Planning History

The University of Minnesota has actively explored building a new on-campus Gopher football stadium since 2003. The process has included:

• A feasibility study (1.2 MB PDF) that determined the appropriate size and type of stadium, preliminary construction and operating costs, the revenue potential, and uses beyond football.

• A set of guiding principles, endorsed by the Board of Regents of the University, for the development of a football stadium on the Minneapolis campus for the Gopher football team, and for related athletic and academic purposes of the University.

• An environmental review of the stadium project that examined the impact the development of the proposed stadium facility would have on the environment. It included consideration of traffic, air quality, vibration, etc., and identified needed environmental remediation for the site. The Board of Regents, acting as the responsible government unit, approved the final environmental impact statement in 2006.

• A plan for the cleanup of site.

• Approval of the schematic design and budget for the new stadium by the Board of Regents on January 3, 2007.

• Construction of the stadium, which began in July 2007, and is scheduled to be completed in summer 2009, in time for kickoff on September 12, 2009.