5 responses to “News in Brief: Chris Wright, MLS Kits, and More”

1. 

   Clark Starr

   April 9, 2018

   Mr. Wright has biz-speak down flat. Would’ve loved to have heard more about the site selection process. Really curious what the meetings with Hodges were like. I think she blundered big time on that. I like her and her political stances generally, but she probably shouldn’t have been a mayor.

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   1. 

      Brian Quarstad

      April 10, 2018

      Clark, if you’d like to know more about Betsy Hodges and her handling (or mishandling) of the MNUFC stadium in Mpls. as well as information on how the stadium ended up in St. Paul, you can read my extended article which was originally published in The Complete Darkness book we publish annually at Byline Press. We eventually ran it on the site as a three part story. Here is that link:
      https://fiftyfive.one/2016/08/pride-prejudice-stadium-story/

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      1. 

         Clark Starr

         April 14, 2018

         Awesome series or articles, thanks. I still don’t understand what appears to be a very knee jerk reaction on Hodges part against even “working” the deal in the manner Frey apparently was doing. The paragraph where he describes how far they (MNUFC) would go–and the fact that he didn’t even think that was the best and final offer–was really disheartening. I admit to really only pulling for the Mpls. locale out of selfish reasons (I dreamed of nice bicycle rides down the Cedar trail to the games). I too cried in my beer a bit, but Midway is really a great place for a soccer stadium for the majority of Minnesotans.

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         1. 

            Brian Quarstad

            April 14, 2018

            For the record, Bill McGuire has told me that he thinks it actually ended up in the best location for the team. They aren’t playing second fiddle to other sports franchises nearby (Twins, T-Wolves, Vikings) and he would have preferred to have the stadium in an area where it could be part of a community. Plus the Mpls location has a lot of issues it would have had to deal with that would most likely have been very expensive as well.

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            1. 

               Clark Starr

               April 16, 2018

               I agree with all that.