Are professional sports teams a part of Minnesota’s cultural heritage?

YES, it was cemented in 1965 when the Twins broke this 5th graders heart in the seventh game of the World’s Series.

It was re-cemented when the Vikings went to four Super Bowls.

Remember, the question is nothing about who pays for what.

The idea that the Legacy Act would be used to funnel money to a for-profit sports team is wrong on so many levels, I don’t know where to begin.

But that it seems clearly unconstitutional is the simplest place to start. Any effort to direct this money towards the Wilf family business would end up in court for years.

In a year of bad public policy on both the state and federal level, this may be the lamest idea yet. I vote NO!

Absolutely NOT!!!! This was never the intent of this constitutional amendment. Instead, it was meant to protect the very programs that suffer every time there is a budget deficit and are suffering under this current legislature.In fact, I seem to remember that this fund was given as a reason why the Republicans could cut money to these programs-because they would get money from the fund. I fail to see what is wrong with the current stadium. This is yet one more example of legislative theft. It certainly clearly demonstrates where the Republican values lay- protect business owners and billioinaires and lay waste to the arts and the environment.

This is the seventh of eleven guiding principles for the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund:

“ACHF funding is intended for non-profit organizations for work that is open to the public and conducted for the benefit of Minnesotans. It is not intended to fund for-profit enterprises.”

Has everybody forgotten what happened to the Tobacco Trust Fund? Robbed so TPaw never had to fix the MN deficit.

This is precisely why politicians aren’t trusted with money.

“Posted by GaryF” speaks “pork-barrel-ese” better than anyone today. trying to guilt us into spending money Gary Old boy – is just pure BS. ………….imagine Senatah Gary chastizing his foes ….. : …… why sen-ah-tah Liberaline .. we have given prodigiously to yowah prah-jects and ah find that your reticence at spending ah mere wahn-hunnert times thet amount on my measly community aid program for prez-ah-vation of a venerable , aynd down on its luck, spowts her-ah-tij is simply , sir, mystifiying. they need our help – the organ-o-zation … the niffle can’t help them. they – can not help themselfves. the simple fact is …. sir …. that professional foooooot bawllllll is the ownly thang keeping our proud state from becoming utter chaos. Those fine young millyun-hairs are an example to us all … ah ..uh.. we must preserve our 50 year old her-a-tij for all of its season ticket holdah !!!!!

Nein, Nein, Nein.

Yes, sports teams are part of our cultural heritage. The Twins’ wins and the Vikings’ losses on the big stage are part of who we are.

While I agree that spending Legacy Funds on a stadium for millionaires and billionaires seems very wrong, the whole Legacy thing seems more than a little tainted to me already.

In the “No new taxes; we’re broke environment,” I have no idea how it passed in the first place. Now money is pouring in and pouring out with very little accountability, weak governance and no doubt a few undeserving organizations or people benefiting improperly.

Spending a couple of $10’s of millions a year on a sports palace doesn’t seem that much worse that not really knowing where a couple of $10’s of millions a year are going now.

No. It’s unconstitutional. The Vikings are a for-profit, professional sports team. They (obviously) can move at any time. The sport they play is not one the indigenous people played. Unlike public lands or public art, game attendance is not available to everyone and does not connect people to the history and culture of Minnesota. The Vikings in no way “protect our drinking water sources; protect, enhance, and restore our wetlands, prairies, forests, and fish, game, and wildlife habitat; preserve our arts and cultural heritage; support our parks and trails; protect, enhance, and restore our lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater”

I can add very little to the comments above but I feel that one aspect of the cultural heritage of NFL players is the significant number of criminal proceedings that follow these thugs. I don’t see tax dollars used for a un-needed stadium as rehabilitating these anti-role models. One professional American football team in the state is adequate, Go Gophers.

No. It was never the voter’s intent in passing the amendment that the funds be used for building a stadium to make rich men richer.

