Minneapolis - U.S. Bank Stadium 2020

[PSUoh90]

I know I'm looking far ahead here, but after watching the final 4, I'm wondering if anyone has insight to how the venue will be set up for championship weekend next year. For the NCAA Basketball Final 4, the court is essentially set up in the middle of the field and all of the seating is utilized plus additional seating that is set up around the court for students and other fans.

Does anyone know if the mat will be placed at midfield and all the seating in the dome will be utilized or will half of the stadium be used similar to when Iowa wrestled at Kinnick Stadium? I'm very curious as next year's venue is well over 3 times as large as where the finals have normally taken place.

Hopefully this makes championship weekend tickets more affordable.

 

[NoVa Lion]

I know I'm looking far ahead here, but after watching the final 4, I'm wondering if anyone has insight to how the venue will be set up for championship weekend next year. For the NCAA Basketball Final 4, the court is essentially set up in the middle of the field and all of the seating is utilized plus additional seating that is set up around the court for students and other fans.

Does anyone know if the mat will be placed at midfield and all the seating in the dome will be utilized or will half of the stadium be used similar to when Iowa wrestled at Kinnick Stadium? I'm very curious as next year's venue is well over 3 times as large as where the finals have normally taken place.

Hopefully this makes championship weekend tickets more affordable.

No idea what they are planning but if the mats are placed midfield there won;t be a good seat in the house except for the refs and those at the scorers tables. If that is what they do I will not be attending NCAAs for the first time since 2001.

 

[Gray52]

When tickets went on sale (they’re still on sale), it seemed as though all sections of the stadium were available, so my best guess is that the mats will be centered at mid field.

 

[y2jriden]

here is an article on possible layouts:

http://archive.wrestlersarewarriors.com/2019/04/03/2020-ncaa-d1-championships-at-us-bank-stadium/

 

[Tom McAndrew]

@JasonBryant, do you have any additional info on this?

 

[liex26]

There are no school assigned sections yet are there?

 

[Conewago]

Playing football inside of a dome is bad enough

Playing other sports inside of a football dome is even worse

 

[RoarLions1]

There are no school assigned sections yet are there?

No, long way from that.

 

[PSU James]

The stadium seating arrangement looks awful.....Horrible seating.

 

[psu_flip]

Is the basketball Final Four experience in a football arena a nightmare? I think of my NFL tix and don't think it can be that bad, but then I think of stadium concerts and how I hate those because everything is so far.

 

[Jkos11]

@JasonBryant, do you have any additional info on this?

Might take a while from his twitter looks like he may be on a plane home from the Chinese Consulate

 

[PSUAllTheWay]

I recommend investing in a good set of binoculars ;-)

 

[jammenz]

We can only hope that Penn State fans stay home.

 

[yekrut321]

Every year my tickets from the sofa are great!! Only about 8 feet from the action. I can change seats anytime I want. Concession selection is exactly what I like and the prices are affordable.

 

[Needanap]

Is the basketball Final Four experience in a football arena a nightmare? I think of my NFL tix and don't think it can be that bad, but then I think of stadium concerts and how I hate those because everything is so far.

I share your concerns. Upper level nose bleed seats in hockey/basketball arenas are already borderline for enabling visibility of all 8 mats at one time. If they try to utilize the entire arena for seating I believe there will be minimal decent seats anywhere in the arena. The sight lines and distance from one end of the arena to the other would be horrible.

About 10 years ago the Penguins played an outdoor game against the Capitals at Heinz field and I was sitting center line in an owners box. Hands down my worst viewing experience for a major professional sporting event. Unless they cut the arena in half I will most likely be camped in my family room watching on ESPN.

There are no school assigned sections yet are there?

 

[Needanap]

There are no school assigned sections yet are there?

I heard they were moving away from assigned sections and strongly considering assigning each school their own zip code.

 

[dbldoofus]

As a bird watcher, I have a nice Leica spotting scope. I bet I get as good a view of the mats with that scope from SE Pa to Minny as the nosebleed seats do.

This is just a bad idea overall IMO. Unless you want to pay for flights, lodging, food etc and watch a Jumbotron.

2020 will be a sofa year. Will wait for a later year before I go to my first Natty’s.

 

[BVSt.Paul]

I strolled over to the stadium to watch the Final 4 teams practice. I couldn’t believe how far the court was from most of the seats. I grabbed a seat about 2/3 of the way up on the lower level on the foul line and felt like I was far from the action.

I’m still going to attend as I live in town but as was posted above, I’m bringing my good pair of binoculars.

 

[RoarLions1]

I strolled over to the stadium to watch the Final 4 teams practice. I couldn’t believe how far the court was from most of the seats. I grabbed a seat about 2/3 of the way up on the lower level on the foul line and felt like I was far from the action.

I’m still going to attend as I live in town but as was posted above, I’m bringing my good pair of binoculars.

Ha, just started a post about the pictures you sent me, stopped when I saw your above. Was hoping you would share your experience. If you can figure a way to post the photos, I'm sure all would appreciate.

 

[TangSoo]

This seems like a good year to keep a promise to a buddy of mine and go to the Big East tournament. I know, that's blasphemous, but I do love NYC.

