Skip to Content

Why do Vikings want a stadium? Twins know

By Jay Weiner | 03/24/11

It's March 24, and still no Vikings stadium bill. We're being told "next week" again.

As we wait, check out the value of the Twins' new ballpark.

Tony Spadafora of Eden Prairie, who has become one of the region's stadium finance experts, performed a little bit of research that illustrates the economic power of new stadiums.

In a note to MinnPost, Spadafora compared the value of the Twins franchise in 2006 — just before ballpark legislation passed — with the new values recently released by Forbes magazine.

In 2006, Forbes ranked the Twins as the 29th most valuable Major League Baseball franchise out of 30. According to Forbes — whose numbers are often questioned but never disputed with opposing facts — the team had a debt-to-value ratio of 42 percent, revenues of $114 million and operating income of $7 million.

Fast forward to today, one year after a new ballpark, new naming rights, new suites and new total management of the facility are in place.

According to Forbes, the team's value is now $490 million — assuming anyone wants to sell or buy it. The team's debt-to-value ratio has dipped to 20 percent. Revenues at Target Field soared to $213 million, and operating income — that is, profit on money in and money out — was $25.5 million.

Target Field goosed revenues by almost 100 percent, operating income by more than 300 percent and the Twins' franchise value by nearly 127 percent.

As Spadafora wrote in his note: "What a difference a new stadium makes."

And that's why owners want new stadiums.

Comments (4)

Submitted by Christopher Hamsher on March 24, 2011 - 11:43am.

Sure. But, again, why should we (the public) open our wallet to increase the value of a private business?

Maybe it's because this will create jobs and the Vikings will share their new profits with their hardworking players. Oh. Wait...

Submitted by David Moufang on March 24, 2011 - 1:56pm.

Now just think how rich Tony would be if he'd annoyed us into adopting his Twin Domes hogwash.

Submitted by Tony Spadafora on March 24, 2011 - 3:56pm.

I haven't had the heart to take down the TwinDomes.com website yet.

Maybe when the Twins have a few snowed-out games and after people come to realize in hindsight TwinDomes would have saved more than $1 billion instead of building three stand-alone stadiums, people like David M. will eat their words.

Are the Vikings going to wait until the last two weeks of this legislative session to tell us where they want a new stadium built, what kind of stadium, and how it should be funded?

We didn't hear about their stadium plan until May 4th last year.

Funny how people still remember TwinDomes.... the concept died during the last day of the 2006 legislative session.... five years ago!

Anyone have a clue about how we're going to prevent the Vikings from becoming the LA Vikings in 2012?

Submitted by Colin Lee on March 25, 2011 - 1:45pm.

So after building a stadium eventually costing over half a billion dollars, the team is now worth barely more than what the taxpayers paid. How much will the team be worth if we buy the owner a new yacht, Gulfstream jet, and limos to wine and dine skybox owners?