U.S. Bank Stadium Hosting First Hoops Games Ahead Of Final Four

U.S. Bank Stadium will host four basketball games over the weekend as a "prelude" to the Final Four in April, giving venue operator SMG some "early clues on how the building's lights and acoustics, scoreboards, locker rooms and seating will perform for basketball," according to a front-page piece by Rochelle Olson of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. The U.S. Bank Stadium Basketball Classic is the venue's first basketball event. The NCAA "requires the host venue to hold at least one basketball game in advance of March Madness." Neither the NCAA's "massive center-hung scoreboard nor the stadium's custom darkening curtains will be in place this weekend." Meanwhile, attendance this weekend is "expected to be about 15,000 fans on each night." The "marquee event" features the Univ. of Minnesota taking on Oklahoma State at 9:00pm CT Friday (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 11/29).