The Minnesota Golden Gophers have called home to only three stadiums since they began playing at Memorial Stadium in 1924. After Memorial Stadium was proven to be too small and outdated, the team moved to the Metrodome. During this time the planning and building of Huntington Bank Stadium was undergone where the Gophers still call home today.
Memorial Stadium was dedicated to those who served in World War I when it was built in 1924, and was home to most of the program’s success. The team was able to bring home six national championships while playing at Memorial Stadium in the years 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960. These were the glory days for Gopher Football whose program has not had a chance at such glory since Memorial Stadium.
However, Memorial Stadium was not built solely for football and was able to be the athletic base for the Gophers track and field program as well. Furthermore, the stadium hosted a few Vikings football games and Minnesota’s NASL soccer team the Kicks, both due to the Twins playoff success in Metropolitan Stadium.
The brick horse shoe shaped stadium could seat over 56,00 people, however the stadium aged quickly and time for change came in the 1980s. The school was faced with a decision to either renovate the stadium or move the football teams home. The decision at the time was obvious as the Metrodome had just been built in Minneapolis, however the school still pondered renovation for quite some time.
The Gophers moved to the Metrodome for the start of the 1982 season, landmarking a change that hurt the program. The Metrodome was off campus and had little to no history giving students and Gopher fans a sour taste. It was built for professional sports leaving the Gophers the third option behind the Twins and Vikings. It was thought that the change would recruit players who wanted to play in a NFL stadium, however players felt differently and the historic program struggled in the Metrodome.
As the University struggled to find funding for renovations to Memorial Stadium the stadium sat empty until its destruction in 1992. This meant that without a rebuild the Gophers would be stuck at the Metrodome. Then, in 2006 the state was able to pass a bill giving the Gophers a new home. The stadium would take three years to build and in 2009 Minnesota moved into TCF Bank Stadium, which today is known as Huntington Bank Stadium.
Huntington Bank Stadium is a much better fit for the program, as it is designated for football and is located right on campus. Again, the stadium features a horse shoe style look, which connects back to the history of Memorial Stadium. It is able to seat just over 50,000 fans and does a fantastic job at connecting the old and new of Gopher Football.
The team struggled in its new stadium to start, but in recent years has flourished at home. The Gophers always bring a strong home crowd with avid fans, even in the cold as the stadium is fully outdoors. The stadium was even deemed great enough to host the Minnesota Vikings for two years while U.S. Bank Stadium was built in 2014 and 2015.
Today, the stadium continues to host all home Gopher football games along with a few concerts throughout the summer. Most notably performing in recent years has been Beyoncé and Kesha however, U2 and the Imagine Dragons have also performed. The common theme is that the stadium is a great place to watch a football game and will be kept by the university for quite some time.
