Star Tribune: Hockey is Big Business in Lakeville

The widening gap between the haves and the have-nots in high school athletics was the topic of a three-part series the Star Tribune published May 26–28, 2013.

Lakeville's powerhouse hockey teams—and the businesses that support them and benefit from their success—were at the center of the paper's third article. Some highlights:

• "[Glenn] Hasse and his son donated $125,000 to one of Lakeville’s two indoor ice arenas — the $8.6 million facility is named after the family — even though he has never lived in Lakeville."

• "The city’s other indoor ice facility, Ames Arena, was named after Ames Construction when the company did the earthwork in exchange for having its name on the building."
  
  
• "Inside Babe’s Music Bar, a noisy bar in downtown Lakeville, the day-to-day machinery that also funds youth hockey could be seen on a Wednesday night. Tom Meyer, the Lakeville Hockey Association’s gambling manager, explained how 60 people playing one game of dollar-a-card bingo made $15 for Lakeville hockey after the winnings were paid out. There would be 13 games on this night, garnering an estimated $300 for youth hockey."

• "There are four charitable gambling locations in Lakeville for youth hockey, but there are also plenty of strings attached. Although $2.6 million in gross revenue is taken in annually, 70 percent goes for expenses, 25 percent for taxes and only 5 percent gets funneled to hockey. Still, Lakeville youth hockey had $864,407 in total revenue — the large majority from registration fees — in 2010, and during the season, mock-ups for the new traveling team jerseys were posted on the Lakeville youth hockey website."