REPORT CRITICAL OF CAMPAIGN FOR NEW TWINS BASEBALL STADIUM
What: Research study on the failed campaign for a new Twins stadium released
When: 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 1
Where: University News Service, Room 6, Morrill Hall, and on the Internet
Who: Edward Schiappa, speech communication, (612) 624-2808
Contact: Mike Nelson, News Service, [email protected],
(612) 626-7701
REPORT CRITICAL OF CAMPAIGN FOR NEW TWINS BASEBALL STADIUM
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL -- The campaign for a new stadium for the Minnesota Twins failed because it lacked central organization and was not effectively coordinated, says University of Minnesota speech communication professor Edward Schiappa in a new study, "Squeeze Play: The Campaign for a New Twins Stadium." Copies of the study will be available at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1, in Room 6 Morrill Hall on the east bank of the university's Twin Cities campus/Minneapolis and on the Internet at http://www.comm.umn.edu/twinsreport.
The study offers three lessons for the Twins and other sports teams in future stadium campaign efforts: A successful campaign requires centralized decision making and planning with a clear vision of the target audience and its attitudes; sports teams must take an honest and credible case to the people; and, while private lobbying may have succeeded in the past, team representatives are unwise to assume that such efforts will overcome strong community opposition.
Schiappa says the study also provides textbook examples of how the anti-stadium social movement succeeded. The key, says Schiappa, is to frame the issues involved in a political controversy in a way that highlights an injustice, proposes an achievable response, clearly identifies the opposition and has a message that resonates with most or all members of the opposition group.
The study is critical of the argument that a new stadium for the Twins would provide an economic windfall for the Twin Cities. "Economists agree that new stadiums don't provide significant economic stimulus," says Schiappa. "New stadiums don't provide unique economic growth, they only redirect resources from other parts of the economy."
In addition, the study discredits an Arthur Andersen report of the financial impact of a new stadiumópaid for by the Minnesota Twins and the lobbying group Minnesota Winsówhich found that a new stadium would have significant positive financial impact in the Twin Cities.
The study found that although aspects of media coverage concerning the stadium issueóparticularly from the Star Tribuneówere "annoying" in their pro-stadium bias, overall media coverage was surprisingly thorough and fair.
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