ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) – The Minnesota Wild are would have seeking funding from the state to help cover the cost of expanding plans to renovate the team’s stadium in downtown St. Paul.

New projects. Old debate.

The debate over the use of tax dollars in professional franchise stadiums is not new, especially in Minnesota.

One reason St. Paul even has an NHL franchise is because the Minnesota North Stars moved to Texas after a dispute over state funding for stadium renovations in the early 1990s.

LEARN MORE: The Minnesota Wild will wear the colors of the North Stars 15 times this season. Will the logo ever come back?

Norm Green, who is credited with saving the North Stars when he initially purchased the franchise, wanted help from the city of Bloomington and the state.

He asked for $15 million to renovate the Met Center.

“In today’s world, it’s a drop in the ocean,” said Jack Larson, the former director of the Met Center.

The Met

Built in 1967, the Met Center was deteriorating and lacked revenue-generating suites.

Bill Lester, the former executive director of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Commission, admits that $15 million now seems “laughable.” But at the time, Lester said it was fair to seriously question whether it would have been enough to keep the North Stars in Minnesota long term.

“There was no possibility of making sequels,” Lester said.

FOX 9 recently interviewed former team executives and government officials about funding for the Met Center as part of a documentary on the North Stars’ departure from Minnesota.

“I just don’t think the commission and Norm agree,” Larson said.

Lou Nanne, a former North Stars player and executive, still blames the commission for not doing enough to save the North Stars.

“They know how I feel, I’m not going to hide it…they didn’t help us the way they should have or could have,” Nanne said.

Green moved the franchise to Dallas in 1993. The Met Center was demolished a year later.

Tom Bernhardson, Bloomington’s city manager at the time, has no regrets.

“Frankly, the best thing that happened to Bloomington was when the stadium left,” Bernhardson said 30 years later.

New franchise. New city. New stadium.

Norm Coleman was mayor of St. Paul when the North Stars left Minnesota.

“I think you had short-sighted civic leaders who didn’t understand the value … of having an NHL team in your community,” Coleman said in an interview for the upcoming North Stars documentary.

He soon began looking into bringing a franchise to St. Paul and first proposed to the NHL that a new team play in the old Civic Center downtown.

Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the NHL, toured the outdated facilities the day after the circus left.

“The smell of manure was so strong in the air that people could barely breathe,” Coleman recalled. “The commissioner stopped me and said, ‘Mayor, you need to build a new arena.’

But Coleman had to overcome his reluctance to invest public money.

“There was enormous opposition, enormous opposition to any kind of community investment,” Coleman said. “Opponents said it was going to bankrupt the city and it was a terrible investment.”

Coleman was eventually able to work out a deal that included an interest-free loan from the state. He dropped the puck on opening night at the XCEL Center in 2000.

“It’s been 24 years since I last dropped the puck,” Coleman said, adding that additional investment in the aging stadium can’t be a total abandonment.

“You have to structure it in a way that makes sense for taxpayers,” he said.

Tom Reid, a former North Star player who now owns a popular bar down the street from the XCEL Center, said he believes the team will eventually get what it wants.

“They all have to contribute to some of the costs,” Reid said.

Sense of urgency

Kevin Allenspach, who recently wrote a book about the 1991 North Stars team, said the franchise’s move is a “cautionary tale” for the state.

“That was one of the factors that ultimately led to the construction of Target Field…and the construction of U.S. Bank Stadium,” Allenspach said.

The Wild, Twins and Vikings all play in stadiums built, at least in part, with public money.

Bonds used to finance Target Field and US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis were prepaid.

St. Paul has repaid more than half of the money borrowed from the state to build the XCEL ENERGY CENTER. The rest, more than $30 million, was canceled by the state Legislature in 2013.

Lester, who was involved in approving funding for those stadiums, said there was “definitely more of a sense of urgency” after the North Stars left.

Now, a sense of urgency appears to be returning as city and state leaders consider investing more public money in the XCEL center.

What they want

Craig Leipold, majority owner of the team, declared to several media ahead of the season that plans to renovate the arena will now also include a new downtown hotel. Initial plans announced last year called for the renovation of a parking ramp and the adjacent RiverCenter, at a cost of up to $300 million.

Leipold did not say how much the new plans would cost. The team intends to contribute significantly to the renovation.

However, the team and the City of St. Paul are also looking for income of the state legislature to begin the process

The city of St. Paul has owned the stadium since it opened in 2000 for the Wild’s inaugural season. In 2019, the team extended the stadium’s lease until 2035.

“NO STARS: When Minnesota Lost Pro Hockey” premieres November 14 on FOX 9 and FOX LOCAL.