Image Credit: Mac H (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The Minnesota Twins will be honoring legendary musician and Minnesota native Prince tonight at Target Field. The Twins will be hosting the Cleveland Indians for the weekend series. The first 10,000 fans to the ballpark will receive a limited edition “Purple Rain” umbrella. Minnesota Twins players will also wear Prince t-shirts during batting practice which will be later auctioned off for charity.
During the 7th inning stretch, fans with the giveaway umbrellas will be asked to stand and open them for a special tribute to Prince who died in April of 2016 due to a fentanyl overdose. The evening will conclude with fireworks scored with some of Prince’s greatest hits. Prince, a lifelong Minneapolis resident, is even part of a ritual inside the Minnesota Twins locker room. Veteran Twins players require rookies to memorize the lyrics to “Little Red Corvette”.
In other news related to Target Field, Delaware North Sportservice has agreed to an extension on their current contract with the Minnesota Twins. The length of the contract was not disclosed in the original press release. Delaware North is the food and beverage services provider at Target Field and provides these services via the concessions, suites and premium seating areas at the ballpark. Delaware North has contracts with many professional sports teams including Lambeau Field (Green Bay Packers), TD Garden (Boston Celtics) and Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals). In all, Delaware North has contracts with 11 of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams.
The Minnesota Twins and Hennepin County are also ahead of schedule in paying off the debt for Target Field’s construction. The ballpark opened in 2007 and should be fully paid for by 2027 at it’s current trend; ten years ahead of schedule. The stadium’s construction costs were in the neighborhood of $555 million and Hennepin County financed $350 million of that sum through 0.15 sales tax increase. That sales tax has also been able to provide funding for other resources in the Twin Cities area including grants for scholarships and playgrounds.
Reference:
Related Articles
- Minnesota Twins - Target Field Seating Reviews
- Hotels Near Target Field
- Minnesota Twins Launch Subscription-based Ticketing Program "Twins Pass"
- Minnesota Twins Hotels on the Road
- Breakdown of the Target Field Seating Chart
- Sports Bars near Target Field
- Minnesota Twins Changing Batter's Eye Area At Target Field
