MLS execs, including Commissioner Don Garber (c), heaped praise on the new venueDON GARBER
Minnesota United publicly unveiled Allianz Field yesterday to a crowd of about 200 fans, and club Owner Bill McGuire called it "truly 'L'Etoile du Nord,' the star of the north," according to a front-page piece by Rochelle Olson of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Allianz Field "impressed in the debut of its interior with subdued wood finishes and a view of the sky through a rectangular overhang that provides a cozy cloak of cover and erases the sense of being anywhere near traffic." Allianz Field's seats are "aligned to try to give all fans a sense of being close to the action." However, the "most coveted spots, the ones that define the building, are down low, flush with the pitch." Tributes to the new stadium "freely flowed from the speakers who followed McGuire," including MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Allianz Life President & CEO Walter White. Minnesota United will play its first home match in the stadium on April 13 against NYCFC (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 3/19). In St. Paul, Andy Greder noted with a 19,400-seat venue and season-ticket base of 14,500, Minnesota United "anticipates sellouts for every home game" this season. That will likely "include up to 700 standing-room-only tickets" per game (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 3/19).
