first major sponsorship agreement with MasterCard from First USA. It was the earliest that First USA had ever signed an agreement before a team began play (31 months). The State of Minnesota adopted legislation in April 1998 to loan $65 million to the City of Saint Paul to fund 50% of the estimated $130 million project costs for the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. The legislation also provided that only $48 million of the loan needed to be repaid if the team met the requirements to have an agreement in place during the lease term with the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission. The City of Saint Paul issued an additional $65 million in bonds, with roughly 90% of the debt service on the bonds and the repayment of the state loan coming from scheduled rent and payment instead of taxes from the Minnesota Wild. Deconstruction of the Saint Paul Civic Center began soon after. Designs were announced for the Xcel Energy Center and a groundbreaking ceremony for the Xcel Energy Center was hosted in Saint Paul. The Minnesota Wild announced a 26-year partnership agreement with the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission (MASC). The Minnesota Wild-MASC partnership is the first partnership of its kind between a private professional sports team and a public amateur sports organization. Doug Risebrough was named executive vice president/general manager of Minnesota Wild and the Xcel Energy Center was completed and ready for use. Early years and (2000–2009) Marian Gaborik era The Wild named Jacques Lemaire their first head coach and the team picked Marian Gaborik third overall in the first round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Gaborik scored the first-ever goal for the Wild in their franchise debut on October 6 at Anaheim. The Wild played their first-ever home game on October 11 against the Philadelphia Flyers and skated to a 3–3 tie. Minnesota native Darby Hendrickson scored the first-ever home goal for the Wild. The most notable game of the year was the first visit of the Dallas Stars, who had formerly played in Minnesota as the Minnesota North Stars. The Wild rode an emotional sellout crowd of over 18,000 to a 6–0 shutout in Dallas' first regular-season game in Minnesota since a neutral-site game in 1993. The season ended with Scott Pellerin as the leading scorer with 39 points while Wes Walz, Darby Hendrickson and Gaborik paced the team with 18 goals each. The