Huntington Bank Stadium
Huntington Bank Stadium is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009 after three years of construction. It is the home field of the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference.
The stadium also served as the temporary home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League for the 2014 and 2015 seasons during the construction of U.S. Bank Stadium and the Minnesota United FC of Major League Soccer for the 2017 and 2018 seasons during the construction of Allianz Field. The 50,805-seat "horseshoe" style stadium cost $303.3 million to build and is designed to support future expansion to seat up to 80,000.
It was the first new Big Ten football stadium constructed since Memorial Stadium at Indiana University opened in 1960. When it opened, Huntington Bank Stadium boasted the largest home locker room in college or professional football and one of the largest video boards in the nation. Super Bowl winning coach and former quarterback for the Golden Gophers Tony Dungy called the stadium "unbelievable" and Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter said that the on-campus facility "will give the University of Minnesota a chance to compete not only in the Big Ten but nationally for some of the best athletes".
History
The stadium is the third on-campus stadium and fourth stadium used for University of Minnesota football. Previous venues have been Northrop Field, Memorial Stadium, and Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. It is the first of three spectator sports stadiums that have been built for the major tenants of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome – the Gophers and two professional teams, the Minnesota Twins baseball and Minnesota Vikings football teams.The Gopher football program played its first game there on September 12, 2009, against the Falcons of the United States Air Force Academy, prevailing 20–13. This was the first football game played on-campus since November 21, 1981, the last game in Memorial Stadium. The highest-ranked AP Top 25 team to visit was #2 TCU in 2015. Iowa is 5–3 against Minnesota in rivalry games played at "The Bank", and one of five ranked opponents that the Gophers have defeated in the new facility. The 2019 win over Penn State was the first time Minnesota had sold out TCF Bank Stadium since 2015 and was their first win at TCF Bank Stadium against a top 4 ranked opponent. At the conclusion of the 2019 season, the Gopher football team had an all-time record of 48-32 in games played at TCF Bank Stadium.
Stadium proposal
The push for a new on-campus stadium for Golden Gopher football began in the fall of 2000. The university cited poor revenue and lack of a college football atmosphere at the off-campus Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome as their main reasons for wanting to move back on campus. A plan for a joint Minnesota Vikings/University of Minnesota football stadium was proposed in 2002, but differences over how the stadium would be designed and managed, as well as state budget constraints, led to the plan's failure. In September 2003 a highly publicized attempt was made by T. Denny Sanford to be the lead donor for the project, but in early 2004 the plan fell through when the two parties were unable to come to an agreement on the financial terms. The university unveiled preliminary stadium drawings and a general plan to seek state money and donations in December 2003. On March 24, 2005, the university and TCF Financial Corporation announced the sale of the naming rights in a $35 million transaction. The deal was given an expiration date of December 31, 2005; time enough for the Minnesota Legislature to provide the bulk of funding needed to make the project a reality.During the remainder of 2005 the university concentrated on drafting a stadium proposal that would draw the support of state politicians. The final plan proposed that the state of Minnesota would contribute 40% of the stadium cost while the university would raise the remaining 60% on its own. Portions of that 60% were to be funded by the TCF naming rights, while the remainder would come from a $50 per semester student fee, private donations, the sale of 2,840 acres of university land in rural Dakota County back to the state, and game day parking revenue. Even though the university proposal drew widespread legislative support, the stadium effort suffered a setback when the 2005 legislative session ended before the stadium bill could be heard. Late in 2005 when it became evident that this would happen, the university and TCF Bank announced that it had extended the naming rights deal to June 30, 2006.
Despite the 2005 session having ended with the bill not coming to a vote, the stadium effort did not lose momentum in the legislature and was introduced quickly in the 2006 session. On April 6, 2006, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the stadium bill on a 103–30 vote. The house bill was nearly identical to what the university was proposing and had full university support. However, on May 9, 2006, the Minnesota Senate passed a radically different version of the bill on a 34–32 vote. The Senate version would have removed the TCF naming rights deal, the student fees, and the purchase of the university owned land. The proposed funding that was removed was to be replaced with a statewide tax on sports memorabilia. It also would have required the stadium to be named Veterans Memorial Stadium. Governor Tim Pawlenty stated he supported the House version. He signed the bill in May 2006 at the University of Minnesota McNamara Alumni Center.
