The University of Minnesota football team will play its annual Spring Game presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, at the team’s indoor football facility at Athletes Village. It was previously announced that the game would take place at Huntington Bank Stadium, but with forecasted thunder, lightning and rain for most of the day Saturday, the decision was made to move the game to Minnesota’s world-class Athletes Village.
Due to limited crowd space, the game will no longer be open to the public, but it will still air live on BTN and on the Gopher Radio Network.
In addition to the move indoors, all fan-related activities – including the oar collection and diaper drive – scheduled to take place on Saturday have been canceled. With this change, Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck said that the team will hold a fan-friendly event during training camp where the public can interact with coaches, staff and players. Minnesota will also hold its annual oar collection and diaper drive at this event in the fall.
“We are disappointed to move the game indoors,” said Fleck. “But we wanted to do what was safe for our student-athletes and fans, and we did not want to cancel the game. By moving inside, our fans can watch the game live on BTN or listen to it on the radio. We will be sure to plan a fun fan-friendly event for the fall.”
Minnesota played its 2019 spring game indoors, which was highlighted by a Daniel Faalele rushing touchdown. Rashod Bateman and Thomas Rush shared Sid Hartman MVP honors. Bateman finished with six catches for 164 yards, including a long of 62 yards, while Rush had four tackles, one tackle for a loss, and a 71-yard pick-six in the final minute of the first half.
(info courtesy of Gopher Sports)