The upshot to the Twins' cutting payroll by $30 million was season-long criticism of ownership that heightened during the team's September fade and led to the Twins being put up for sale. The Pohlad family has owned the team for 40 years, including its World Series championship years of 1987 and '91, but it was known for being very bottom-line conscious. Attendance fell this year along with viewership because Bally spent much of the season battling Comcast for higher-tier cable status, and blackouts resulted. Twins fans are hoping for owners with fat wallets while ignoring that their market is saturated with sports and the long-term TV situation with the Diamond Sports refugees remains unsettled.
If the Twins were to be sold and relocated, the team that stands to benefit most would be the Brewers. Fans of a certain age might recall that the Twins arrived in Minnesota in 1961, and one year later, Lou Perini put the Milwaukee Braves up for sale. The Twins cut into the Braves' media market and pulled fans from northern and western Wisconsin. As a result, the wide-open spaces of the Southeast became very attractive to the Braves' new owners, who moved the team to Atlanta after the 1965 season.
