State charities could lose $2 million a year if Twins leave

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Nonprofit groups that raise money by selling food and drinks at the Metrodome stand to lose about $2 million annually if the Minnesota Twins are disbanded, according to the stadium's food and beverage contractor.

About 250 nonprofit groups work the Metrodome stands throughout an average year, said Andy Flodin, general manager of Volume Services America. During a Twins game, about 25 groups will be working alongside regular union employees, he said.

For an afternoon of work an organization will earn 10 percent of the sales from the stand they staff -- about $1,000 per game according to some estimates. The money is used to help pay for everything from uniforms to sports banquets for area high school teams.

If the Twins are one of the two teams Major League Baseball plans to eliminate, those groups will have to find other ways of raising money.

"They will have to sell more frozen pizzas this year," said Ray Kirch, activities director at Blaine High School. Boosters for the Blaine football team worked four Twins games this past summer, raising about $4,000. Parents of students in other sports also take part.

Across the country, stadiums have tapped nonprofit groups to fill a large, but short-lived, need for staff. The Metrodome provides about $4 million through the program to community nonprofit groups, and roughly half of that is raised during Twins games, Flodin said.