Minneapolis city leaders entertained an official from college football’s Bowl Championship Series on Sunday night at the Metrodome as part of an effort to lure college football’s 2017 championship game to the new Vikings stadium.
“We are definitely bidding on trying to bring them here,” Kristen Montag, a spokesperson for Meet Minneapolis, the city’s visitor and convention bureau, told the Star Tribune.
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority Chairwoman Michele Kelm-Helgen met with the guests in the aging Vikings venue, making a case for the new Vikings stadium, which is not yet under construction, KSTP reports. Rybak notes that “in a couple years we will have the finest football facility available,” KSTP reported.
Minneapolis is in the running with five other cities for the 2017 game, MPR News noted:
San Francisco Bay Area (Levi’s Stadium)
Jacksonville (EverBank Field)
San Antonio (Alamodome)
South Florida (Sun Life Stadium)
Tampa (Raymond James Stadium)
The game would bring an estimated $20 million to the Twin Cities.
The glassy new $975 million, 65,000-seat Vikings stadium is expected to open in time for the 2016 season.
City and team officials are also trying to lure the Super Bowl to Minneapolis for the NFL’s 2018 title game.
