City: Minneapolis, MN

Category: Spectator Sports

Telephone: (612) 624-8080 or (800) U-GOPH

Description: Long before the Minnesota Vikings arrived as an NFL expansion team, the Gophers were the Twin Cities’ principal football team. They play in one of the premier NCAA conferences, the Big Ten, which has presented a significant hurdle for the team. The football team, like their basketball counterparts, lacks the recruiting base of many other Big Ten schools. Nevertheless, in recent years the Gophers football squad has improved—though it has a ways to go to reach the upper tier of the Big Ten.After decades playing at the Metrodome, the Gophers returned to outdoor football in 2009 when the team’s new TCF Bank Stadium opened on campus. Win or not, there’s general agreement across the campus and across the Twin Cities that attending a Gophers game is a much more fun and exciting experience now. Single-game tickets start in the $10 range, a bargain compared to the Vikings.