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Allianz Field is a soccer-specific stadium in Saint Paul, Minnesota, home to Minnesota United FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). Opening in 2019, the 19,400-seat stadium was designed by Populous, during the club's third MLS season. It is located near Interstate 94 and Snelling Avenue.
On October 23, 2015, team owners announced that Minnesota United would build a stadium on the Saint Paul bus barn site. The stadium seats approximately 19,400, was completed in early 2019, and was privately financed for $200 million.
On November 25, 2015, Minnesota United FC hired Kansas City-based Populous to design the stadium. On December 9, 2015, the team hired Mortenson Construction as part of the stadium construction along with Populous. Mortenson built U.S. Bank Stadium for the Minnesota Vikings in 2014–2016, and worked with Populous on three other Twin Cities sports facilities: Target Field, TCF Bank Stadium, and Xcel Energy Center. Construction was completed in February 2019, and the stadium opened two months later on April 13, 2019, with Minnesota United FC hosting New York City FC.
The stadium was designed by Populous with deliberate sightlines and an "intimate atmosphere" in mind. The pitch sits above the first row of seats and is composed of of turf from Heath Farms in Wisconsin, installed in October 2019 to replace the original Kentucky bluegrass from Colorado that suffered from drainage issues. A glass-like polymer mesh oval exterior provides the stadium with a sleek facade. It is clad in PTFE, which covers the steel structure that holds the roof in place. With an overhang partially covering the field, the facade is expected to soften the noise towards the neighborhood. Color-changing LEDs light the exterior mesh in the same manner as Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany and MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The first tests of the lighting system in December 2018, which ran overnight in the fog, drew complaints from neighboring residents due to the intensity of the colors.
These green spaces are planned to be progressively introduced in phases as property owner RK Midway waits for existing leases on its current tenants to end. However, the timeline of these phases has not been released to the city or the public, as of July 2016. The project drew criticism as the full realization of the masterplan could take many years.
The southern half of the site was formerly a bus garage used by Metro Transit until it was demolished in 2002. Later a big-box store was pursued for the site but not built. The site was acquired decades earlier by the Metropolitan Council with help from the Federal Transit Administration so development of the site required federal government approval. The property had been the Snelling Shops, where streetcars were built and maintained for the Twin City Rapid Transit Company.Olson, Russel L. - The Electric Railways of Minnesota. Minnesota Transportation Museum, Hopkins/H. M. Smyth Co., St. Paul. (1976). The stadium itself primarily sits on this property.
Due to the stadium's resemblance to the floating city on Bespin in the fictional Star Wars universe, Allianz Field has gained the nickname "Cloud City."
In addition, because stadium construction would eliminate Rainbow Foods – an anchor tenant in the Midway Shopping Center – strip mall owner RK Midway of New York faced lease complications with its smaller tenants. Industry analysts say intense competition between the grocery company SuperValu (which operated Rainbow within the strip mall) and rivals, primarily Hy-Vee, made it unlikely that Rainbow would terminate its lease early without a signed guarantee against a competitor moving into the shopping center.
A ceremonial groundbreaking was held on December 12, 2016, and was attended by MLS commissioner Don Garber. Major construction on the site began in June 2017. Steel erection began in November 2017 and construction reached a halfway milestone in late April 2018. On Jan 23, 2019, the logo for the inaugural season was revealed as an interpretation of the stadium. Construction on the stadium was completed by Mortenson Construction on February 27, 2019, after 20 months of work.
The United States men's national soccer team's opening game of the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was held at Allianz Field on June 18, 2019.
On February 2, 2022 the United States men's team hosted Honduras at the stadium in a World Cup qualifier, winning 3–0. Two Hondurans were substituted due to hypothermia, and their coach Hernán Darío Gómez attacked the choice of venue as unsuitable. US coach Gregg Berhalter said that the venue was chosen to be close to the previous game away in Canada, and that he did not complain when his team played in high humidity in Central America. The temperature at the starting whistle was , making it the coldest match in the US team's history.
| 19,418 |
| 19,600 |
| 18,115 |
| 19,202 |
| 13,665 |
| 19,169 |
| 17,046 |
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