Super Bowl & NFL Draft Coming to Minnesota?

It doesn’t seem that long ago that US Bank stadium hosted the second Super Bowl played in Minnesota, but that hasn’t stopped the Vikings from looking into hosting the big event yet again.

More specifically, the Vikings have submitted an ‘expression of interest’ into hosting the Super Bowl between the 2028 - 2030 seasons. That would leave at least a ten year gap from the last time the Super Bowl was hosted at US Bank Stadium.

The NFL seemed to like the job Minnesota did in hosting the event in 2018, so hopefully that will lead to another gig in ten years or so. We’ll see what happens. Getting in on the bidding early couldn’t hurt.

NFL DRAFT

But for those of you without the big bucks to pony up for Super Bowl tickets, you’ll be glad to know the Vikings ambition for hosting big NFL events didn’t stop there. Lester Bagley, VP of Public Affairs for the Vikings, also said the Vikings are looking into hosting the NFL Draft in the 2024-2026 time frame.

Apparently the deadline for expressing interest in hosting the Draft during those time frames ended on August 9th, but the Vikings made that deadline.

I’m sure the Vikings are not the only one to throw their hat into the mix for hosting either the Super Bowl or the NFL Draft, but with the best stadium in the world for a venue, along with a positive track record for hosting in the past, Minnesota should be a strong contender for hosting both events.

The NFL Draft is growing by leaps and bounds since the NFL decided to break ties with Radio City Music Hall. The legendary venue rescheduled the draft one year due to a “scheduling conflict,” which had to be one of the worst cases of venue mismanagement in recent history.

Anyway, the NFL took it’s show on the road after that, and the most recent NFL Draft in Nashville reportedly brought in over $132 million in sales to the city, blowing away the previous record of $74 million in Dallas in 2018.

600,000 visitors reportedly attended the NFL Draft this past April.

That three day event is increasingly coveted as the revenue figures skyrocket.

Once again, we’ll have to wait and see if Minnesota wins that event, but give credit for the Vikings for throwing their hat into the mix to try to land that event too.

Back when the stadium controversy over the public funding of the stadium was at a crescendo, many analysts said it was a poor use of public funds, and that the revenue generated from the new stadium wouldn’t be worth the cost of public financing. With a Super Bowl and Final Four swelling the state’s revenue coffers in recent years, and the prospect for more big events like another Super Bowl and NFL Draft potentially bringing more revenue for the state down the road, that investment may pay off yet - if it hasn’t already.