Sports, the latest being pro soccer, redefine St. Paul as a not-so-little brother

Norm Coleman and Chris Coleman are not connected by family or by political view. What they have had in common was mayorship of St. Paul, and the view that the vibrancy of their city depended on gatherings of people with an enthusiasm for spending money.

I worked in St. Paul from 1968 to 1988, before either of the Colemans was in the mayor's office. The newspaper duty was outstanding and the neighborhoods were quaint, but downtown St. Paul was lacking energy in the day and was a lonely outpost at night.

Except on St. Patrick's Day. All Hades broke loose in St. Paul on March 17.

There was usually sadness to St. Paul's attempt to compete for attention with the big brother 11 miles to the west.

The All-Star Game was held at the Metrodome in July 1985. The Minneapolis forces were such hogs for all the attention that they obstructed the idea of NBC's "Today Show" having its set at Lambert's Landing in St. Paul during the All-Star festivities.

Peter Ueberroth, the baseball commissioner, was having a session with a few reporters in a Metrodome suite on the afternoon of the game. He asked if there was anyone from out-of-town, allowing me to raise a hand and say:

"I am. I'm from St. Paul."

This was the St. Paul that Norm Coleman inherited when elected mayor in 1993.

There had been an attempt to convince disgruntled owner Norm Green to move the North Stars to the Civic Center. The St. Paul boosters were so enthused they might even have promised Norm an elevator.

Green was not impressed and moved his team to Dallas after the 1992-93 season.

Coleman was able to get NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to take a look at the Civic Center as a possible home for an expansion team. Bettman looked around, stuck his nose in the air and said, "Get a commitment to build a new one and we'll talk."

The commitment was made by the Legislature, the city and Bob Naegele's ownership group. The results were the marvelous Xcel Energy Center and a poorly named yet very popular expansion team, the Wild.

The building and the hockey team appeared in the late summer of 2000. Suddenly, 45 nights a year for pro hockey, and many more nights for state tournaments, concerts and other events, downtown St. Paul was buzzing with people.

I'm stating this as a firm opinion: There were more people in Wayzata who had been to Paris than to downtown St. Paul before the X opened and the Wild started playing hockey.

Entertainment. Fun. People.

Entertainment and fun draw people, and people make a city vibrant.

Most of the nightlife benefits occurred on West Seventh and over to St. Peter Street. Chris Coleman became mayor in 2005 and put some energy into revitalizing the Lowertown area of the city.

Things were happening down there with condos and a few bars, but Coleman jumped on the bandwagon with Saints owner Mike Veeck for a new ballpark for the independent baseball team.

They pulled it off. CHS Field opened in May, and there were an extra 8-9,000 available to fill bars and restaurants on that eastern side of downtown for 50 nights.

Yes, the pricetag was a bit outrageous — $60 million — for the product, but it did pay for what has to be one of best small ballparks in North America.

People loved CHS Field this summer. And people make a city vibrant.

On Friday, Coleman pulled off another coup that seemed a long shot. He stood next to Minnesota United owner Dr. Bill McGuire to announce that St. Paul was going to be the home for a new stadium and a Major League Soccer franchise.

Minneapolis was the original site for this proposed stadium, to be located in that mess of unappealing buildings between Target Field and the Farmers Market. Mayor Betsy Hodges greeted this chance to get a privately financed stadium for this sport of young adults with disdain and the offer of roadblocks.

Coleman sent along a different offer: "If you can't get it done in Minneapolis, come over here and take a look. We have this hunk of land at Snelling and University that hasn't been on the tax rolls for 50 years."

McGuire and his people took a look. And the MLS took a look. And most St. Paul politicians, the governor and clear-thinking legislators are saying, "This is too good to be true; team owners willing to pay for the stadium."

The deal was announced Friday. MLS in St. Paul, target date spring of 2018.

People. Vibrancy. This sure isn't the St. Paul that I knew.

Patrick Reusse can be heard 3-6 p.m. weekdays on AM-1500. • preusse@startribune.com