To those posting regarding the “intent” of the legislation, most legislation has unintended consequences or are later “interpreted” to meet the ends of some special interest. So, if that is the leg on which you stand, then lobby for the strict application of original intent for all laws, start with the healthcare reform and lower premiums.

No way! That money was set aside by the people of MN for things that have a hard time getting funding – protecting the arts and environment. Wealthy professional football teams are not falling into that category no matter how politicians want to twist this pool of money.

And if the Republicans decide to use this funding in their twisted version of balancing the books without raising taxes, they should expect to be looking for another job than the part time one at the Capital!!!!

They are certainly part of our sports heritage, but cultural, not so much. Target is part of our heritage too, does that mean they could ask for and receive funds from the Legacy Amendment?

Argue about the Legacy Fund, and whether the amendment was needed, but since it passed with 60%, my inclination is people like the idea of supporting the non-profit sector. Reading the language of the amendment, there is no mention of giving money to a sports team.

Legal challenges would keep this tied up for years, and would likely produce an unfavorable outcome for the VIkes as overreaching.

If you consider that the “Love Boat” scandal on October 6, 2005 on Lake Minnetonka, allegations of Moss’s assault, or allegations of Cook assaulting his girlfriend represent part of Minnesota’s cultural heritage, then you may consider the Vikings as a part of that heritage. Personally, I think these over-payed players are a bunch of rich thugs trying to take economic advantage of this wonderful state.

Yes, professional teams are part of our cultural heritage. This cultural heritage consists of overpaid owners, officials, lobbyists, and players, some with possible or real criminal backgrounds. This cultural heritage also consists of sports centered around gratuitous violence, cheap swill in plastic cups and poor fashion sense. Therefore a cultural heritage fund should be used to support professional teams.

Just kidding.

The only reason this is even being brought up is because some slimy politician brought it up do deflect us from the real issue, that the slimy politician need to DO THEIR JOB and make a decision, and then face the consequences. There are not enough vikings fans to guaranty their re-election, but there’s enough to make it very hard for them to get re-elected. No public vote, no legacy fund maneuvering, if pandering to ziggy is the best thing for the state, then DO IT! other wise shut up and show ziggy the door!

Part of our culture, yes. Heritage, no. Your heritage cannot just arbitrarily move or be moved to another city or state and suddenly become someone else’s.

If only the question were rhetorical.

Pretty much by definition, one’s heritage cannot simply pack up and walk away. Ball clubs not only can, they do.

That’s aside from the fact that that amendment specifically refers to ARTS supporting culture and heritage.

Sure they are a part of our cultural heritage. If we are talking about a historical reflection, say a part of a MN sports history exhibit at the History Center then consider funding from the amendment funds. But that isn’t what this stadium is. This is a new place of business for a privately held, for-profit business.

As for the arts side of the argument: professional sports have never been considered arts under any reasonable definition of the arts that I have seen.

When I voted for the Legacy amendment, the Vikings were the furthest thing from what I believed I was supporting. I was voting for clean air and parks and a vital arts community.

NO! This is not what I voted for!

Besides, professional sports teams are legally allowed to leave the state… they are no state’s (nor city’s) property and thus not part of it’s heritage. The Lakers are now in L.A, they came from Minneapolis, previously from Detroit; the Senators moved from D.C. and became the Twins. The Colts absconded in the middle of the night from Baltimore to Denver, to be replaced by the Ravens from Cleveland.

The players are traded like (overpaid) chattel. A sports franchise is just a jersey color. Let them leave!

Reading the list of posts 61 by10:30 am, I have become aware of my Karmic debt. My unhealthy lifestyle of Sunday afternoons, Monday nights encroaching on Friday evenings and Saturdays too of couch potatoe-ism. My disgust of men in tights and disregard for any other artistic value not to mention my contempt for those who feel we should invest in our environment has responded in this post.

