Minnesota prep all-star game moves to new Vikings stadium, had been at TCF in past

[BleedGopher]

per the AP:

Minnesota's all-star high school football game is moving to the Minnesota Vikings' new stadium.

An organizer with the Minnesota Football Coaches Association said Friday the game will be played at U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis on either Dec. 3 or Dec. 10.

The all-star game will be a Saturday before a Vikings Sunday home game. The date is uncertain because the NFL schedule has not been released.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports the Vikings reached out to the Minnesota Football Coaches Association to host and sponsor the game in their new $1.1 billion stadium. The game has been held at Husky Stadium at St. Cloud State University in June, as well as at Macalster College in St. Paul and the Minnesota Gophers' TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/article69627417.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

Makes sense. Kids want to get to experience playing where the pros play, and the enclosed environment makes it a better event in December than an outdoor.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Well it is December and they start shutting down TCF after the last home game so ... yeah should be at the new indoor place.

 

[husker70]

Makes sense. Kids want to get to experience playing where the pros play, and the enclosed environment makes it a better event in December than an outdoor.

Sounds like the argument made when the Gophers left Memorial Stadium in 1982

 

[beavergopher]

Sounds like the argument made when the Gophers left Memorial Stadium in 1982

Indeed.

 

[GopherND725]

The only concern I have for this is a lot of these kids are multi-sport athletes who will currently be in their basketball, wrestling, hockey, etc seasons in early December likely missing time from practice & games to play in the all-star game. Would hate to see an injury occur too during the school year in their senior years.


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[GopherJack]

What state high school playoff games will be played in the new stadium. Semi-finals and finals, or just finals?

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

Sounds like the argument made when the Gophers left Memorial Stadium in 1982

I guess if you want to ignore the context it does.

 

[Some guy]

Pretty sure there were rule changes making it difficult to play the all star game in division 1 stadium. This is why it HASN'T been at TCF in a few years and why the headline is very misleading.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

The All-star game has been played at St. Cloud St in recent years - except for one year at St. John's.
It was played at TCF one time in 2011. Other sites over the years have included Macalester, St. Thomas, Parade Stadium for many years, Met Stadium, and a couple of HS fields. The all-star game was played at Memorial Stadium on the U campus in 45, 46, 74 & 75.

So, the All-Star game has been played at the Gopher Stadium once in the last 40 years.

The big change, as noted, is from a summer game to a December game. I can't imagine that a lot of Basketball, Wrestling and Hockey coaches are thrilled about losing kids during their seasons, not to mention the risk of injury.

Ironically, this means there will be two all-star games in 2016. One game this June for 2016 grads, and another game in December for 2017 grads.

I will also note they have gone back to a North vs. South format in recent years, instead of Metro vs Outstate. That tends to cut down on the representation from smaller outstate athletes.