Background

Phase 2 wantlist hit cleared. Bell's testimony is canonical in the 2001-02 contraction record as the Twins' own ownership-side framing. The substantive context — Selig's November 6, 2001 announcement of the 28-2 vote to contract two franchises, the Players Association's response, and the eventual August 2002 CBA that tabled contraction by agreement — is documented in the secondary commercial-sports literature and is also the substantive backdrop for the parallel Twins documents in this archive: the Fox Sports Net v. Twins 8th Cir. ruling (319 F.3d 329, February 10, 2003) addresses the contemporaneous 'acceptable stadium solution' question under the Twins-MSC Telecast Agreement; the Twins' parallel contraction-era exposure is the substantive predicate for both. The contraction effort ultimately failed: Minnesota state court injunctions (filed by the Sports Facilities Commission as Metrodome lessor) blocked the Twins' contraction from happening in time for the 2002 season; the Players Association filed an unfair-labor-practice charge that conditioned any contraction on collective bargaining; the August 30, 2002 CBA agreement settled the matter by tabling contraction. The Twins continued at the Metrodome through the 2009 season and opened Target Field in 2010. The Expos, the other publicly identified contraction target, were relocated to Washington D.C. as the Nationals in 2005. The Doug Pappas archive at roadsidephotos.sabr.org/baseball is the era's primary public-access archive of MLB labor-and-finance documents. Pappas (1961-2004) was Chair of SABR's Business of Baseball Committee; many of the documents in his Roadside Photos archive are available nowhere else publicly. Character-encoding caveat: the HTML rendering of the Bell testimony at the SABR/Pappas URL uses the substitution � for what should be apostrophes and em-dashes — an encoding mismatch in the source HTML. The substantive text is intact and recoverable; the PDF in this archive carries the same encoding artifact from the source. Future second-source acquisition (e.g., the House Judiciary's own published hearing record from the 107th Congress, 1st Session, if any was produced) would resolve the encoding question by replacing the source with a non-HTML-derived text.

Key provisions

• Bell's opening framing: 'The clubs of Major League Baseball are currently participating in an economic system that does not work.'
• The competitive-decline narrative: World Series championships in 1987 and 1991 ('the last so-called small market club to do so'); industry-average revenues and payroll at the time; subsequent fall to local revenues 29th of 30 by 2001.
• Local revenue gap quantified: $63 million below the industry-average $95 million local club revenue figure; industry-average payroll $70 million annually. Over the past five years, the Twins ranked next to last in local revenues; 58 percent of overall Twins revenue came from MLB (general fund or revenue sharing) during that period.
• Stadium-finance failure: Two dozen ballpark plans over five years; 17 committee or floor votes in the Minnesota state legislature, all denied.
• Operational reality: 'A bad baseball facility, a bad lease, the second worst record for local revenue generation, the second worst subsidy situation within MLB, and a team that has been competitive only 20 percent of the time in ten years.'
• Contraction acknowledgment (the testimony's most-cited line): 'The Twins have a difficult time arguing against the need for industry contraction, even though we certainly understand that we are vulnerable to it.'
• Closing: 'The biggest challenge we have today is to determine how we can restore that hope. Without a new economic system for the game or without prospects for improving local revenues, however, the record will show that clubs like the Minnesota Twins can no longer make that consistent hope possible.'

Notable provisions

Mr. Chairman, my name is Jerry Bell and I have served as President of the Minnesota Twins Baseball Club since 1987. I appreciate the opportunity to testify before the Committee today about issues of grave concern to you, to the fans of Minnesota, and to all baseball fans who grew up believing the home team always has a chance to win the World Series. I'm here today to tell you that all teams do not have that chance, and the reason they don't have that chance is that the clubs of Major League Baseball are currently participating in an economic system that does not work.— Bell testimony, opening paragraph

The specific crisis at hand today may be contraction. But the larger issue is what brought us to this possibility. Anyone who has closely followed the economics of the game over the past 10 years cannot be too surprised. Without the reforms we have needed for years there are not many alternatives.— Bell testimony

Over the past five years the Twins have ranked next to last in local revenues. During the same period of time some 58 percent of the overall Twins revenue has come from Major League Baseball, either from the General Fund or revenue sharing.— Bell testimony

The Twins have a difficult time arguing against the need for industry contraction, even though we certainly understand that we are vulnerable to it.— Bell testimony

Mr. Chairman, people who love the game of baseball, as I do, believe fans in every market deserve a chance to hope that their team has a consistent chance to win. The biggest challenge we have today is to determine how we can restore that hope. Without a new economic system for the game or without prospects for improving local revenues, however, the record will show that clubs like the Minnesota Twins can no longer make that consistent hope possible.— Bell testimony, closing paragraph

Further context

Jerry Bell — December 6, 2001 House Judiciary Testimony on Contraction

Full text of T. Geron "Jerry" Bell's testimony as President of the Minnesota Twins before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary on December 6, 2001. Phase 2 wantlist hit cleared. Source: Doug Pappas / SABR Business of Baseball "Roadside Photos" archive.

The moment

November 6, 2001. Commissioner Bud Selig announces that the owners have voted 28-2 to contract two MLB franchises by the start of the 2002 season. The publicly identified targets are the Minnesota Twins and the Montreal Expos.

Bell's testimony, one month later, is the Twins' own ownership-side framing of why contraction is being contemplated — and why the Twins are vulnerable to it.

The three movements

1. The economic system is broken. The Twins were industry-average in revenues and payroll when they won the 1991 World Series. By 2001, they ranked 29th of 30 in local revenues, $63M below the industry-average $95M. Industry-average payroll: $70M.

2. A new ballpark would help, but Minnesota has rejected every proposal. Two dozen ballpark plans over five years. Seventeen committee or floor votes in the state legislature, all against.

3. Contraction is hard to argue against. The line everyone remembers: "The Twins have a difficult time arguing against the need for industry contraction, even though we certainly understand that we are vulnerable to it."

What actually happened

Contraction failed in 2001-02. Minnesota state court injunctions (Metrodome lessor v. Twins) blocked contraction from happening before the 2002 season. The Players Association filed an unfair-labor-practice charge conditioning any contraction on collective bargaining. The August 30, 2002 CBA tabled contraction by agreement.

The Twins played the Metrodome through 2009 and opened Target Field in 2010. The Expos were relocated to Washington as the Nationals in 2005. Neither franchise was contracted.

Verification status

needs_review — single source (Doug Pappas SABR Roadside Photos HTML). The House Judiciary's own published hearing record (if one was produced for the 107th Congress, 1st Session) would be the natural second-source target.

Related documents in the archive

• ../broadcasting-and-ip/2003-02-10_caselaw_fox-sports-net-v-twins-8th-cir.md — the parallel telecast-rights litigation in which the Twins' contraction-era stadium situation is also a substantive predicate.

Related documents

Related documents

Fox Sports Net v. Twins (8th Cir. 2003)

Source provenance

• Primary source