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Part of MPR Online's "Stadium Wars" series.
Key dates in the history of the stadium debate.
1995
June 22: Minneapolis City Council approves a $3.5 plaza outside the Metrodome.
August 1: Governor Arne Carlson tells Twins owner Carl Pohlad not to expect a public subsidy for a new stadium.
September 11: Twins officials tells a legislative task force that the team needs help to compete in Major League Baseball. Officials stop just short of asking for a new stadium.
September 24: Roger Headrick, president of the Vikings, tells a legislative task force that his team is losing money at the Metrodome and says the facility will need to be remodeled for his team, or a new stadium should be built.
October 6: The Wisconsin Legislature approves public funding for a new stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers.
December 21: A task force on professional sports in Minnesota recommends a new stadium be built for the Twins. It also recommends the Legislature approve a public referendum on the use of public money.
1996
February 23: A House committee kills a plan to ask voters their opinion of using tax money for a new stadium. The move kills the stadium debate.
December 3: Twins officials announce they'll lose $5 million in 1996. The figure is half the loss reported in 1995.
1997
January 16:In his State of the State address, Governor Arne Carlson proposes a cigarette tax to pay for a new baseball stadium for the Minnesota Twins.
January 31: The Twins unveil a model for a new stadium.
March 13: Legislative hearings begin on the public financing of a new stadium.
April 9: A proposal for a stadium clears a major hurdle with the House Local Government committee sends the plan to the House Taxes Committee without a recommendation.
May 12: Legislative committees kill stadium funding plans; a solution to the ballpark dilemma before the end of the session appears unlikely.
October 10: Governor Carlson says he'll call the Legislature into special session to consider stadium-funding bills.
October 28: Minnesota House of Representatives kills a series of bills to finance a new stadium.
October 31: Vikings President Roger Headrick shocks legislators with news the team wants out of its contract with the Metrodome.
November 6: Governor Carlson and DFL legislative leaders announce "last, best hope for keeping the Twins in Minnesota." They propose a plan to combine community ownership of the team with a scaled-down stadium paid for with taxes and lottery money.
November 13: The Minnesota House kills a stadium-funding package.
November 14: North Carolina businessman Don Beaver says he's negotiating to buy the Twins.
November 30: A deadline set by Twins owner Carl Pohlad for Minnesota politicians to agree to fund a new stadium passes.
December 16: Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig tells a legislative panel that Minnesota could lose the Twins without a new stadium. 1998
April 8: Governor Carlson and legislative leaders agree to a deal to provide public financing of a new hockey arena in St. Paul, to be home of an NHL franchise.
April 20: a Ramsey County judge rules the Twins must provide information to the attorney general's office in its investigation of whether anti-trust laws were broken when the Twins threatened to move if a new stadium isn't constructed.
May 5: Voters in North Carolina's Triad region overwhelmingly reject a local tax to pay for a new baseball stadium. Don Beaver, the prospective new owner of the Minnesota Twins, says the vote means he will not move the team to the Triad.
November 3: Jesse Ventura, an opponent of public funding for a sports stadium, is elected governor of Minnesota.
December 24: The Twins announce they'll slash their payroll in an attempt to break even.
1999
April 28: The Minnesota Supreme Court blocks an attempt by the state's attorney general to investigate whether the threat to move the Twins violates anti-trust laws.Read arguments.
May 25: St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman floats the idea of a new baseball stadium in St. Paul.
June 25: Minneapolis City Council approves resolution to try to keep Twins in Minneapolis.
August 3:
The Twins reach a deal with St. Paul to build a new downtown ballpark. The agreement A key element requires the team owners, the Pohlad family, to sell their entire stake in the Twins. It also requires a referendum in November.
August 17: St. Paul's minor league baseball team, the Saints, asks the city for $2.2 million to renovate Midway Stadium.
September 1: Minnesota Vikings owner Red McCombs reportedly tells a group of businesspeople in Minneapolis that the city may lose the Vikings if a new stadium isn't built.
November 2: Saint Paul voters reject a referendum to publicly finance a stadium for the Minnesota Twins.
Minnesota Public Radio researcher Betsy Cole and online news editor Bob Collins assisted in the production of this timeline.
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