“To be quite honest with you, every time I walk into that stadium I see a new detail,” Gophers coach Tim Brewster told Sports Headliners. “I see something that catches my eye. Something that makes you reflect upon the history. … Reconnecting with the championship history of the University of Minnesota. And I truly believe that the missing link (in the program) is the stadium.”
Details? A visitor saw block M’s embedded in the stadium’s water fountains. In the premium seating areas cloth-covered chairs have the words to the school’s fight song, the “Minnesota Rouser.” On field level workmen are placing the last bricks along the retaining walls. A Hall of Fame and memorabilia elsewhere will preserve Minnesota’s football past.
Fans will be able to move around in a concourse four times bigger than the Metrodome’s, according to Dan O’Brien, Brewster’s director of football operations. And fans can spend their money on more than food and drink when they make their way into the stadium’s merchandise store, Goldy’s Locker Room.
O’Brien said upper deck seats are only about 30 yards from the field and fans will watch one of the largest videoboards in college football. It is located in the stadium’s open west end and looking that direction provides views of the downtown skyline.
From the stadium’s higher levels the view of both downtown and campus is impressive. Those views and the stadium’s beauty are expected to attract activities on non-game days including wedding events.
Most of the Big Ten stadiums were built more than 80 years ago. Indiana’s Memorial Stadium opened in 1960 and was the conference’s newest on-campus facility until TCF Bank Stadium came along.
How does Brewster believe the stadium will impact the branding of Gopher football? “It makes a loud statement that we’re committed at the University of Minnesota to playing great football, to having a great football program and it’s our responsibility as coaches and players to go out and do a great job of honoring who we are,” he answered.