I'd rather wait to hear about the Minnesota dome experience after the fact. The ESPN coverage is really good.

 

[JasonBryant]

Thankfully for me, the Chinese consulate is in Chicago.

"Centered" isn't how we might expect it. Based on the conversations I had this year at NCAAs, the projected layout is all eight mats in the middle of the field, but not in the 4-4 we're used to seeing. It'll be more of a 2-2-2-2 configuration, although the image Tony Rotundo posted on his site aren't exactly what I saw. It's similar, but a tighter circle around the midfield logo.

Seating capacity they're looking at is approximately north of 45,000, with single session tickets in the upper levels going for what they anticipate to be about $20-25. I spoke to a number of people inside US Bank Stadium for the Final Four and they said the pictures tend to make the vantage point appear worse than it is. Is it going to be as intimate as our arenas? No. Is it going to give potentially 28,000 more fans an opportunity to start their annual pilgrimage to nationals? Yes.

Big message that can be send to schools without wrestling programs that "hey, here's a sport that put 40K into the stands six times over three days, you want in on this, don't you?"

People enjoy football games in this manner - and for the most part - the size of the human being from that distance doesn't really change per sport, so while NO, it's not what it's been like since moving off college campuses in 2002, but as with many things, I'm sitting on a wait-and-see.

 

[jammenz]

30,000 tickets already sold.

 

[y2jriden]

Plenty of vocal people saying they won't go due to it being in a football stadium. If it was in the T-wolves arena, would you have gone? How many people that are saying they won't go due to the stadium actually went to STL or OKC? I imagine the PSU percentage was going to drop no matter what since traveling to Minnesota is a little more of an investment than traveling to Cleveland or Pittsburgh. Just wondering if people are using this as an excuse and weren't going to go to Minnesota no matter what.

 

[grappler6]

https://www.twincities.com/2019/04/09/final-four-how-did-we-do-minnesota/

Here is the article where the committee states 30,000 seats already sold

 

[CropDuster507]

Man, I want attend natty's next year, but I kinda hate the cities traffic, parking, etc. Hopefully a configuration can convince me.

If not, it'll convince thousands of others, so good for them, but I don't know if I can personally justify the hassle and money for "But I was there!"

 

[dicemen99]

https://www.twincities.com/2019/04/09/final-four-how-did-we-do-minnesota/

Here is the article where the committee states 30,000 seats already sold

30K already sold in an article like that likely means 5K sets sold online. 5K x 6 sessions = 30K.

Kind of like the Phillies reporting that they sold over 100K tickets the day after Harper signed.

 

[pointingdogsrule]

Plenty of vocal people saying they won't go due to it being in a football stadium. If it was in the T-wolves arena, would you have gone? How many people that are saying they won't go due to the stadium actually went to STL or OKC? I imagine the PSU percentage was going to drop no matter what since traveling to Minnesota is a little more of an investment than traveling to Cleveland or Pittsburgh. Just wondering if people are using this as an excuse and weren't going to go to Minnesota no matter what.

I live 2 1/2 hours south of the twin cities. I went to Pittsburgh this year. I am not planning on next year because of the large venue.

 

[grappler6]

Man, I want attend natty's next year, but I kinda hate the cities traffic, parking, etc. Hopefully a configuration can convince me.

If not, it'll convince thousands of others, so good for them, but I don't know if I can personally justify the hassle and money for "But I was there!"

We will get you your own safe space in the arena.

Nothing like attending nationals.

 

[grappler6]

30K already sold in an article like that likely means 5K sets sold online. 5K x 6 sessions = 30K.

Kind of like the Phillies reporting that they sold over 100K tickets the day after Harper signed.

Fair point. Although based off of the seats originally available for pre sale and what is currently available for sale, it seems like more than 5,000 have gone off the market. Both ends of the lower bowl and almost the whole second level have been snatched up, along with some of the third level in the center. But that’s just going off the eye test.

 

[SJP80]

Every year my tickets from the sofa are great!! Only about 8 feet from the action. I can change seats anytime I want. Concession selection is exactly what I like and the prices are affordable.

...but you gotta do something about the pee on the floor of the bathroom!!!

 

[CropDuster507]

We will get you your own safe space in the arena.

Nothing like attending nationals.

Only ones who need a safe space are all those degen's who cry about PSU on The G. Thing is barely readable nowadays.

 

[grappler6]

Only ones who need a safe space are all those degen's who cry about PSU on The G. Thing is barely readable nowadays.

“Off Season” is always the worst.

Jealously of PSU is evident.

Stay clear of Hawkeye Report. Haha

 

[jammenz]

Crop, you got run out of town with your tail between your legs. Admit it.

 

[jschrantz]

I’ll go to BIGs at Rutgers instead

 

[CropDuster507]

Crop, you got run out of town with your tail between your legs. Admit it.

No, I decided to let them have their forum because they didn't want my takes around there. I don't have keystrokes to waste on brick walls and "but Sandusky"-ers.

 

[grappler6]

No, I decided to let them have their forum because they didn't want my takes around there. I don't have keystrokes to waste on brick walls and "but Sandusky"-ers.

Ok do not generalize the G by Dusty’s moronic self.