ESPN's Taylor Twellman says MLS is a "no-brainer" for Minnesota

ESPN soccer analyst Taylor Twellman doesn't remember the days of the Minnesota Kicks, or being born in Minnesota in 1980 - but, after talking to his dad Tim's teammates with the Kicks, he's ready to count himself as a native. "Now that I'm in the world of soccer, I hear all of these ex-Kicks stories," he said. "I feel like I lived here for 20 years of my life. I see the glow on my mom's face when she talks about Minnesota and the time, the fun they had here. It's amazing."

With that in mind, there might have been no one better for the Minnesota Vikings to bring to town to enthuse about the possibility of the area getting MLS. Twellman was careful to note that he has no horse in the race between the Vikings bid and the competing bid that's being led by the Minnesota United owners, but his enthusiasm for the league placing a franchise in Minnesota was palpable.

Said Twellman, "I'm asked constantly, if you had to expand Major League Soccer, where would you go? My first answer, for the last five years of my life, is Minneapolis. The knowledge and the enthusiasm of the fan base here is second to none. Soccer is a no-brainer here."

The analyst, who recently signed an eight-year contract with ESPN to be the network's lead analyst for soccer, was bullish on the potential for Minnesota in MLS during the span of his deal. "I fully expect Minnesota to be a part of that," he said. "[The potential team] will challenge the Twins, the Wolves, and the Wild. This sport is here to say, and if Minnesota does this right, and treats it on the same level as the Vikings, Twins, Wolves, and Wild, and not as the ugly stepchild - and there's many examples of it in the early days of the league - I can promise you that this will be one of the top five cities for Major League Soccer."

Twellman also noted that there's a good market for fans in Minnesota. "The truth is, there's a hipster market in Minnesota," he said. "Bikers, downtown - that's where this needs to go. Soccer moms and club moms, they're invited, but the supporter groups, that kind of stuff - that's drinking beer and knowing how to tailgate. I've been to a University of Minnesota tailgate in my life. It's one of the more fun tailgates I've ever been to. They know what they're doing. Minnesota sports fans, they get it."

With that in mind, though, Twellman also offered a pair of caveats, one that might apply to the Vikings-led bid, and one that might apply to the United-led bid. He admitted some trepidation on his part of seeing another MLS side that is owned by an NFL team - exemplified by the disaster in Boston, where the New England Revolution have long been considered second-rate, compared to the NFL, by their own ownership group. "It scares me, no doubt about it," he said. "It's got to be treated the same. Everyone says, why'd Seattle work? It's because, on Opening Day, Pete Carroll and Sigi Schmid were on the same pecking order. The Sounders front office and the Seahawks front office were treated the same. Obafemi Martins is treated the same as Marshawn Lynch. That's where it sends the message to the fans. As a fan, why do you want to be treated as an ugly stepchild, when you're not? If you're getting 20,000 people and ESPN's paying $75 million a year for your broadcast, it's got to be treated on the same level. I told them that today when I met with the Vikings. If you get it, you have to make sure it's not the ugly stepchild, and from everything I've heard, it won't be."

Meanwhile, for United - which as yet has no approved or even public stadium plan - he offered some words of caution from recent league expansion experiences. "The struggles for stadiums in MLS - NYCFC, the debacle of what's going on in Miami with the stadium - if Minnesota's getting [a franchise], which I believe it is, the stadium's first and foremost," he said. "There are no ideas of stadiums. You need to have a stadium, it needs to be approved, it needs to be ready to rock, for a market like this to work."

Ultimately, though, the former Revolution and US Men's National team star can't stop enthusing about the situation in Minnesota. "If you had told me ten years ago that there'd be two legitimate offers, two bids in Minnesota, I'd have told you that you were out of your mind," he said. "I don't technically need to sell MLS on Minnesota. The fact that there's two bids with real money and stadiums - how many other markets have two real money groups going after the same thing?"

About that turf...

Artificial turf was in the news anyway, as LA Galaxy striker Robbie Keane called for it to be outlawed for soccer on Monday, and with the Vikings unveiling renderings of how MLS might look on the artificial turf at their new stadium, the topic was naturally going to come up.

"I'm vocal about it. I hate turf. I hated playing on it," said Twellman. "However, something's changed over the past two years, because of what Portland's brought in. You never hear a player complain about Portland. Whatever they've done there should be replicated, if the game of soccer is going to be played [on turf]. Robbie Keane, Thierry Henry, they've both told me straight to my face that there's absolutely nothing wrong with that field. That's turf.

"Now, Robbie Keane comes out today and says that turf should be outlawed in the game of soccer. That's because [he's referring to] Seattle. I've walked on that field. It's one of the worst fields I've ever walked on. Seattle I like, they've got a great stadium, great ambience, great players; the game's crap. The game's crap, because if the turf's crap, it kills the game. And that's what Robbie Keane and Thierry Henry are talking about. But Henry told a couple of people at ESPN that New England's turf turned the corner. They replaced it six months ago with what Portland had. As vocal as I am about turf, I listen to players currently playing - because I'm done, my life's over - and their experiences are a little bit different now."