The managing owner of the Sioux Falls Canaries told KWSN it is news to him that heavy hitters including billionaire T. Denny Sanford are “chomping at the bit” to “move Heaven and Earth” to bring the Twins’ AAA team to Sioux Falls.
Those remarks were made by Minneapolis Star Tribune Twins beat writer LaVelle E. Neal III on KWSN’s “Sports Talk with Craig & John” in a Friday interview after Neal filed this column on the Twins’ desire to move their Triple-A operations to St. Paul, and the hurdles the Twins might not be able to overcome, forcing them to try Sioux Falls or Wichita as their next regional options.
“There’s been all sorts of rumors and scuttlebutt and things of that nature,” said Twin Cities-based Canaries CEO Tom Garrity said in a 20-minute interview with KWSN on Monday.
“I wish I had some really good insider information on it, but I just don’t.”
After the interview, Garrity was twice sent a text asking him if anyone from Sanford Health or the Sioux Falls business community has approached him about teaming up to bring Triple-A baseball to Sioux Falls or about possibly buying the Canaries, who currently compete in the American Association, an independent league.
Garrity had not responded to that text. But he did say during the Monday interview this of the Canaries ownership possibly being a part of a Triple-A partnership:
“We’re open to having conversations about anything,” Garrity said. “We’re open to seeing what’s out there. We love the community. We’ve tried to do our best. We could do a better job, like anybody else.”
Garrity found the line, “Sioux Falls is hungry for baseball,” in Neal’s column to be offensive.
“We already have baseball,” Garrity said, citing the independent team he co-owns and oversees from the Twin Cities, where he resides.
The Canaries have had eight consecutive losing seasons and attendance numbers have dipped almost every year since 2013, from 3,357 that year to 2,336 last season in the 4,500-seat Sioux Falls Stadium. Their bottom line will take a hit with the American Association chopping at least 10 home games off the home schedule and planning an early July start at the earliest due to the pandemic.
A city-commissioned committee has recommended to tear down “The Bird Cage” — one of the oldest in the 12-team American Association — within the next five years as part of a plan for the “campus” around the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, which sits across the street.
Garrity said the driving force of the ownership group is “to be good community partners.” He said his group has kept the team going despite its business being, “a financial struggle. It’s been a bigger financial struggle, obviously this year, but it’s nothing compared to what other people are going through, but we’re committed to it.
“Would we be interested in being part of a Triple-A team? Possibly. I think we’d have to look at all things. We love the American Association. They’ve been great partners to us, and we would have to make sure that we look at everything and make a decision on it. I think right now (because of the pandemic), that’s kind of unthinkable, right? I can’t even put my mind around it.”
The Canaries have 10 years left on their lease in the city-owned stadium. They recently signed on for five years and have an option to go another five years after that, and Garrity said the team has a “great relationship” with the city.
“I like the stadium,” Garrity said. “It’s fine for what we’re doing. Obviously the scoreborad and some of the amenities around there aren’t up to what people are accustomed to now with ‘The Denny’ and Pentagon and Scheel’s Iceplex and all the wonderful things going on in the city.
“If (the city) did say we’re going to do something else and do (baseball) at a different location and we’re going to level (The Bird Cage) and build hotels and bars and restaurants and all the things that add value to currently what’s going on there, I get it. But from the conversations we’ve had, nothing seems to be right around the corner.
“That could change. Obviously, there’s a lot of powerful people that are involved in Sioux Falls and things get done. Would we like to see a new stadium and be a part of it? Yes. If they decide to do a new stadium and they don’t want us to be a part of it, we’re open to having that conversation, too.”
Anyone who has lived in Sioux Falls the last 15 years can surmise the powerful people Garrity is referring includes Sanford, the man — who is worth over $2 billion — and Kelby Krabbenhoft, the CEO of the health care system Sanford donated a half-billion dollars who has bragged about his fund-raising ability. The Denny Sanford PREMIER Center is also named after the former credit card mogul and philanthropist and title-sponsored by the company he oversaw.
Currently, the Sanford Health-owned Sanford Sports Complex houses new, sparkling facilities like the Sanford Pentagon (multi-sport arena and basketball/volleyball courts), the Sanford Fieldhouse (indoor football field and weight/athletic training), some outdoor youth football fields, the Huether Family Match Pointe (tennis), Power & Grace Gymnastics, the Scheel’s Iceplex (hockey and skating), and the Summit League offices.
A baseball park is part of the master plan for the complex, but executives at Sanford Sports recently declined an interview with KWSN to expound on if the park is intended to be a full-scale stadium that could potentially house minor league games, only affirming their stance from last September that a park is a “place holder” on the master plan.
Neal told KWSN the Twins are seeking first-class facilities, both in a Triple-A team’s stadium and training amenities for their players. Sanford Health already is a major corporate sponsor of the Twins, with commercials on TV during Twins games and the logo displayed in parts of Target Field. Denny Sanford is a University of Minnesota graduate who gave $6 million to the construction of TCF Bank Stadium, the outdoor home of the Gophers football team which opened in 2009.
The term “global” is often used is Sanford circles and Sanford-bought airtime. It has clearly been a growing brand locally and regionally, with the Summit League men’s and women’s basketball tournaments and the PGA Champions Tour Sanford International golf tournament coming to Sioux Falls within the last 11 years. Those nationally-televised events give Sanford a chance to spread its brand nationally.
There has been not a word out of Sanford or his corporation about any plans of funding and building a new baseball stadium on its complex, but it is logical to think that might be a next step, considering the city’s likely push to bulldoze the Bird Cage, Sanford’s recent facilities and events history, and the “Why Not Sioux Falls” mentality Krabbenhoft used to explain the Sanford International and Great Shots facilities — things usually reserved for major league-sized cities — coming to this metropolitan area of about 250,000.
Again, Garrity has not responded to KWSN’s inquiry about contact with Sanford or the Sioux Falls business community about the possibility of teamming to bring Twins AAA baseball to Sioux Falls or buying the Canaries.
He did say this about the possibility of the team folding or being sold in the coming years if it continues to financially struggle:
“We’re a business just like anybody else. At this point, we’re not there. We hope to play this summer and that’s what we’re planning on trying to do, but of course, if it got to a point where things were kind of off the rails, we’d have to sit down and take a look at that. But we’re not there.”
And what about a new baseball stadium in Sioux Falls, specifically in a new district full of other sporting and entertainment options like the Sanford Sports Complex, and the Canaries’ connection to it someday?
Garrity would not specify what percentage the ownership group would kick in, but did surmise that with $20 million being the low end to build a new minor league park and $65 million to be what it’d take to duplicate the St. Paul Saints’ five-year-old CHS Field, he has little doubt the public and private leaders in Sioux Falls would make sure it was “first class.”
And what would that new stadium do for the Canaries’ future in Sioux Falls, regardless of Twins AAA affiliation (which would cost $20 million on its own) or remaining independent?
“Oh, I think it would make a huge difference,” Garrity said. “That, I would say 100 percent. It would make a huge difference. And I think Sioux Falls is really lucky. It’s a great city. You have a lot of great leadership from many different people, and right now, when you look at all the venues in that city, it’s unbelievable.
“I always list (the Sanford venues) off to people, and when people show up in Sioux Falls, they just can’t believe it. And so, if they could have something comparable to that, which people now are becoming accustomed to, I think it’d make a huge difference.”
