Wild & Twins - A Case Study for the Future

As many of you well know, the Twins have a rather long history of playing the 'small-market' card.
You know, where they bitch about their ballpark and how they don't have any money, brag about how smart Terry Ryan is for putting together winning teams on a budget, etc, etc, etc, while ignoring the fact that their owner, Carl Pohlad, is one of the richest in baseball. He's also 417 years old - apparently none of his kids have ever had the balls to use the phrase 'You can't take it with you' in his presence.
Anyway, with the Twins as close to a new ballpark as they've been, I got to thinking.
Is the new park really going to change anything? Are the Twins going to become the new Yankees suddenly, or even the new White Sox?
What's to stop the Pohlad family from keeping the payroll right where it is and pocketing the extra revenue?
Would anyone be surprised if they took the attitude of, 'Hey Terry, you've been winning with a $50 million payroll, why don't you just keep doing that. We like this extra $200 million in yearly revenue. Dad needs to have his head cryogenically frozen so he can keep an eye on his cash.'
Don't think so? Trust the team to keep their word and spend money on free-agents?
Just look North to St. Paul.
The Minnesota Wild play their home games in the most amazing/beautiful hockey venue on Earth. They sell tickets and merchandise at ungodly prices, and fans eat it up. Can't get enough.
I myself paid almost $200 for a pair of seats that were halfway up the Arena, and I enjoyed the hell out of myself. I'll do it again next year.
You would think, using the Twins definition, that the Wild would qualify as a "large-market" team. Because let's face it, it has nothing to do with the size of the market, it has to do with the depth of the owners pockets and the owners willingness to reach into those pockets - which the owners themselves try to tie to a shiny, trillion dollar stadium that they are loathe to contribute to financially.
(What is it about rich people being so fucking cheap? I make barely 30K a year and blow money on beer and playstation games left and right while Worldcom CEO's refuse to pay for toilet paper and coffee filters. Ridiculous.)
And the Wild, with a seemingly endless supply of revenue flying in on a nightly basis, are $14 million under the salary cap. I'm sure the paying customers (who saw the team raise season ticket prices after another losing season despite extending the streak of consecutive sellouts to 228) are happy that their money is being spent so well.
Wild GM Doug Riseborough's answer when asked recently if the Wild would spend to the cap max next year was practically a no-comment (the upcoming offseason will be one of the biggest free-agency periods of recent memory), and the team has been non-commital about re-signing Marian Gaborik, who missed 17 games this year and still scored a team record 37 goals.
If the Wild are willing to be that cheap, why won't the Twins?
I'm certainly not saying that teams should spend irresponsibly just because they can afford to, but having the revenue from a new stadium that (in the Twins case) you forced onto the public without a referendum seemingly obligates you to make decisions based on winning first, and budget second. Doesn't it?
Gaborik has made it clear that he wants to get paid. If he asks for a few million more than he's worth, the Wild should pay him anyway, because they can. He's the superstar, and signing him would act as both a thank-you gesture to the fans and a sign of commitment to winning.
The Yankees overpayed for Johnny Damon and everyone knows it, but it was still a good move because the Yankees had to have a CF, and they can afford his giant contract.
Tying this back to the Twins....let's say in 2011, 32-year old Johan Santana is looking for a new deal.
Joe Mauer will be making big bucks by then, and hopefully Justin Morneau, Denard Span, Matt Moses, Justin Jones and Alex Romero will be as well.
At 32, Santana will be old-er, but certainly not old. The Metrodome Twins would probably let him walk.
But if the Twins are playing in 'Northland Ford Stadium' by then (you know they'll call it something gay like that), averaging 30,000 fans at $30 a pop, they would be able to afford a much larger payroll at that point.
Will they lock-up Santana, ensuring he retires as a Twin?
Or will they, like the Wild, look for every conceivable reason not to spend money?
I guess we'll see, but I know where I'd bet my money.