As you probably know by now, the Metrodome roof is going to be replaced for a cost of $18.3 million -- all but $25K of which officials are saying will be covered by insurance. That brings two immediate thoughts to mind: If they were confident insurance would cover all but that relatively tiny deductible, why didn't they just start work on replacing it right away ... and where can we get that sweet insurance?

A third thought, of course, developed a little later: This decision means the roof won't be done until around Aug. 1. That's cutting it close for the Vikings. But in the "good old days" it would have been devastating for the Twins.

We have to imagine that if there were still multiple big-time tenants, this process would have moved faster. But we also have to guess that the decision to replace the roof means fixing it isn't a viable option. And even if work had started almost immediately on a replacement, given the current timetable it would have impacted a good chunk of the MLB season.

As such, we fired off a quick e-mail to Twins executive Kevin Smith last night. The simple question: What would the Twins have done had the Dome roof collapsed while the Twins were tenants and wouldn't be fixed until August? His reply:

The great "what-if" question! We would basically have had to be nomads and find other MLB facilities in our region to play our home games while those teams were out of town.

The most sensible spot would have been Milwaukee, though looking at the 2011 schedule there are a number of conflicts. In April alone, the Twins and Brewers both have home games scheduled April 8-10 and 22-27 -- not to mention that having to use Milwaukee's ballpark would be one more thing Wisconsin folks could hold over our heads (really, the NFL, college football and college basketball seasons are enough for now).

It might have made for some fun road-tripping for Twins "home games" across the Midwest in Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, et al. But in the end, it would have been an utter fiasco. Another reason to treasure Target Field.