MinnPost - Cityscape: Target Field isn't just about baseball; it's a teaching moment about cities

As Target Field wraps up its first season, rave reviews continue to pour in from near and far. Players, fans and media critics seem to love its fresh design, native beauty and joyful atmosphere (despite the home team’s playoff frustrations).

But Target Field’s significance stretches beyond baseball. Perhaps more than any structure in the Twin Cities, the ballpark provides a teaching moment for how best to locate and design major attractions that draw big crowds. It signifies also a coming-of-age for Minnesotans, who are learning to consider multiple options for getting to and from big events.

Good article here. I went to 10 games this year and we would often go out of our way to walk into the stadium through Target Plaza, or have a drink after the game at a nearby bar, just to be with the fans and have that full experience.

It really is a perfect location for a ballpark.

In all of the years of going to games at the Metrodome, I’ve still never been into Hubert’s, the only bar within 3 blocks of the stadium. We would stop in at Grumpy’s on occasion, but for the most part, it was go the game and come home.

When the Twins were looking into locations for the new stadium, I was a big fan of building it where the Guthrie now stands, thinking that it would be such a beautiful spot. Walking across the Stone Arch Bridge and hanging out by the river would make it truly unique. And while I still think that would have been great, the Warehouse District location has been great.

Living in Minneapolis, and only a few blocks from the Hiawatha Light Rail, I should probably take mass transit to the games. But because of the success of the LRT, and the slowness of buses, I drove to nearly all 10 of the games I went to. And I didn’t pay for parking once. We would park on the street in the North Loop, or back by the Post Office and walk. Next year I’ll definitely take a Nice Ride bike to the stadium from either Seward or downtown.

While I would love to have a tailgating culture at baseball games here in Minneapolis, Kansas City isn’t too far away, and that stadium is in the middle of nowhere, and tailgating is your only option to be a part of the crowd.

I’ll take the experience and excitement that Target Field offers any day.