Allianz Field holds nearly 20,000 fans. On Saturday - when the annual matchup between St. Johns and St. Thomas kicks off at 1:10 pm - they’re expected to be at full capacity.
The event is sold out and the cheapest ticket on StubHub or other resale markets is $59 before fees.
Fans should savor these moment though. St. Thomas is leaving the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) after being “involuntarily removed” from the conference. Whether or not they make the jump and compete at the Division-1 level is still unclear.
The future of the storied Tommie Johnnie rivalry game hangs in the balance as well.
“Im saddened by it, from our standpoint because we have a great relationship with St. Thomas,” Johnnie head coach Gary Fasching told The Morning News with Dave Lee on News Talk 830 WCCO. “People put us on opposite spectrums all the time but there’s a lot of similarities between the two schools.
“Certainly from an athletic stand point we hate to lose that. It has been a great rivalry.”
St. Thomas enters the game 5-0 while St. Johns is 4-1. Both teams are undefeated in conference play.
“I wanted to see (the conference) stay intact,” Fasching added. “It’s a great league from a football standpoint. Great coaches in there. I hate to see anything happen, so I am disappointed about it.
“I don’t know what happens down the road to them but if we can keep the game going someway we are going to try to keep it going.”