White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is open to selling his major league team, with an ownership group with ties to Nashville among those expected to pursue the club. At the same time, the Twins ownership group has hired the investment bank Allen & Company to explore a sale of Minnesota’s baseball franchise.

• Minnesota Twins attendance 2024 (ESPN): 24,094 per game (23rd in MLB)

Theoretically, the same ownership group that has been spearheading MLB expansion efforts in Nashville could also make a run at the Twins. The team is valued at $1.46 billion by Forbes, potentially making them a more affordable option than a White Sox sale which would go for $2 billion. However, Minnesota fans don’t have to worry about losing their favorite team no matter who buys it.

Related: How to Watch the Minnesota Twins in 2025

As detailed by Betsy Helfand of the St.Paul Pioneer Press about a potential sale, the Twins are only halfway through their 30-year lease with Minneapolis for Target Field. Not only is that relevant for any new ownership group’s ability to sell a team, but it’s even had an impact on a potential sale in the past.

Stadium leases have a history of keeping the Minnesota Twins in The Cities

In 1997, Carl Pohlad struck a deal to sell the Twins to a buyer trying to openly relocate the franchise to North Carolina. However, breaking the Metrodome’s stadium lease, among other costs, drove stadium building effort out east so high that voters there ended up rejecting the project. So, the Minnesota Twins lived on.

Also #OTD in #Minnesota Sports History (1997) #MnTwins owner Carl Pohlad signs a letter of intent to sell the Twins to North Carolina nursing home mogul Don Beaver. https://t.co/8CruyZPIKy pic.twitter.com/VtJ4hJEjpo

— Dan WHENESOTA (@WHENESOTA) October 3, 2024

Just a handful of years later, the Twins and Montreal Expos were essentially voted out of the MLB. The Expos were sold and moved to Washington DC, where they became the Nationals.

Taking the Twins out of Minnesota wasn’t so easy, after a judge stopped the sale, citing their lease at the Metrodome. The injunction put commissioner Bud Selig up against possible legal battles that Major League Baseball did not want any part of. So, the Minnesota Twins lived on again.

On November 6, 2001, the owners of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball (MLB) voted 28–2 to eliminate two teams for the 2002 season. 

The contraction plan fell through due to a court injunction compelling the Twins to honor their lease with the Metrodome, as well as challenges by the players’ labor union, the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). The Expos were later purchased by Major League Baseball. 

Wikipedia

The Twins aren’t going anywhere

In other words, we’ve been through this before. There’s no chance the team’s stadium lease will be overlooked, this time around. The last thing a new ownership group wants, after spending at least $1.4 billion on the franchise, at a time when there is very little TV revenue, is to be dealing with another source of high costs.

The stadium lease for Target Field requires a fixed rent cost of $600,000 (Marquette Law) and there’s an additional $300,000 paid out by the team for use of the ballpark. Not only is there more than a decade left on the lease, but there is also a non-relocation clause through the 2039 season.

Related: Minnesota Twins who might switch positions in 2024

At a minimum, any group that took over as Twins owners would need to keep the team in Minneapolis for the next 15 years. No city, no matter how desperate it is for a major-league franchise, would be willing to wait nearly two decades before it has a chance at getting said team. So, if the Twins are sold, the new owners will be calling Target Field home for a long time.

Breathe easy, Minnesota Twins fans. It’s okay to celebrate the Pohlads sale of the franchise. It’s okay to pray they find a buyer, too. Worry about that buyer being spend-happy, not whether or not they’ll pull the plug on your favorite baseball team.

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And that’s why fans are mad. Their $30 million decrease in player payroll last offseason was unnecessary for a business that has $2+ billion worth of equity built up. The slash talent budget actually decreased player spending to a lower level than what it was back in the Metrodome Days, relatively speaking.

2024 Minnesota Twins cheaper than Metrodome Twins

Aaron Gleeman (The Athletic), the superhero of the mainstream Twins media anti-Pohlad movement, broke it down on Thursday morning, revealing just how cheap the Pohlad family really is.

Multiple team sources with knowledge of the situation insist the Twins do not plan further payroll cuts for 2025 and that spending will remain around $130 million, but Pohlad’s refusal to say it on the record is reason for skepticism. And really, “next season’s payroll won’t drop any further” is just a positive way to spin “this season’s payroll drop is the new normal.”

During the Twins’ final five seasons at the Metrodome, their payroll was 23 percent lower than the average MLB team. Fifteen years and one taxpayer-funded ballpark later, their 2024 payroll was … 24 percent lower than MLB average. And if the 2025 payroll stays around $130 million while the league as a whole increases, they’ll actually fall below Metrodome-era spending.

Aaron Gleeman (The Athletic)

Carl Pohlad passed away in 2009, and his son Jim became the face of the family business. In 2022, Jim passed those responsibilities onto Carl’s great grandson and his nephew, Joe Pohlad. One year later, the Twins went on their longest postseason run in two decades. They swept the Blue Jays in the ALWC, before falling to the Houston Astros in the ALDS.

Related: Diamond Sports Group (Bally) Doesn’t Want to Broadcast Twins Games Anymore

Not long after their most successful season since 2002, president of baseball operations Derek Falvey announced publicly that significant cuts were coming to the Twins’ payroll. That number ended up being $30 million, which handcuffed Minnesota’s PoBO to bargain bin shopping in the offseason.

