FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nov. 4, 2015

Contact:

Katharine Tinucci, Bid Director

612-709-4864 (cell)

krtinucci@gmail.com

MINNEAPOLIS —The College Football Playoff Group has announced the three cities that will host upcoming CFP National Championship Games: Atlanta in 2018, Santa Clara (Bay Area) in 2019 and New Orleans in 2020. Minnesota was not chosen as a host for the upcoming rounds of CFP National Championship games.

“We are honored that we were a finalist for the CFP’s National Championship; we were in great company,” said Scot Housh, bid do-chair and president and CEO of Willis of Minnesota. “The CFP told us that Minnesota’s bid was strong, but it wasn’t our year.”

“The remarkable U.S. Bank Stadium has already booked world-class events," said Chris Policinski, bid co-chair and president and CEO, Land O’Lakes. "While we are disappointed, we know that we have what it takes to put on an amazing National Championship, and we look forward to doing it in the future."

“We’ve worked very hard on the bids for events in the new stadium,” said Scott Wine, bid co-chair and president and CEO of Polaris Industries, Inc. “What we have learned in this bid process will undoubtedly help us win other national events.”

“Though we won’t be hosting the 2020 CFP National Championship, we look forward to welcoming Super Bowl LII and the 2019 NCAA Men’s Final Four tournament to U.S. Bank Stadium,” said Michele Kelm-Helgen, chair of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority. “We’ve already booked these two major events, and the stadium is not even completed. We anticipate hosting many more events of this size in the future.”

The co-chairs of the CFP bid were Scot Housh, president and CEO of Willis of Minnesota, Chris Policinski, president and CEO of Land O’Lakes and Scott Wine, president and CEO of Polaris Industries, Inc.

Members of the bid steering committee include: Michele Kelm-Helgen, chair of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, Tom McGinnis, associate director of Athletics, University of Minnesota, Melvin Tennant, president and CEO of Meet Minneapolis, Kevin Warren, the chief operating officer of the Minnesota Vikings and Michael Langley, CEO of Greater MSP.

The honorary chairs were Erika Binger, chair of the McKnight Foundation Board of Directors and former world triathlete, Coach Jerry Kill, retired coach of the University of Minnesota football team, and Randall McDaniel, a National Football League Hall of Famer and former Minnesota Viking.

U.S. Bank Stadium is currently under construction and will open in July of 2016. It has 65,000 seats and is expandable to over 72,000 seats for larger events. The stadium is designed to be highly versatile, being able to accommodate football, soccer, basketball and other community and civic events.

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