By SBI SOCCER
In order to be in MLS, the league made it clear that Minnesota United needed a stadium, and the club is apparently one step closer to that goal.
St. Paul will reportedly be the city to house the current NASL club’s newest stadium, according to the Star Tribune. It will be built on Snelling Avenue between University Avenue and Interstate 94 in the Midway district, and an ownership group led by Dr. Bill McGuire will pay for the $150 million stadium, which is expected to hold 18,000 people.
A release from the league in July said the focus of building a stadium inside Minneapolis had shifted because a proposal from McGuire did not receive enough support from the city of Minneapolis or the Minnesota state legislature.
MLS president and deputy commissioner Mark Abbott said in July that the club would meet with St. Paul officials. An official announcement on the St. Paul location is expected this week.
Minnesota United plays its NASL home matches at the National Sports Center Stadium, and it is currently in talks with officials from NCS to establish a practice facility there.
“We have been in ongoing discussions with Minnesota United,” NCS spokesman Barclay Kruse told the Star Tribune Wednesday. “We’ve made it clear from the beginning we support their city stadium bid … We are trying to make sure the team lives here as far as training. The team will be here five or six days a week.”
What do you think about this development? Think this is a good location for Minnesota United’s stadium?
Share your thoughts below.
Can’t wait for the Galaxy’s first away trip!
minneapolis chose their path- you snooze, you loose!
I hope this is a HUGE success and folks in Minneapolis regret not doing more for this ownership group.
The Twin Cities has a long history of being able to draw for soccer, so I will be shocked if that doesn’t happen and they have a loyal fan base, in spite of their boring team name.
I’m confused. How does this affect David Beckham? Will he be making an announcement about this? He must be thisclose to announcing his team name and colors and stadium and coach and everything, right?
Beckham will soon address rumors that he may be announcing a stadium is near
With a team in St Paul, is Minneapolis back in the expansion discussion? 😉
Not sure what your question pertains to. Last spring an ownership group representing Minnesota United FC was awarded an MLS expansion team to play in the Twin Cities (i.e. the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area). Minneapolis showed little interest in the proposed location/stadium in downtown Minneapolis and now a St. Paul stadium site was chosen. It’s still the same expansion team and plan that was announced in the spring, the team will just be located in St. Paul instead of Minneapolis.
Just a little joke, dude. 😉
18,000 ?
Boy that is very small.
Yes 18,000 is small . The new MLS stadiums should be at least 25,000 seats.
about 1/2 of MLS is 20,000 or less
about 1/2 of EPL is 22,000 or less
so close to average
It is under the average of the MLS teams, which is now over 20k.
that is skewed by the Sounders 40-45k avg
You can sight stats and I am not going to look them up, but one thing is certain that number is going up. Quickly and will continue to do so.
I live a ~20 minute walk from the (formerly?) proposed Minneapolis stadium, but I’m all in for this St. Paul site. It has redevelopment potential, easy access by mass transit and car, is in the middle of the two Twin Cities (hence “Midway” district), favorable local demographics and nearly unanimous political support.
No, it’s not a “downtown” location, but it’s not a suburb either; this stadium would be pretty unique in its locale. It has all the ingredients to be a major boon for St. Paul and Minnesota United fans.
If there is a decent comparison, this site is sort of similar to Portland – not exactly downtown, but in the first core urban ring (the Twin Cities are kind of unique in that it’s just one constant set of urban neighborhoods between the two downtowns). It should allow for a great game-day atmosphere without the potential headache of having to compete with the Twins, Vikings and Timberwolves for downtown access (consider that there would be significant scheduling challenges between them all and potential logistical nightmares of sharing a lot of the same parking resources, etc., even though they wouldn’t be sharing stadiums).
So this is a pretty good site it seems?
This is actually the best site in the Twin Cites. It’s in Midway, pretty much right in the middle of both downtowns, 1 block off the light rail that goes to both downtowns.
For about 15 years (since I moved to that exact area) I”d dream of a stadium in that location when I would drive by.
All that said… I’m totally against the stadium deal as it is. No taxes for the billions at a spot that would be a revenue generator for property taxes for St Paul schools, teachers, etc.
It’s a total bullsh!t deal.
Very good to know.
Yup… I am–was 🙁 –a 20 minute bike ride to the proposed Minneapolis locale, but this site is probably better for the majority of people. It will be adjacent to the LRT that connects the two downtowns and runs through a bunch of city neighborhoods. What I kind of like is that Midway is a very working class, but developing area. The Loons could reach out to a big Southeast Asian population that is in that area (the city council person is Hmong). It could be really special.
In Hempstead
Don’t worry about NYCFC they are drawing 29,000 a game and have 18.000 season holders.
18,000 is too frickin’ small for MAOR LEAGUE Soccer! how many times do we have to say it? 25,000 should be minimum!!!
and NYCFC?