Just about every single one of those clearance aisle purchases broke before the Twins could even use them. That caused a severe lack of depth just about everywhere on the field. It’s that lack of depth which cost the Minnesota Twins a chance at the 2024 MLB playoffs. Money isn’t everything. High spending organization flop all the time.

Seriously… why don’t the Pohlads just sell?

But baseball history shows us that teams willing to spend in the top-half of the league are usually the ones that come away with the most sustained success. Since the Pohlads are worried so much about padding their pockets, why not just sell?

Why not just take your $2-3 billion, and exit the baseball ownership business. The more you think about it, the more it makes sense. Remember, Carl Pohlad spent more time trying to unload the Minnesota Twins than he did trying to win games. So why not just finish the job Jim’s dad couldn’t? Complete the sale. Bring in an owner who cares.

Also #OTD in #Minnesota Sports History (1997) #MnTwins owner Carl Pohlad signs a letter of intent to sell the Twins to North Carolina nursing home mogul Don Beaver. https://t.co/8CruyZPIKy pic.twitter.com/VtJ4hJEjpo

— Dan WHENESOTA (@WHENESOTA) October 3, 2024

Pass them off to someone willing to run the organization like it’s a multi-billion professional sports organization, not like a 1985 family-run business with an uncertain financial future.

Related: Minnesota Twins Retaining Rocco Baldelli’s Right-Hand Man

It’s beyond time, and Minnesota Twins fans wouldn’t have to worry about the team leaving. Contrary to what they Pohlads might believe, there is too much money to be made in the Twin Cities to leave. You promised more spending if we got you a stadium, so we did. Now you are failing on your end of the bargain.

Good will contract: Terminated

In case you’ve been asleep at the proverbial wheel, a friendly heads-up that Villanova won the men’s college basketball national championship. The Wildcats’ Monday night beat-down of Big Blue secured the powerhouse program’s second title in three years.

“#NovaNation has another #NationalChampionship!”

Relive the aftermath in the Alamodome ✌ pic.twitter.com/ztYafxItUb

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 3, 2018

Unlike their 2016 crown, Jay Wright’s team didn’t require a walk-off from deep to complete 2018’s impressive run. This time around, Nova easily handled their championship game opponent. In “time flies when you‘re having fun” fashion, their win over Michigan officially put a stamp on 2018’s Final Four.

Call me a petty Millennial, but I want nothing to do with a Big Ten foe winning it all.

Go Nova. Go Gophers.

— Johnny Minnesota (@TheJohnnyMN) April 3, 2018

*I know they’re not as bad as Bucky, but still. 

To give a quick shoutout; Thank you, San Antonio!  You did an excellent job providing a location for the last three games (two semifinals, one final) of the bracket-busting competition. On that note, you can now hold our beer. The city of Minneapolis will take it from here:

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. In just over one year from meow now, U.S. Bank Stadium will host what organizers have indicated could set the behemoth building’s attendance records. While February’s Super Bowl saw slightly under 68,000 fans pack into the Metrodome’s successor, the entire trio of next April’s games have strong potential to exceed 70,000 people.

While the in-game attendance should surpass the NFL’s big game, the influx of out-of-towners most definitely will not. The pigskin-related event drew more than 100,000 visitors. By hypothetically removing 40% of those tourists (preferably all Eagles fans), you’re left with the approximate amount of travelers for next April’s festivities.

When it comes to the make-up of those 60,000ish people, it’s sure to be a hell of a lot different than what we saw two months ago.

Per Rochelle Olson:

“unlike the Super Bowl, the Final Four doesn’t come with a barrage of corporate activations or ultra-exclusive events. It’s mostly out there for everyone.”

To back up that statement, Olson’s recent StarTribune article touched on this past week’s vibe in Texas’ second-most populated city. The people pleasing “up close and personal” experience was available to all. For example, San Antonio’s “interactive, basketball-themed” Fan Fest didn’t charge an admission. On top of that, unlike the recent security ridden atmosphere surrounding the Eagles and Patriots hotel stays, fans flock to their teams’ temporary home.

Michigan leaving hotel to play for National Championship! pic.twitter.com/yEGS9vdudb

— Jeff Wilson (@ESUCoachWilson) April 2, 2018

In regards to concerns surrounding next year’s Final Four, as is tradition, people won’t stop talking about the weather. The way I see it, the current stretch of snow is almost as frustrating as the fluke season that was Gopher’s 2017-18 Basketball. In my eyes, a more mentioned complaint attached to the 2019 Final Four will be the alcohol restrictions. Due to the college athlete aspect of the three games, booze isn’t readily available.

To those rattled by that news, it will be okay. The workaround to the NCAA’s roadblock is just pretending that U.S. Bank stadium is bar and you’re broke as hell:

via GIPHY

In conclusion, if the thought of checking out the 2019 Final Four flips your switch, you’re going to be there no matter what liquid is banned (if not the game, at least the festivities). In the rare event you don’t have a good time, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Plus, like the Super Bowl; who knows when, or if, the pinnacle of the Men’s college basketball will return to the great city of Minneapolis.

A blast from the past! Last time the Twin Cities hosted the @FinalFour wad in 1992! @MplsChamber pic.twitter.com/rDJnTA3Pto

— Jonathan Weinhagen (@jweinhagen) March 31, 2018

Johnny Minnesota @TheJohnnyMN
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com