Well said. I dutifully genuflect in submission and beg forgiveness for my wholely blind-sightedness

NO, nothing dealing with them is in that category. Just a lame attempt to steal from the state of MN.

Actually, yes, professional sports teams are a part of Minnesota’s heritage beginning with the NBA’s Minneapolis Lakers (1946-1958) who were bought from the Detroit Gems, and who moved to Los Angeles when people stopped coming to Laker games. The Minneapolis Lakers drafted NBA great Elgin Baylor and became the first West Coast NBA Team by 1961. The rest is history – the Lakers are the second winningest franchise in NBA Championship History. Meanwhile, the North Stars came in 1967, the Twins in 1961 from Washington D.C., and the Vikings in 1961. Prior to that the Minneapolis Marines/Red Jackets were an NFL team in the 20s and 30s.

The Vikings are as much a part of our heritage as 3M, Target, or Best Buy are. They are all for profit businesses, started and based here, that are associated with our state in a national way.

But the latter above contribute far more to our economy, standard of living, and way of life, than the Vikings, or any other pro sports team ever will. We didn’t rush to help them, or pass sales tax increases to provide new facilities to Delta to prevent them from moving. Or get involved in the fight and funding for Thompson Reuter’s proposed and now failed expansion in Eagan. And I’m sure we had nothing to do with paying for Medtronic’s new facility near the proposed Arden Hills site.

Are the Vikings important? Sure. Are they associated with Minnesota. Sure. But they are simply a for-profit business in the end analysis. They don’t deserve or need money from our Legacy fund, or any other taxpayer dollars.

Minnesota’s professional sports teams do become part Minnesota’s cultural heritage and do comprise a portion of Minnesota’s cultural identity to the rest of the world. When outsiders mention Minnesota they typically mention our lakes, our winters, or The Vikings. However, there are many more culturally meaningful ways to use the resources of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund than to dole out funds as corporate welfare to a billionaire real-estate wheeler-dealer from New Jersey. Pro teams have made a practice of holding communities hostage to curry favors, and extract hand-outs and tax incentives. As long as jobs and living wages are under siege by a do-nothing Congress, Minnesotans must evaluate priorities, then try to distinguish wants from needs.

When will we go to these great lengths (seeking ‘any solution’ and a special session to consider gambling and/or Legacy money) for our decrepit schools & educational system.

The payoff of a $300 million school rebuilding plan would be a lot longer-lasting than helping a NJ businessman keep a team in Minnesota, and the construction jobs would be spread throughout the state.

Kids who are well educated offend less, are more inventive/resourceful/resilient, and have better incomes (pay more in taxes).

Citizens, where are our priorities?

The difference between subsidizing the Guthrie, or the U, or a high tech startup, or MPR, and subsidizing the Vikings is that the employees of the former spend their salaries here in the state; and beyond that, when the work day is done, they engage their intelligence and creativity in our community in countless ways all year long. The Vikings’ players, and owner, would spend their subsidized salaries and profits elsewhere, because they live elsewhere.

Absolutely not. Subsidizing professional football was not the intent of voters. Read the amendment—. This is just one more reason why the public distrusts and, in many cases, hate politicians.

You know, we can’t give money to a MENS football team with being politically correct and giving money to the Minnesota Valkrye women’s football team.

http://www.lflus.com/minnesotavalkyrie/

Come on folks, lets be politically correct!

Maybe MN has bigger worries than the deals our government does with all to little transparency…but after reading the latest news it is no surprise we see those in office arranging deals like the stadium with out revealing all the players ( no pun intended) and who really benefits. Maybe we need more ex CIA officers to investigate as they did for the Hawaii documents?

” Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely, the chief of Stand Up America, a national security expert and FoxNews contributor, says the “Certificate of Live Birth” released in April by the White House as “proof positive” of President Obama’s Hawaiian birth is a forgery, but the FBI is covering the fraud and no one in Congress is willing to tackle the situation because of fears of a “black backlash” if the failings of the nation’s first black president are revealed.

