SF 2373

Introduction - 82nd Legislature (2001 - 2002)

Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00 a.m.

  1.1                             A resolution 
  1.2             memorializing the President and Congress to stop Major 
  1.3             League Baseball from demanding taxpayer subsidies 
  1.4             under threats of moving teams or contraction of teams; 
  1.5             encouraging diligent effort and sincere and open 
  1.6             negotiations with Major League Baseball to preserve 
  1.7             the Minnesota Twins for Minnesota's future; 
  1.8             encouraging private stadium financing; and requesting 
  1.9             Major League Baseball reform its economy and implement 
  1.10            comprehensive revenue sharing, so teams do not need 
  1.11            public subsidies from taxpayers. 
  1.12     
  1.13     WHEREAS, the Minnesota Twins are an important community 
  1.14  asset and are valued by the people of Minnesota; and 
  1.15     WHEREAS, the economy of Major League Baseball is 
  1.16  dysfunctional, with player salaries increasing to an average of 
  1.17  over $2,000,000 per year, a 118-fold increase since 1967, during 
  1.18  which time the consumer price index increased only four-fold, 
  1.19  with individual players receiving contracts as high as 
  1.20  $250,000,000; and 
  1.21     WHEREAS, the financial disparities between teams have grown 
  1.22  to the point where some teams have payrolls four times as great 
  1.23  as other teams.  These disparities have destroyed the 
  1.24  competitive balance in baseball to the extent that the teams in 
  1.25  the bottom half of the league in payroll have not won a single 
  1.26  one of the 200 postseason games since 1995, and no team in the 
  1.27  bottom three-quarters of the league in payroll has won a World 
  1.28  Series game; and 
  2.1      WHEREAS, team owners and the league have refused to fix 
  2.2   their economic problems, choosing instead to pressure 
  2.3   communities to use taxpayer money to subsidize teams by paying 
  2.4   for new stadiums.  As an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank 
  2.5   described it, "the leagues of all major sports blatantly aid and 
  2.6   abet team owners in extorting public funds for new facilities 
  2.7   under the threat of moving"; and 
  2.8      WHEREAS, the people of Minnesota have rejected public 
  2.9   subsidies for the Minnesota Twins despite direct threats to move 
  2.10  the team to North Carolina unless the state would agree to 
  2.11  finance a new stadium before November 30, 1997, and object to 
  2.12  the implied threats to contract the league and eliminate the 
  2.13  Minnesota Twins if the taxpayers do not provide significant 
  2.14  public funding for a stadium; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.15     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.16  that it: 
  2.17     (1) acknowledges the value of the Minnesota Twins to the 
  2.18  State of Minnesota; 
  2.19     (2) is interested in and committed to working with the 
  2.20  Minnesota Twins organization to develop a way to retain the team 
  2.21  in Minnesota; and 
  2.22     (3) will not consider public taxpayer funding for a new 
  2.23  stadium. 
  2.24     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State of Minnesota 
  2.25  encourages New Ballpark, Inc. to continue their worthwhile 
  2.26  efforts to build a new outdoor ballpark solely with private 
  2.27  funding. 
  2.28     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State of Minnesota 
  2.29  encourages the Minnesota Twins and Major League Baseball to 
  2.30  conduct sincere and open negotiations to preserve the Minnesota 
  2.31  Twins for Minnesota's future and to immediately stop seeking 
  2.32  public subsidies from either state or local taxpayers. 
  2.33     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State of Minnesota requests 
  2.34  that Major League Baseball reform its economy, implementing 
  2.35  comprehensive revenue sharing so that teams do not need public 
  2.36  subsidies from federal, state, or local taxpayers. 
  3.1      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State of Minnesota 
  3.2   memorializes the President and the Congress of the United States 
  3.3   to take whatever action is necessary to stop Major League 
  3.4   Baseball from demanding taxpayer subsidies under threats of 
  3.5   moving teams or contraction of teams, including the removal of 
  3.6   the exemption from antitrust laws that it has granted to the 
  3.7   league if the league fails to stop its demands before the end of 
  3.8   the 2001 World Series. 
  3.9      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  3.10  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  3.11  memorial and transmit them to the Minnesota Twins, the 
  3.12  Commissioner of Major League Baseball, New Ballpark, Inc., the 
  3.13  President of the United States, the President and the Secretary 
  3.14  of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the 
  3.15  United States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators 
  3.16  and Representatives in Congress.