St. Patrick's Day by the Target Center

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day... which means the party will be at O'Donovan's Irish Pub and Kieran's Irish Pub by the Target Center in Minneapolis!

Be there or be square!

Red Hot Chili Peppers @ Target Center

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are coming!

The band announced plans for its "I'm With You" World tour, which includes a stop at the X on Oct. 30.

Tickets will be starting at $41.50. The band will be inducted into the Rock and roll Hall of Fame in April.

Target Center Tied to Vikings Stadium

Tying the Target Center upgrades to the Metrodome site is potentially problematic, according to Senator Julie Rosen. It appears to be hard to round up votes to approve the Metrodome site for the new Vikings stadium because lawmakers don't like connecting the deal with $32 million for Target Center improvements.

The Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak insists that any Metrodome deal has to include funding for the Target Center upgrades.

However, state lawmakers realize that might not necessarily go well over at the Capitol. Obviously some creativity is needed...

It is possible that, if the Target Center improvements remain tied to the Metrodome deal, it won't get done, because there simply aren't enough votes to approve it.

I bet if the Wolves make the playoffs, people may be more likely to vote for some nice Target Center upgrades. Let's be honest, the place could use some windows.

Vikings Stadium Plan Back at Metrodome Location

The leading proposal for the Vikings stadium appears to be back at the current Metrodome location with one of the original renderings taking back the focus.

All I have to say about this rendering is that the wood paneling is atrocious and that the building looks small and outdated... which is generally not what you want when it hasn't even been built yet!

Keep looking, Minnesota.

Upcoming Target Center Events

In my last post, I mentioned that Eric Church will be coming to the Target Center on May 17th. This post is here to tell you that you don't have to wait until the middle of May to catch a great event at the Target Center. Here are some of the upcoming events that I suggest:

2/22 - Wolves v Utah Jazz

2/29-3/4 - Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream

3/9 - Wolves v LA Lakers

3/11 - Lady Antebellum

3/27-28 - Cirque Du Soleil Michael Jackson the Immortal

Looking for other Target Center events, click here!

Eric Church at the Target Center

Guess who just bought tickets to see Eric Church on May 17 at the Target Center?!

I am completely excited! Eric Church is my favorite artist of all time, not to mention a sexy beast. If you are interested in EC tickets, I am pretty sure Ticket Master is sold out, but that there are tickets available elsewhere.

Undoubtedly Eric Church is my favorite artist. I love every single one of his songs, plus I have already mentioned the handsome thing. He has that sexy, savvy air about him that I can't resist. I would take him with or without his sunglasses - I'm not too picky considering he has those ruggedly good looks that include his dark hair.

On a less creepy note, here are my top ten favorite Erich Church songs:

10. Love Your Love the Most

9. Homeboy

8. Guys Like Me

7. Jack Daniels

6. Smoke a Little Smoke

5. Hell on the Heart

4. Sinners Like Me

3. Drink in My Hand

2. Carolina

1. Springsteen

Ugh... it was a task to cut that list down to ten and to place the songs in an order somewhat relative to my liking of them. I should have just said my number one and number two songs are Springsteen and Carolina, in that order, because after that the lines are really blurred.

Anyway, I am ecstatic about my Eric Church tickets!

Target Center: Publicly Subsidized, Privately Owned

Star Tribune released an article on February 2nd on the Target Center, revealing the building in a negative light. "They call it an albatross. A mistake. Worst decision ever." Yikes.

The bailout of the Target Center in 1995 is what the article is referencing. New figures released in late January predict that the city of Minneapolis will have to spend more than $32 million over the next decade to keep Target Center up to date.

According to the Star Tribune article, Minneapolis uses tax-increment financing to support much of its obligation to the Target Center. The city also set aside much of the tax revenue from increased property taxes of recent years. However, most of the capital costs and all of the operation subsidies are paid by taxpayers throughout Minneapolis.

To me, the Target Center is an eye sore. It would be great to have a newly renovated building with... windows. However, we really have to ask ourselves if we would be fine with removing all public financial support from the building. I doubt the answer is yes, especially with how many concerts are brought to the Target Center - more than what the Xcel Energy Center could accommodate. Plus, the Timberwolves are gaining ground and are back in the NBA radar.

If the Target Center were to lose its public funding, you might as well kiss it and a large portion of Block E 'good bye'. The Target Center is more important than we give it credit.