Minnesota Vikings fans need to do one thing this offseason, and it’ll remind you of U.S. Bank Stadium
If you are missing football really bad during the summer months, there is a simple solution that will give you similar vibes to U.S. Bank Stadium.
Let me take you back to October 28th, 2018. The Minnesota Vikings were 4-2-1 heading into a massive Sunday night game against the New Orleans Saints. It was just nine months after the Minneapolis Miracle, and the atmosphere at U.S. Bank Stadium was electric.
It didn’t stay that way. Unfortunately for the Vikings, they were down 17 points with 9:43 left in the game. When NFL teams get down by that amount at any point in the game, it often ends in a loss. It’s especially rough when you pay big money to attend the game.
What if I told you there was a place where that wasn’t the case? Let me take you to a beautiful place called Princess Auto Stadium.
The CFL has an incredible atmosphere
The fooball void in June and July is tough for NFL fans. There is nothing going on, but the NFL continues to dominate the conversation thanks to it’s brilliant marketing. If you want your football fix, the UFL is already over, which makes the only real option north of the border in the CFL.
The league has just completed Week 4 of their 21 week season, and it provided some excellent matchups. Having never been to Canada myself and have really enjoyed the on-field product in recent years, I decided to go up to Winnipeg and catch a game and I was far from disappointed.
The Blue Bombers play at Princess Auto Stadium, which is inspired by Lumen Field where the Seattle Seahawks. It only has a capacity of 32,343, but you feel every last one of them, very similar to that of the 12s in Seattle. They also have the longest current sellout streak in the CFL at 16 games.
One thing that Vikings fans will appreciate is the gameday experience. Once you get there, they have a good-sized tailgate area where fans can enjoy food, beverages, and live performances before the game. It’s a little more condensed than the plaza outside of U.S. Bank Stadium, but the passion and atmosphere is very similar.
Once you get into the stadium, the energy is electric. The fanbase is just as passionate and the sightlines from everywhere are fantastic. Even with the 110-yard by 65-yard field, you can see everything just as well, if not better than an NFL stadium, because you are close to the action.
When the game starts, it’s just like any other football game, but there are two main things that make the CFL game unique, and why they are so much fun to attend:
- 3 downs create high-octane offense
- The downs and the clock rules
That 17 point lead the Saints had in that 2018 game I mentioned earlier was all but over. This game was completely different, thanks to the rules. When you only have three downs, paired with the clock rules, teams can come from behind and make games very interesting. We saw exactly that, as the Edmonton Elks got up 17-0 at the end of the first half and showed why you can’t give up on a CFL game.
Just before halftime, Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros threw a 28-yard touchdown to wide receiver Tim White to get within 10.
At halftime, they had a musical performance while we went to get concessions. To start the second half, we got to see the most unique element of a CFL game: the rouge. CFL touchbacks don’t exist in the same way they do in the NFL. When you choose to take a touchback on a kickoff or punt by taking a knee or getting tackled, it results in a point for the kicking team. That put the Blue Bombers only down nine, and when star running back Brady Olivera scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter, it gave them a one-point lead.
Even with the home crowd buzzing at a fever pitch, everyone knew the game was far from over. Even if you have the lead and the ball with less than two minutes to go, no lead is safe, and the Elks felt that when quarterback Cody Fajardo completed an eight-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Luther to take a five-point lead. 53 seconds is an eternity in the CFL with how the clock stops, but the Blue Bombers couldn’t get it done, with wide receiver Nic Demski being tackled at the 11 yard line to end the game.
Even with the loss, the stadium was still buzzing, thinking that their favorite team could get the win until the final whistle. That element is present at every CFL game, and it’s why you can never count anyone out.
The best part about the experience was being able to watch a very good football live, but the next best was the people of Winnipeg. Everyone was so nice and helpful, plus they loved the fact that we came up from Minnesota to watch a game. Winnipeg itself feels like Minneapolis in a lot of ways, and going to Princess Auto Stadium will give you vibes of U.S. Bank Stadium with the passion the fanbase has, along with the quality of football.
If you want a great football fix, I cannot recommend enough listening to Blue Bombers edge rusher Willie Jefferson, “Come on down to Winnipeg!” You won’t regret it.
