ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Sentiment against a publicly financed stadium for the Minnesota Twins appeared unchanged Tuesday despite a vote by Major League Baseball owners that could mean the end of the team before next season.

In Chicago, owners voted to eliminate two teams before the 2002 season. Commissioner Bud Selig said the two teams hadn't been decided, and he wouldn't say when the decision would be made. Decision or not, the commission that operates the stadium where the Twins play sued to force them to play there next year.

"Oh, are they smooth," Sen. John Marty, a longtime stadium opponent and self-described baseball fan, said on learning of Selig's announcement.

"The only thing they seem to care about is the money," said Marty, a Roseville Democrat. "It's like, the heck with the sport. They are not even trying to put up a pretense of loving baseball."

House Majority Leader Tim Pawlenty, R-Eagan, said he doesn't think a renewed threat of the Twins' demise will change the Legislature's unwillingness to pour significant tax dollars into a stadium effort.

"I think legislators have factored in the threat of contraction into their thinking," he said. "I don't think that the threat of contraction at our doorstep is going to fundamentally change the dynamics."

Gov. Jesse Ventura, a longtime opponent of publicly funded stadiums, wasn't budging either. Spokesman John Wodele said Ventura considered the baseball vote an attempt to extort a stadium.

"The governor has no intention for calling a special session," Wodele said. "There is very little appetite on behalf of the people or the Legislature for that matter to provide a subsidy to build a stadium."

In an interview on Minnesota Public Radio hours before Selig's announcement, Ventura told critical callers not to blame him if the Twins were eliminated.

"It is not our fault," he told one caller who criticized the Legislature and Ventura. "We are not elected to govern professional baseball."

Ventura also repeated his stance that the state has no standing over the fate of the Twins, a private enterprise.

Ventura said he would encourage Congress to respond by eliminating baseball's antitrust status.

Soon after Selig's announcement, the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission filed a lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court to compel the Twins to honor their lease to play in the Metrodome next season. District Judge Diana Eagan issued a restraining order blocking any changes in the Twins' situation until Thursday. The lawsuit named the Twins and Major League Baseball as defendants.

Attorney General Mike Hatch said his office is exploring the state's legal options and he plans to discuss them Wednesday.

In downtown Minneapolis, reaction to Selig's announcement ranged from apathy to anger at Twins owner Carl Pohlad and Ventura.

"Sports owners don't care about their team," said Andrew Tarara, 28, of St. Paul. "Making money shouldn't be the biggest goal, but that's all you hear from Pohlad. Granted there's not a million Twins fans, but there's a few thousand of us. With a new manager, and new faces on the field, I was excited for next season."

Sean Murray, 22, of St. Paul, said "It's hard to care about a team that the owner doesn't even care about." But he said he would pay taxes for a new stadium and predicted that excitement over the Twins would skyrocket if a new outdoor stadium was built.

Sen. Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, was the chief sponsor of a stadium bill last session. He raised the hope that the Twins might be sold to owners willing to pay for their own stadium.

"I'm encouraging the business community to have an early morning breakfast and put their minds together and bring their checkbook," Johnson said. "I'm not ready to turn out the lights yet, but they are dimming."

Late last week, a group of Twin Cities executives tried to assemble a new offer to buy the team and hoped to persuade Pohlad to delay his decision on whether to sell the franchise back to Major League Baseball.

Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, who wasn't part of that group, said he has no intentions of buying the team, but offered his assistance.

"I've said publicly that if a team was put together (to buy the team) I would help. That doesn't necessarily include ownership," he said.