THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA OPENS ITS DOORS TO TCF BANK STADIUM

The University Of Minnesota opened its doors as they held an open house. They gave free tours of TCF Bank Stadium.

This was the first time that I had been inside the TCF Bank Stadium. I have driven around the Stadium and I when I first got to the stadium I was amazed at all the buzz around it. When I got into the parking lot, parking at the stadium for this event was $3.75. I was surprised at first that they were charging for parking but then again I wasn’t because I figured that they wanted to simulate a game situation.

I arrived at the field and from the outside and the stadium was beautiful. There were all the names of all of the counties in Minnesota carved in brick lining the outside of the stadium.

I had to wait about 20 minutes before I was able to get into the stadium because I was early. The college radio station was there handing out free stuff. After about a 10-minute wait the doors were opened to the Stadium.

After I got past security I walked up a flight of stairs where there were tables of all of the colleges that the University of Minnesota provides. They were handing out information about their courses they offer. After all that they provided free tours of the locker rooms. The University of Minnesota locker room is the largest of any pro or college sports. The locker room is in a shape of a football. The only other stadium that has a locker room shaped like a football is the Green Bay Packers of the NFL.

After the locker room tour it was time to hit the field. The field was awesome. People were only allowed to stay in the end zone. When I was on the field it brought memories of screaming fans in a tournament appearance. When I go down and cover the Minnesota state football and you have thousands of screaming fans and I am trying to interview the players. There is a lot of happiness and emotion that the fans bring.

After I got done with the field there was a tunnel that leads off the field and brought us out to the stadium entrance. There was an usher that was handing out free woman’s hockey tickets for the afternoon’s hockey game. The Gopher women’s hockey team was able to beat Syracuse 4-1. It was a fun and entertaining game. It was the first time that I had been in Ridder Arena. On the backside of Ridder Arena is the university tennis center. I walked around in there for a bit. That was the first time that I had been in either two of those arenas.

After I was done with tours I have to say I was pretty impressed with the new TCF Bank Stadium. That is a pretty cool complex.