CHS Field (St. Paul Saints Ballpark)

The Most Livable City in America™
go4guy
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby go4guy » September 9th, 2014, 6:51 am

The Saints already draw tickets from the Twins, why not have those tickets build a brand with the Twins and introduce the fans to the players of the future? Also, this would be a single or double A team. Not a triple A team. Triple A clubs are usually in larger cities with ballparks that hold about 20k. Think Indy, Nashville, Memphis, Louisville....

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MN Fats
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby MN Fats » September 9th, 2014, 8:34 am

They also get you as an investor to think about them for your stock portfolio. I'd have to say as diversified as they are that they would have a decent ROI with their dividends. It is a public education/promotion campaign to increase their visibility in the rest of the Midwest.
We're talking about an *independent minor league* team!
I would not be surprised to see them become the Twins single A affiliate in a few years. It was reported on this summer.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... l?page=all
The Twins have an agreement with their current single-A affiliate, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, through the 2020 season. Don't see the Saints being AA or AAA either. Plus them being unaffiliated with MLB allows them a lot of latitude for all those wacky promotions they love to put on.

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ym ... p&sid=t492

twincitizen
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby twincitizen » September 9th, 2014, 9:01 am

The biggest barrier to the Saints becoming an actual MiLB team is geographical. The Twin Cities are too far removed from any of the regional leagues in which these minor league teams play. Their budget for travel is, understandably, kept to a minimum.

The only MiLB league the Saints could possibly play in is the Midwest League (which includes the Twins' current low-A affiliate, the Cedar Rapids Kernels): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mi ... -A_Leagues

I'm not saying it's insurmountable, but the Pohlads would probably have to buy a stake in the Saints, and maybe even make some kind of ongoing financial contribution to the Midwest League for the extra travel distance for all the other teams. Do they necessarily want to do that? I mean, I personally would love it. I would actually attend the games, for the reason of seeing future Twins players. I have minimal interest in seeing a Saints game that does not matter whatsoever (even after accounting for the fact that attending a baseball game is primarily social in nature).

EDIT: I see that the Midwest League recently expanded to include a team in Bowling Green, KY, stretching the league even farther to the south and east (i.e. away from MN). The furthest north the league goes is Appleton WI, Cedar Rapids IA, and Midland MI. By any measure, the Twin Cities is still a stretch, even if we never, ever play the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

EDIT 2: If you like baseball caps (and/or quirky sports team logos), the Midwest League has some of the best, as does MiLB in general.

Wedgeguy
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby Wedgeguy » September 9th, 2014, 9:09 am

They also get you as an investor to think about them for your stock portfolio. I'd have to say as diversified as they are that they would have a decent ROI with their dividends. It is a public education/promotion campaign to increase their visibility in the rest of the Midwest.
We're talking about an *independent minor league* team!
I have no idea whether the teams that they play have their scores brought up on their local sports. But I still think that there will be some people that will see the stadium and the naming in other markets.

David Greene
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby David Greene » September 9th, 2014, 11:45 am

The Saints already draw tickets from the Twins, why not have those tickets build a brand with the Twins and introduce the fans to the players of the future?
Twincitizen summed up the situation nicely but I'll just note that he's exactly the case I'm talking about: someone who has no interest in the Saints currently but would if they were a Twins affiliate.

And he's absolutely right about caps.

mamundsen
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby mamundsen » September 9th, 2014, 12:31 pm


The Twins have an agreement with their current single-A affiliate, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, through the 2020 season. Don't see the Saints being AA or AAA either. Plus them being unaffiliated with MLB allows them a lot of latitude for all those wacky promotions they love to put on.

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ym ... p&sid=t492
The article I linked was prior to the new agreement. I hadn't seen that they extended it to 2020. I agree it seems less likely now that they just extended. I'm guessing they were just looking for click bait.

talindsay
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby talindsay » September 9th, 2014, 4:20 pm

Why would anybody want the Saints to join the affiliated farm teams? I spent a lot of time cheering for Appleton's Timber Rattlers in college, and all minor league baseball is fun, but the compromises that a farm team has to make for its system - any great player gets called up, they have to accept the injured, etc. - means that the fans can't see a steady team develop over the season and then go on to the postseason. Instead they seem random players, some good, some bad, most not spending a lot of time there - thrown together to play games each night under the aegis of a "team".

The Saints, by contrast, can build a team and develop a season - you can get to know players and see the season develop. They still share with the farm teams the fact that nothing's guaranteed, so you see weird, unexpected plays (unlike MLB where most plays are mechanical demonstrations of correct form), so it's fun and engaging.

grant1simons2
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby grant1simons2 » September 9th, 2014, 4:24 pm

Saints being independent I think is all part of the fun. I love the Twins as much as the next guy stuck in 2006 but I don't think they need more teams than they already are owning for the great prospects. If the saints were a farm team I feel like the soul would be gone

Tom H.
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby Tom H. » September 9th, 2014, 4:36 pm

Yep, I agree. I grew up cheering for the Sioux Falls Canaries (in the same league as the Saints) and they have a pretty good local following. I think being affiliated would cause them to lose a lot of that following, for the reasons stated above. On the other hand, if enough of the fanbase is also Twins fans, the interest in Twins prospects may outweigh that.

grant1simons2
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby grant1simons2 » September 9th, 2014, 4:42 pm

Basically we have a soul v. a possible boost in attendance, very tough thing to decide if a serious offer is ever presented to the Saints organization. I think that the current owner of the Saints is really enjoying where they are right now, and their PR team is awesome, check out their twitter for some good laughs.

mullen
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby mullen » September 26th, 2014, 8:34 am

this ballpark is going to be a little slice of heaven. it's design is that sublime. you can see it as the construction progresses.

holmstar
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby holmstar » September 26th, 2014, 8:35 am

Exciting to see the field substrate going in.

bubzki2
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby bubzki2 » September 26th, 2014, 9:05 am

The transformation of Broadway next to this has been unbelievable. That old warehouse building felt like the end of the universe. The ballpark is nice and low profile and really looks good and it a great use of the space.

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MN Fats
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby MN Fats » September 26th, 2014, 10:10 am

Here's a webcam screenshot

Image

mullen
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby mullen » September 26th, 2014, 10:13 am

open and airy. it's going to win design awards.

ProspectPete
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby ProspectPete » September 26th, 2014, 11:36 am

I go to way more saints games than twins games. The twins games are fine and all, but just too spendy for me. And hey, by the 7th inning I could care less what the score is, I'm just trying to keep the kid happy. With the construction of new stadium and the consistently under achieving twins, I'll be surprised if I even make it to a mlb game next year. That being said, I hope that the saints incorporate some of the fun stuff they had a midway in the new stadium. (Bouncy house, kids play area, etc).
The new place does look awesome.

grant1simons2
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby grant1simons2 » September 26th, 2014, 11:38 am

I just can't wait to play legion ball here! It will be really pretty at night to look up at the lights of the warehouses and mid-rises of St. Paul

nfschauer
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby nfschauer » October 8th, 2014, 2:26 pm

Grass is going in, along with dirt.

HuskyGrad
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby HuskyGrad » October 8th, 2014, 2:33 pm

Grass is going in, along with dirt.
For quick reference.
http://lowertownballpark.com/live-webcam/

J2K
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby J2K » October 11th, 2014, 8:22 am

I can't wait to go to a few games next year. I quit going to Twins games because they're terrible and it's very expensive.I'll be getting my baseball fix in lowertown next summer! That side of town looks beautiful now. What a drastic change getting rid of that horrible Gillette building and replacing it with this.


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