The local Major League Soccer club, Minnesota United, will host the NCAA Division III football game between St. Thomas and St John’s. The 89th edition of the rivalry between the Tommies and the Johnnies will take place in the newly opened stadium. St. Thomas will be considered the home team as the universities clash it out at Allianz Field which is winding down its inaugural season. The all grass field was replaced shortly after the Loons’ final regular season home game on September 29. The freshly installed grass field will make its debut just in time for football of another kind.
The attendance to this fierce rivalry often exceeds 10,000 fans. It is expected that this year will be no different and Allianz Field will reach its capacity of 19,400. The 2015 edition drew a then record crowd of 17,327. That record was smashed in 2017 as the game took place at Target Field with a NCAA Division III record crowd of 37,355. Last year the game was played on the St. Thomas campus with 16,922 fans in attendance.
These two local universities first squared off back in 1901 and have battled it out on the gridiron every year since 1952. St. John’s leads the series 52-35-1, however St. Thomas has been closing that gap recently by winning 7 of the last 10 match ups.
Kickoff is slated for October 19, 2019 at 1:10pm. Some tickets still remain and are available here for purchase.