With U.S. Bank Stadium "firmly entrenched as the home" of the Minnesota High School Prep Bowl Championship game, the Vikings’ new practice facility in Eagan also "may soon host high school football," according to Jace Frederick of the ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS. The Vikings on Thursday "announced their intentions to host high school football regular-season games in the fall" of '18. The games would be "played at TCO Stadium, the outdoor stadium at the Vikings’ proposed new facility, which is scheduled to open March 1, 2018." The field has a "capacity of 6,000 people, but can be expanded to hold 10,000" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 4/7). In Minneapolis, David La Vaque notes the Vikings are also "stepping up efforts to make their future Eagan headquarters a stage" for high school soccer and lacrosse. Vikings execs on Thursday "presented the 'Minnesota Friday Night Lights' concept of regular-season rivalry football games -- broadcast to a statewide television audience" -- to the BOD. Vikings Exec VP/Public Affairs & Stadium Development Lester Bagley said, "There's definitely an interest from the Vikings and the high school league to find a way to utilize this facility for public purpose, for community connection and certainly for high school sports." But La Vaque notes a "key challenge for moving regular-season games to Eagan includes determining how to compensate host schools for lost gate revenue that, for some larger metro schools, can exceed $10,000 per game." Bagley said that "it's unlikely the football and soccer semifinals and championship games, currently played at U.S. Bank Stadium, would move to Eagan" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 4/7).
