Target Field to host football game in 2017
MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - The Minnesota Twins have scheduled a press conference for Monday, Oct. 17 to announce that Target Field will host a football game in 2017. More details will be announced Monday morning, prior to the press conference, but it’s very possible that North Dakota State will be one of the teams involved.
Probably not NDSU (yet)
Last month, NDSU athletic director Matt Larsen told The Forum of Fargo Moorhead that he was working with the Twins on scheduling a Bison football game at Target Field.
"It is all very preliminary," Larsen said "There are still three or four approvals that we need, any one of which could sidetrack it."
But Larson told the newspaper the earliest NDSU could play in Minneapolis would be 2018, due to current schedule commitments. If NDSU is indeed one of the teams scheduled to play at Target Field, the Gophers certainly won’t be their opponent. The Big Ten has asked its teams to avoid scheduling FCS level opponents after this season.
Tommie-Johnnie game?
The Star Tribune's Michael Rand, citing multiple sources, says the 2017 game will feature Minnesota's Division III rivals St. Thomas and St. John's.
Target Field has been the home of Twins baseball, a handful of Gophers baseball games and several concerts, but the ballpark has never hosted a football game.