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Target Center Future Draws Comment
Part
of leadership is identifying problems and finding solutions. Right now
Timberwolves president Chris Wright and city
of Minneapolis chief financial officer Pat Born know
Target Center will need major renovations in the years ahead but they
can only guess about funding sources.
Born
told Sports Headliners the city-owned building, opened in 1990,
“probably could use an $80 million” makeover. The figure came into a
conversation because that was the cost of renovations at US Airways
Center in Phoenix where the city faced competition from the nearby new
Glendale Arena.
Minneapolis “doesn’t have the resources” to make that commitment to
Target Center and would need another government entity like the state to help, Born said. Such a request isn’t in view on the
city’s radar screen right now anyway. More immediate are smaller
improvements to the building that either have been made or are ongoing
such as roofing, plumbing, carpeting and electrical work. Born said the
city set aside $15 million awhile ago and has spent a portion of that
budget, with about half remaining.
The
city recently entered an agreement with the highly regarded AEG company
to operate Target Center with responsibility to bring more and better
events into the building. Born said as part of that agreement AEG will
spend $2 million on capital improvements to be determined.
While
an $80 million renovation is appealing, the city already sees debt when
it looks at Target Center. Born said the city still owes $66 million on
the building it acquired from private ownership in 1995. As part of its
agreement with AEG, the city has initially guaranteed to cover Target
Center operating losses of up to $1.7 million per year.
The
building has lost money the last three years, according to Born. Prior
to the opening of the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul in 2000 Target
Center was a profit center. Born said representatives of the two
buildings are hopeful of working cooperatively together in the future to
maximize profits and minimize losses.
Wright looks at Xcel and the venues coming to the marketplace and sees
competition. The new Twins and Gopher football stadiums arrive in 2010
and 2009. A new or renovated Vikings’ stadium is highly probable. The
amenities of the Xcel and these other facilities are appealing to fans
who will enjoy environments and technology superior to Target Center.
Plus, the new stadiums mushroom the number of private suites and club
seating in the marketplace, adding more sales competition for the
Wolves.
“What
we’ve got to be concerned about is making sure Target Center does not
get left behind,” Wright said. “That somebody develops a long term
strategic plan for Target Center to make it viable for all our different
consumers.”
Wright said the Wolves have made “substantial investments” in the
building such as seating, scoreboard and club improvements but as a
tenant there is only so much the franchise can and will do. From
tattered carpet to uninspiring concession areas to crowded concourses,
there are various aspects of Target Center that are less than ideal.
“It’s
a little bit tired now and needs a lot of work to be done to it to
become sort of the place that it was in the eyes of the general public
in terms of THE destination,” Wright said.
He is
asking questions about Target Center’s future, not making demands on
behalf of the Wolves. “The Wolves have been very good partners,” Born
said. “The relationship has not been contentious. …”
This
much is certain: smaller improvements are coming for Target Center and
likely a more successful bottom line because of AEG. Not certain at all
is just how nice a building it can become once again and also avoid
being at a competitive disadvantage with its venue rivals.
“I
just hope we are able to figure out a way to work together to make this
building once again the crown jewel of the Upper Midwest,” Wright said.
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