With Twins Owner Carl Pohlad officially announcing last Wednesday that the team is for sale, a statewide poll conducted February 19-20 for the St. Paul Pioneer Press cited by Aron Kahn shows that 54% believe it is "important for the Legislature to create a ballpark plan to keep the [Twins'] franchise alive," compared to 43% who held the opposite view. When asked the same question in '97, only 40% said that "it was important to help" the Twins with their ballpark, compared to 59% who said that it was not important. Also, 50% of respondents said that they would "support a scenario in which the Twins and other private interests pay at least half the cost of a ballpark, with the state lending money for the remaining portion and then recouping it through stadium user fees and other new revenue sources." The plan, a "likely financial blueprint" for a new ballpark, is opposed by 42% of those polled. Kahn noted that the findings come "after years of opposition to stadium plans," but added that "much has happened in recent years to prompt a change of minds, primarily the threat of elimination through baseball's contraction plan." The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4% (PIONEER PRESS, 2/24).
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