Over 70 Native American high school football players, including three from Minnesota, will take the field as part of the fifth annual Indigenous Bowl on Sunday inside U.S. Bank Stadium.
It's the second year in a row that the home of the Minnesota Vikings has hosted the game thanks to a partnership between the NFL, the Minnesota Vikings, and the 7G Foundation.
"2021 was our first year to partner with the NFL and once we partnered with them we started to look for franchises to help with it and the Vikings were the first to step-up," said Mike Stopp, a 7G Foundation board member. "Quite frankly they've been a fantastic partner in this endeavor."
Athletes arrived in the Twin Cities earlier in the week and took part in a number of different activities ahead of Sunday's game. The players went to watch the Vikings walkthrough practice in Eagan on Saturday morning ahead of their game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
Three players from Minnesota even led the Vikings' final huddle breakout on Saturday morning before they department for Detroit.
Along with some once-in-a-lifetime experiences, Stopp, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and former Army football player, says the Indigenous Bowl gives Native American athletes a chance to get noticed on a bigger stage.
"The way the recruiting system has changed over the years, including at the college level, a lot of Native Americans have been left off that list," he said. "We don't see the recruiters coming out and looking at some of our talented athletes because they're very rural areas, it's not concentrated, it's hard to get to, and sometimes there's cultural barriers and economic factors that go into it."
Stopp adds that the 7G Foundation made a commitment to bring athletes to where recruiters could see them.
"For use the whole point of Indigenous Bowl is giving us an opportunity to promote to the outside world that yes we are still here and yes we have very talented athletes who can compete at the next level, at the Division I level, and even at the professional level."
Along with recruiting opportunities, Stopp, who played college football at Army, says the clinic leading up to the game includes a number of speakers touching on topics like personal finance, going to college, and NCAA eligibility issues.
A mentorship program includes Native coaches and former Indigenous Bowl participants.
Efforts to get Native American athletes recruited have yielded success according to Stopp who credits University of Minnesota Morris for being a partner.
"They've been our biggest pick-up," Stop said. "We have other college recruiters coming who heard about last year's game. The momentum is getting out there."
There's also a mental health component to the Indigenous Bowl. Stopp says mental health access and care is limited for many Native Americans and that the need for adequate care hit close to the Indigenous Bowl community in 2021.
The Indigenous Bowl kicks off at 10 a.m. inside U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday and admission is free.
