise will probably be on the commission's agenda.

"I think that now the issue is going to have to take into consideration all of the major league sports and what we're going to do," said Henry Savelkoul, Gov. Arne Carlson's pro sports emissary and chairman of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, which owns and operates the Dome. "If the legislators engage, this will be an opportunity to look at the big policy picture."

But what we saw this session is probably what we'll get this summer.

"There just isn't a magic bullet in this environment," Savelkoul said. Unanswered questions

Funding sources suggested during the session included: contributions from Twins owner Carl Pohlad and the business community; user fees; a cigarette tax; state-backed gambling at Canterbury Park; a Minnesota State Lottery-operated casino, and contributions from American Indian casinos. Those sources will be on the table next month.

There will be lingering policy questions. Can a new dual-purpose stadium work for both the Twins and Vikings? Can't a stadium be cheaper than $500 million? Should Pohlad give more? Is public ownership of the teams a viable option? Which team could move more easily, the Twins or Vikings? What's wrong with the Dome anyway? Is gambling the only salvation for pro sports? If we build it, will fans come?

On Monday, Twins president Jerry Bell said the team's board of directors hadn't completed its assessment of what's next in its effort to get a ballpark. But Rep. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, who is chief sponsor of the House Twins bill and eager to be a member of the study commission, cautioned the team. "Major league baseball is still in an identity crisis after the players' strike," she said. "It needs some new bold redefinition of its place in the community, or it must accept the notion that communities aren't going to reach out to it."