In an interview today with Greg Corombos for WND, Vallely, who previously has expressed concerns about whether the Obama administration is in violation of the U.S. Constitution, said, “His actual birth certificate has never been found in Hawaii nor released from Hawaii hospital there, Kapiolani hospital there, if it in fact did exist.”

“We’ve had three CIA agents, retired, and some of their analytical associates look at it, and all came to the same conclusion, that even the long-form was a forged document,” Vallely said.

“No members of Congress will take this on. The word I get out of Washington is that they don’t want to challenge this because it would be in fact a felony offense and in some cases may be even treasonous and [they are] afraid of a black backlash from some of the urban areas,” Vallely said.”

That would help account for the fact they had NO records of the mother ever staying at the hospital or that the Selective service records show a different state of residence with a social security number that doesn’t quote match up or_ that back in 1961, birth certificates in Hawaii still used negro_ not a continent such as African was used for describing the father..someone forgot that when the birth certificate was “found” and then copied for the media.. Barry stated in his book ,each state he was in, after returning from Indonesia, yet Connecticut was never mentioned..his selective service card number shows that state.

Does MN care about truth and honesty and valid voter registrations or more about new stadiums? Just a thought.

The more wealthy people plunder the taxpayers like this, the less incentive taxpayers have to be honest on their taxes. We’ve become accustomed to this kind of behavior on the national level. Hearing about bull like this on a local level, I wouldn’t blame anyone for becoming a tax evader.

On the topic of a new football stadium, is this just a way to get the state and Ramsey County to pay for cleanup of the old munition land in Arden Hills?

people, it’s all about building Zigi Dail, we are the home of the shoping mall, what is more mimmesotan then acres of parking with aimals on the light poles, it’s our culture.

Clearly a hot topic. Fun to read the responses.

About 5 “yes’s” in response to the actual question.

About 10 “no’s” in response to the actual question.

And 50+ people answering the unasked question and suggesting that using Legacy Funds for a stadium is somewhere between illegal and obscene.

I wonder if the sample is representative?

I wonder if the decision makers read the responses to MPR’s Question of the Day?

“And 50+ people answering the unasked question and suggesting that using Legacy Funds for a stadium is somewhere between illegal and obscene.”

And why is that a problem, James? In the context in which the question is asked, a simple yes or no is misleading. It’s like asking a public figure, “Yes or no: Have you stopped beating your wife yet?”

And you have to admit, broadening the discussion to the legacy amendment is a lot less off-topic than re-opening the ridiculous “birther” conspiracy theory.

Nope.

No.

While we’re busting the Legacy Amendment lockbox wide open and letting the doubloons spill out we should also pay for light rail, since there used to be trolley lines and this is an update of that cultural heritage. Let’s pay for airport expansion since that extends the cultural legacy of Lindbergh. How about subsidizing Canterbury Downs/Park in honor of Dan Patch?

I can’t believe this is even being suggested. When will these laughable twisted follies stop?

“I say let’s “Occupy the Metrodome”.

Posted by Dan | October 28, 2011 10:48 AM ”

Yes-Yes-and-Yes.

Let’s Occupy the Metrodome Roof.

No. The very question seems so absurd. People have to stop thinking of culture in such broad and shallow terms. A product sold by a private entity for profit is not part of my heritage. It carries no more cultural significance than a case of brand-name soda pop.

Is this a trick question?

I have a better one:

Should MN taxpayers subsidize a successful business enterprise.

Or:

Should MN taxpayers give money to a successful businessman so that he is better able to increase and develop his real estate holdings?

No since “Cultural heritage” is often defined as something unique and irreplaceable.

Professional sports teams are neither unique and are replaceable.

Let em’ go!

Allow “medical marijuana” to be sold in MN and tax it to the high heavens (no pun intended). Pay off the school districts and then consider how these so called sin-taxes could be applied to fund an entertainment venue such as a Vikings stadium.