City: Minneapolis, MN

Category: Spectator Sports

Telephone: (763) 785-5601

Description: Professional soccer in Minnesota has a spotty history that begins in 1976 with the Minnesota Kicks (six seasons), continues in 1984 with the Minnesota Strikers (four seasons, the last three as members of an indoor league), and climaxes with the Minnesota Thunder, who started on a shoestring in 1990 and ultimately joined the USL First Division. The Thunder continually struggled to win fans, and from 2004 to 2007 moved their home field to the James Griffin Stadium in St. Paul in hopes of attracting fans among young urban soccer fans, particularly members of ethnic communities from soccer-obsessed countries. It didn’t quite pan out that way, and the Thunder retreated to the sprawling National Sports Center in Blaine. With dreams of founding a new North American Soccer League, the team withdrew from the USL in 2009 but has apparently hit the financial rocks and all players have been released from their contracts. (Their associated women’s team, the Minnesota Lightning, have simultaneously folded.)The Thunder’s replacements are the Minnesota Stars, a new second-tier pro team who played their first game on April 11, 2010. Based at the National Sports Center and coached by Manny Lagos, a former Thunder coach who has a lock on the title of greatest soccer coach in Minnesota history, the team have high hopes. Will they be shattered like those of the teams that went before them? You’ll have to go to a game to find out. Most tickets are $13 general admission, with a few reserved seats going for $20–$30.