Norm Green Knows Minnesotans Still Love to Hate Him
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota was celebrating its moment in the spotlight -- a moment a long time coming. The day before the Wild played host to the Blackhawks in the state's first-ever outdoor NHL game at TCF Bank Stadium in February, former players from both franchises took to the ice for an Alumni Game.
The Minnesota team, featuring many former North Stars players, wore the classic green and yellow sweaters that wistful fans hadn't seen in action in a very long time. Nostalgia was at an all-time high.
And scribbled in chalk on the sidewalk outside the stadium were three words that showed just how raw emotions still remain.
"Norm Green sucks."
More than two decades after moving the North Stars to Dallas and rebranding them as the Stars, Green is still one of the most hated men in Minnesota.
And now as the Wild get set to face the Stars in the playoffs for the first time, it brings back painful memories for many Minnesota fans of the time the State of Hockey lost its hockey team, and the man who took it away. Twenty-three years later, the owner is just as reviled as ever.
Green declined an interview request with WCCO, but wrote in an email that he is still very much aware of his status as the villain.
"Too many folks still hold [angry] feelings toward me," Green wrote, "and I do not want to give them any more fuel."
Green, who bought the North Stars in 1990, moved the franchise to Dallas in 1993, citing poor attendance, losing money, and a lack of public financing for improvements he requested for the team's home arena, the Met Center in Bloomington. Attempts to work out a deal with Target Center didn't come to fruition either.
Once he began researching the Dallas market, Green became convinced of its high potential for profitability, according to news reports at the time, and rejected last-ditch attempts by the Target Center and the St. Paul Civic Center to get the team to stay.
Twenty-three years later, he still maintains moving the team was necessary.
"We bought a great home on Tonka bay with a boat," Green wrote. "The last thing we had in mind when we bought the North Stars was to move them out of town. Our dreams for the North Stars future were confirmed when we almost won the Stanley Cup in our first year."
The Twin Cities have not let a team leave since, and certainly not over stadium issues. Since building the Xcel Energy Center for the expansion Wild in 2000, the Twins, Vikings, St. Paul Saints, and even Gophers football have built new stadiums, with major renovations to Target Center to begin in May and a new soccer stadium for Minnesota United in St. Paul to follow after that.
"The folks in charge got the message," Green wrote. "They went on to create great facilities to ensure it did not happen again."
Green didn't remain the owner much longer after moving the team. He sold the franchise in 1996 but still lives in the Dallas area and is still frequently seen at Stars practices and games.
As for the upcoming matchup between two hockey fan bases with very different feelings toward him?
"Wishing them an entertaining series," he wrote.
