Huntington Bank Stadium

Huntington Bank Stadium (formerly known as TCF Bank Stadium) is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009 after three years of construction. It is the home field of the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference.

The stadium also served as the temporary home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2014 and 2015 seasons during the construction of U.S. Bank Stadium and the Minnesota United FC of Major League Soccer for the 2017 and 2018 seasons during the construction of Allianz Field. The 50,805-seat "horseshoe" style stadium cost $303.3 million to build and is designed to support future expansion to seat up to 80,000.

It was the first new Big Ten football stadium constructed since Memorial Stadium at Indiana University opened in 1960. When it opened, Huntington Bank Stadium boasted the largest home locker room in college or professional football and one of the largest video boards in the nation. Super Bowl winning coach and former quarterback for the Golden Gophers Tony Dungy called the stadium "unbelievable" and Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter said that the on-campus facility "will give the University of Minnesota a chance to compete not only in the Big Ten but nationally for some of the best athletes".

The stadium is the third on-campus stadium and fourth stadium used for University of Minnesota football. Previous venues have been Northrop Field, Memorial Stadium, and Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. It is the first of three spectator sports stadiums that have been built for the major tenants of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome – the Gophers and two professional teams, the Minnesota Twins baseball and Minnesota Vikings football teams.

The Gopher football program played its first game there on September 12, 2009, against the Falcons of the United States Air Force Academy, prevailing 20–13. This was the first football game played on-campus since November 21, 1981, the last game in Memorial Stadium. The highest-ranked AP Top 25 team to visit was #2 TCU in 2015. Iowa is 5–3 against Minnesota in rivalry games played at "The Bank", and one of five ranked opponents that the Gophers have defeated in the new facility (#24 Iowa in 2010, #21 Nebraska in 2013, #4 Penn State in 2019, #11 USC in 2024, and #25 Nebraska in 2025). The 2019 win over Penn State was the first time Minnesota had sold out TCF Bank Stadium since 2015 and was their first win at TCF Bank Stadium against a top 4 ranked opponent. At the conclusion of the 2019 season, the Gopher football team had an all-time record of 48-32 (0.600) in games played at TCF Bank Stadium.

The push for a new on-campus stadium for Golden Gopher football began in the fall of 2000. The university cited poor revenue and lack of a college football atmosphere at the off-campus Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome as their main reasons for wanting to move back on campus. A plan for a joint Minnesota Vikings/University of Minnesota football stadium was proposed in 2002, but differences over how the stadium would be designed and managed, as well as state budget constraints, led to the plan's failure. In September 2003 a highly publicized attempt was made by T. Denny Sanford to be the lead donor for the project, but in early 2004 the plan fell through when the two parties were unable to come to an agreement on the financial terms. The university unveiled preliminary stadium drawings and a general plan to seek state money and donations in December 2003. On March 24, 2005, the university and TCF Financial Corporation announced the sale of the naming rights in a $35 million transaction. The deal was given an expiration date of December 31, 2005; time enough for the Minnesota Legislature to provide the bulk of funding needed to make the project a reality.

During the remainder of 2005 the university concentrated on drafting a stadium proposal that would draw the support of state politicians. The final plan proposed that the state of Minnesota would contribute 40% of the stadium cost while the university would raise the remaining 60% on its own. Portions of that 60% were to be funded by the TCF naming rights, while the remainder would come from a $50 per semester student fee, private donations, the sale of 2,840 acres (11.5 km²) of university land in rural Dakota County back to the state, and game day parking revenue. Even though the university proposal drew widespread legislative support, the stadium effort suffered a setback when the 2005 legislative session ended before the stadium bill could be heard. Late in 2005 when it became evident that this would happen, the university and TCF Bank announced that it had extended the naming rights deal to June 30, 2006.

Despite the 2005 session having ended with the bill not coming to a vote, the stadium effort did not lose momentum in the legislature and was introduced quickly in the 2006 session. On April 6, 2006, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the stadium bill on a 103–30 vote. The house bill was nearly identical to what the university was proposing and had full university support. However, on May 9, 2006, the Minnesota Senate passed a radically different version of the bill on a 34–32 vote. The Senate version would have removed the TCF naming rights deal, the student fees, and the purchase of the university owned land. The proposed funding that was removed was to be replaced with a statewide tax on sports memorabilia. It also would have required the stadium to be named Veterans Memorial Stadium (similar to the previous on-campus football stadium Memorial Stadium, which was last used in 1981 and demolished in 1992). Governor Tim Pawlenty stated he supported the House version. He signed the bill in May 2006 at the University of Minnesota McNamara Alumni Center.