Saints Elsewhere

Fanning says that the Saints are willing to kick in 50 percent to 60 percent of the construction cost from skybox, parking, and naming-rights revenue. He insists that the team doesn't want tax money to go into the project, and he suggests that one or more private developers could possibly fill the funding gap as part of a larger redevelopment on Harriet Island.

That funding gap, warns St. Paul Deputy Mayor Susan Kimberly, is hardly a trivial problem. "What can I say? There's something missing there," she says. "Our expectation conceptually is that the team can support the building, and that the public's probably going to have to come up with the site."

Craig Lassig

St. Paul Saints executive Bill Fanning says his team needs more parking, more toilets, and more comfortable seats for fans--and some skyboxes, too

Related Content

• 10,000 Minutes of Minnesota Craft Beer 2013: Weekend Events
  May 17, 2013
• Midway Stadium documentary captures storied ballpark's twilight [VIDEO]
  October 8, 2012
• Twins Midwest Music Showcase series features P.O.S., Trampled By Turtles, the 4onthefloor, and more
  May 3, 2013
• St. Paul Saints move one step closer to building Veeck-land in Lowertown
  May 23, 2012
• Twins criticized for having only one African-American player
  April 12, 2013

More About

• Bill Fanning
• Minnesota Twins
• NFC South Division
• Politics
• Local Politics

If the Saints are to achieve their goal of playing in a new stadium by 2003, Fanning and others in the club's front office need to hammer out a proposal with St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman's office by this fall. Fanning and Kimberly say they are optimistic. But if Twins owner Carl Pohlad were talking, he'd probably call that mighty ambitious.