Season Opener for Stupidity

I hate stupidity and I hate waste.  The only thing I hate more are stupid decisions which will become wasteful.  Today, we in Minnesota saw a vision of our own very stupid, wasteful future.

Today was opening day for the Twins, who currently play in the (regrettable) Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome, universally despised by fans and players since it opened in 1982.  It is a puffy top dome, with not particularly good site lines, seating, or amenities.  It looks like it was designed by ex-Soviet central planners.  Minor league ballparks today have more appeal that the dome.

In 2005 the owner of the Twins, Carl Pohlad, argued that the lack of a good stadium was holding the team back. He threatened to move the team to - well, anywhere actually - unless a new stadium is built for him with public funds.  The state caved and he will get his new stadium.  Cost:  $522 million.  

I could write for days on the stupidity for using public funds for building a stadium (especially when our bridges are collapsing), or the foolishness of this deal since there is no guarantee the team will stay once the stadium is build, or how it is the Metrodome's fault that we are uncompetitive (even though the Twins won the world series in 1987 and 1991 while playing in the dome), or the fact that the reason we might not win the big games is because Pohland is too cheap to pay his players once they get good (Exhibit A: Johan Santana, Exhibit B: Torii Hunter).  No, the reason I am writing is about the new stadium design and its one very apparent flaw:  it doesn't have a roof.

Now, I hate going to the dome in summertime.  We don't get that many days with good weather and when the do occur, I would like to be outside.  But, the baseball season is long, starting in late March/early April and ending in October, or possibly November (if you have a good team).  Today is opening day for the Twins.  It is also snowing.  Lots.  We will have between 5-8" of very wet snow by the end of today.  Tomorrow is probably the same.   This is not unexpected.  It begs the question, why, why on earth would we build a new stadium where it is expected that games will be played in cold, snowy conditions without a retractable roof?

The estimated cost to add a retractable roof is $100 million.  This is not an insignificant sum.  But consider the chain of events that will occur if a retractable dome is not added:  the new stadium will be build.  We will probably get snow or extremely cold weather both at the beginning and end of the season.  Fans will not attend the games because they are absolutely miserable (not to mention the team).  Pohland will complain and say that this market is not big enough to bring in enough fans, so he either (a) demands we spend MORE money to build a stadium with a retractable roof or (b) he moves the team, and the city is stuck with a $500 million albatross.  

This will go down as the crowning moment in stupidity and waste for any state legislature, ever.  This will make Alaska's famed "Bridge to Nowhere" look like a minor transgression in comparison - a bridge is still useful even if your baseball team is gone.  The city should have either not agreed to build the stadium or built it correctly (with a retractable roof and a contract for the team to stay, say, 25 years).  Any other option is wishful, juvenile, thinking, and every state legislator who voted for it should be ashamed (along with Gov. Pawlenty).

There is no need to subsidize stupidity; it will survive just fine on its own.