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Tim Nelson

Target Field changes public suite policy

Fans watch from the upper deck.
Fans watch the game from the upper deck during the Twins' 2017 home opener at Target Field in Minneapolis on April 3.
Evan Frost | MPR News file

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The authority that runs Target Field voted Thursday to restrict access to its suite at the ballpark.

The Minnesota Ballpark Authority approved a new policy for game-day access to its stadium suite, a situation that erupted in scandal for the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority last fall. A Legislative Auditor's report found the MSFA had brought in friends, family and political allies for Vikings games and other events at U.S. Bank Stadium for its inaugural season.

The new policy will reserve the authority suite almost exclusively for use by charitable groups, said ballpark authority chairwoman and former DFL House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher.

She said the policy will also require people that accompany ballpark authority members to pay for a ticket. They are also banned from the suite without formal board approval.

"It was an open policy, as to when commissioners had access to the suite, which was about up to nine times a year, that they could bring whomever they wanted to bring, and that could include family members," Anderson-Kelliher said. "So we wanted to make sure that our policy was updated, and that we were reflecting and listening to the feedback from the public."

Anderson Kelliher said friends and family of the authority have been guests in the suite since Target Field opened in 2010. But she said that unlike U.S. Bank Stadium, the authority doesn't play a role in the business operations of the ballpark, and that the presence of unofficial visitors wasn't interfering with any official activity.

"We really have a role of making sure our building is working well, that its up to date, that the investment that has been made here by the public is well taken care of and that policy meant that the more eyes that we had on the facility, and the more feedback that we had from many different perspectives was a good perspective."

Controversy over the practice at U.S. Bank Stadium forced out MSFA chair Michele Kelm-Helgen and executive director Ted Mondale, and it's been the subject of lengthy debate at the Capitol this session.