Opat's frustration over soccer turns to full-blown sadness over Flip

This has been a bad few days for Mike Opat, the Hennepin County Commissioner, for very different reasons.

First, it became official Friday that Minnesota's Major League Soccer franchise will be placed in St. Paul and Ramsey County, not Minneapolis and Hennepin County.

On Sunday, the news was much worse, when Flip Saunders died at age 60, a man who had treated Opat kindly since Mike was a student at the University of Minnesota.

I sat down with Opat a couple of years ago, and he offered his vision for a soccer stadium and a grander Farmers Market in the wasteland between Target Field and Interstate 94.

Opat knew there would be some obstacles to overcome at the State Legislature, but he saw a chance for the county to contribute modestly to make it happen – using some of the excess dollars being collected with the .15 tax for Target Field.

The thought was the soccer stadium, paid for largely by Minnesota United owner Bill McGuire and his partners, would have the Minnesota Ballpark Authority as its landlord (as does Target Field).

There also was going to be a large platform to encourage tailgating, and the Farmers Market could be modernized to be something approaching Boston's famed Quincy Market.

What he didn't anticipate was Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and several city council members being so invested in having an MLS expansion franchise land with the Vikings in the new dome.

Many excuses have been offered for the roadblocks thrown by Minneapolis at the best stadium deal offered by rich owners in recent Twin Cities history, but the original idea for the city was that soccer would be played in the billion-dollar (plus) dome and that's what Hodges and others wanted.

Last week, on the morning of the St. Paul/MLS announcement, I sent Opat a text reading (in part): "Now Betsy can go ahead with all that development she envisions in that wasteland.''

Opat's response was (also in part): "There was never any City money proposed, yet the City would have reaped entertainment tax and some parking money. It's too bad.''

The too-bad angle hit Opat and most Minnesotans much harder with Sunday's announcement that Saunders, a basketball legend here since playing days for the Gophers (1973-77), had died from complications when being treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Opat sent me a text on Monday morning reading:

"Remember those days when the JV team played preliminary games at Williams Arena against junior college teams? Flip coached at Golden Valley Lutheran and they whooped up on us.

"What I recall is that Flip identified with us, in that we wanted to be involved in the game for the love of it. He knew many of us from being students and remained accessible for years afterward.

"I had lunch with him last year, to pick his brain about sideline in-bounds play for the travel team I was coaching. He came to lunch and gave me ideas for a sixth-grade team.