How Minnesota Nearly Lost All Its Sports Teams

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At various points, it felt as if Minnesota was going to be Minne-so gone as it related to professional sports. If owners weren’t flirting with other cities, they were asking commissioners to straight-up erase their franchise off the face of the earth.

All of these issues have been stadium/arena-related. Usually, owners who are either out-of-towners or not particularly well-liked by locals made absurd demands that went over about as well as Norm Green in a Coca-Cola factory. For those who don’t understand that reference, I’ll explain that in a bit.

Anyway, the thing about Minnesotans is that there are as nice as advertised but they’re also happy just doing their own thing. It’s not like the South where seemingly someone is always trying to be all up in your business.

The other thing about Minnesotans is that if you want something, you better just come out and say it because they have zero interest in playing games with you. Secondly, you also better damn sure well need what you are asking them for. They are nice, not stupid. If the state sees that you don’t need something, that ain’t handing it out to you.

In many ways, it is the antithesis of professional sports where team owners where team owners want to play games and make demands for things they don’t actually need. The approach has, unfortunately, created a lot of strife over the years.

The Minnesota North Stars and Minneapolis Lakers did leave. The Vikings considered bolting during the 1970s and early 2000s. The Timberwolves were nearly sold to a group planning to move them to New Orleans. And the Twins flip-flopped between relocation and contraction.

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