The Wake

The University of Minnesota announced a $35 million corporate sponsorship with TCF Financial Corporation in an effort to jump-start a campaign for a campus football stadium. An on-campus stadium? Are you serious? I didn’t think this day would ever come, but now it looks like it finally will … in four years. My parents aren’t going to like my new seven-year graduation plan.

This year I had the opportunity to travel the Midwest, watching our beloved Gophers get their asses kicked at various Big Ten venues. And as disappointing as these games were, the trips were always worthwhile because of that special feeling, the shivers and the goose bumps as I walked into these stadiums. Maybe it was the 12 beers I drank beforehand.

And now it looks like the University is trying its damnedest to inspire that same emotion where 200 cars are currently parked. And on top of these parking lots will rest TCF Bank Stadium. Doesn’t it have a nice ring to it?

I can see it now, the gorgeous red bricks rising above the ground, engulfing two city blocks. Men and women with big smiles and ironed, button-down shirts are at the doors to great you, and offer you a great opportunity to open a free checking account.

Inside the stadium, history is recreated with banners of Nagurski and Smith hanging inside the entrance and murals of Eller and Thompson etched on the walls. There are also representatives on hand to help you answer questions about your mortgage. First-time homeowner? Try TCF’s first-time homeowner mortgage plan with a special interest rate and repayment plan designed to help the first-time homeowner build equity at a reasonable monthly cost without compromising his or her needs in a home.

But none of this compares to the view of the field. The smell of red and yellow leaves drifts over the bricks, into the open air of the stadium. Fifty thousand seats surround the green field. Some people ask what the blue thing is above their heads.

“It’s the sky,” I say. Then I look at the seats, and each section has its own TCF ATM. No surcharges if you’re a TCF customer. This truly is miraculous moment in Minnesota history.

But in all seriousness, Minnesota — the only Big Ten campus without an on-campus stadium — deserves to leave the Metrodome. And I for one can’t wait for this campus to experience what everyone else in Big Ten gets to experience every fall, even if there is an ATM in every section.