Legislative approval 2006
Even though the differences between the House and Senate bills were major, the details were ironed out and approved on May 19, in a House–Senate conference committee. The naming rights and land sale remained in the bill, as did a scaled down $25 per year student fee. The tax on sports memorabilia as well as the Veterans Memorial Stadium name were voted out. The committee also voted to increase the state contribution to the project to compensate for the smaller student fees. The compromise bill was then approved by both the full house and senate on May 20, and was signed by Governor Tim Pawlenty on May 24.Construction
On June 8, 2006, the university announced that it had selected HOK Sport to design the stadium, winning out over finalists HNTB and Crawford Architects. The local firm that worked on the project was Minneapolis-based Architectural Alliance, and M.A. Mortenson Company was the general contractor. Schematic designs of the stadium were presented to the public on January 3, 2007.Infrastructure work at the stadium site began in late June 2006, and a ceremonial groundbreaking took place at the stadium site on September 30, 2006. The beginning of construction on the stadium itself along with the unveiling of the stadium's logo took place on July 11, 2007. Site preparation and foundation work continued through the summer and fall of 2007. More than 8,800 tons of steel that make up the stadium's skeleton were put in place between January 28, 2007, and June 28, 2008.
Name change
On June 29, 2021, the university's Board of Regents approved changing the name from TCF Bank Stadium to Huntington Bank Stadium after Huntington Bancshares acquired TCF Financial Corporation. The new name and logo were put into use immediately by the university.Location
The stadium is located on the northeast side of the Minneapolis campus, near the site of the former Memorial Stadium, across from Williams Arena. The site was previously the Huron Boulevard Parking Complex, where the university's four largest parking lots were located. The address is 2009 University Ave S.E.The stadium is part of a expansion of the Twin Cities campus, the largest since the West Bank was built in the 1960s. Current plans for the area call for the construction of as many as ten new academic buildings by 2015. The Metro Green Line light rail runs near the stadium, with a station in Stadium Village serving the facility. Construction of the Green Line began in 2010 and opened June 14, 2014. The two other major Twin Cities stadiums are located along this line, within a short distance and travel time on the Light rail line.
An environmental impact assessment of the stadium site was conducted by the university between December 2004 and March 2006 at a cost of $1.5 million. The results were approved by the Board of Regents on March 27, 2006.
Design
The stadium is a horseshoe-style stadium which organizers said would have a "traditional collegiate look and feel". On December 7, 2006, the university announced that the stadium's field would be laid out in an unorthodox east–west configuration, with the open west end of the stadium facing campus. This layout, similar to that of Memorial Stadium, provides a view of downtown Minneapolis.On September 18, 2009, the University of Minnesota announced that the stadium was awarded LEED Silver Certification, the first college or professional football stadium to achieve LEED certification.
General features and football facilities
The centerpiece of the stadium is the massive scoreboard, designed and built by Daktronics at a cost of $9 million. At, the HD-X light-emitting diode video scoreboard is currently the largest in college football-only stadiums, and was the third largest at the time of construction.The playing surface is FieldTurf, an infilled artificial turf, and the brick wall surrounding the playing field was made possible by an alumni donation of $500,000.
Located on the stadium ground level is the Murray Warmath Locker Room, named in honor of the Gophers' national championship winning coach from 1954 to 1971. It is the largest home locker room in college or professional football, and features a block "M" lighting fixture and 120 custom-built cherry-wood lockers. Adjacent to the Murray Warmath Locker Room are other team areas including a fully equipped training room, therapy room, medical exam rooms, an equipment room, custom coaches' offices and locker rooms, a home media room, private recruiting room, and a training table for dining and nutrition.
After a tour of the complex, Pro Bowl wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald remarked that, "This has got to be the best locker room in the Big Ten."