Minnesota United FC

Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Soccer League (NASL) franchise of the same name.

The club played its home games at TCF Bank Stadium, on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, for its first two seasons in MLS play. The club began playing in Saint Paul (becoming the city's fourth professional sports team, joining the Minnesota Wild, the St. Paul Saints, and Minnesota Whitecaps), at Allianz Field in the Midway neighborhood starting in the spring of 2019.

Minnesota United FC's ownership is led by Bill McGuire, former CEO of UnitedHealth Group, and includes other Minnesota sports owners: the Pohlad family, owners of the Twins; Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor; former Wild investor Glen Nelson, and his daughter Wendy Carlson Nelson of the Carlson hospitality company.

History
On March 25, 2015, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber announced Minnesota United as the league's 23rd club and awarded the franchise to a group led by McGuire. The ownership group includes other Minneapolis-St. Paul sports owners, Twins owner Jim Pohlad, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, and Wild investor Glen Nelson. They beat out a competing bid by Minnesota Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf. Garber said Minnesota would begin play in 2017 or 2018 – if Los Angeles FC is not ready to play in 2017, Minnesota would take its place.

The Minnesota Legislature had passed a bill in May 2012 for a new NFL stadium projected to open by fall 2016 and gave a provision allowing for the Vikings to pursue an MLS franchise, including a five-year exclusive window to host MLS games in the new stadium. The Wilfs' bid also had the support of Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, and Minnesota Senator Tom Bakk called Major League Soccer to inform them that the state legislature would not be providing financing for a soccer-specific stadium. However, Commissioner Garber said that whenever possible, the league preferred a stadium that would be an "outdoor, soccer-specific stadium, 20,000 seats, playing on grass" as opposed to larger, covered venues with artificial turf like U.S. Bank Stadium, and McGuire had the support of Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat and at least three members of the Minneapolis City Council.

The team played their inaugural Major League Soccer match on March 3, 2017, a 5–1 away defeat to the Portland Timbers at Providence Park. The result represented the heaviest defeat by an expansion side making their debut. Previously no MLS expansion team had lost by more than two goals in their first game. Christian Ramirez scored the team's first MLS goal. The following weekend they played their home opener against fellow expansion team Atlanta United FC in a snowstorm with an MLS record-low kickoff temperature of 19 F. They lost the game 6–1, handing Minnesota more unwanted records including the record defeat of any expansion side and becoming the only team in MLS history to concede five or more in consecutive games. Following a 2–2 draw at the Colorado Rapids and a 5–2 loss at New England Revolution, United had conceded 18 goals in their first four games, which is an MLS record through the first six games of a season. The team got its first win in MLS with a 4–2 home victory over Real Salt Lake on April 1. As the season progressed, so had the team. In the mid season, Minnesota had acquired native Ethan Finlay from Columbus and had made other signings to improve on the field. United at the end of the season had finished ninth in the conference.

On March 31, 2018, Darwin Quintero joined Minnesota United, becoming their first Designated Player. On July 4, 2018, Quintero scored a hat trick in a home match versus Toronto FC, the first in Minnesota United's history.

On December 7, 2018, Minnesota United announced a one-year affiliation agreement with USL League One club Forward Madison FC.

On August 27, 2019, the club traveled to Mercedes Benz Stadium to take on Atlanta United in the 2019 U.S. Open Cup final, Minnesota's first final appearance since joining MLS. The match resulted in a 2–1 Atlanta victory.

Colors and badge
The badge features a stylized loon, which is the state bird of Minnesota, with eleven spread feathers, one for each of the players on the field. The team's colors are sky blue, grey, and black, with a red accent. The blue line across the logo represents the Mississippi River. Either side of the blue represents the cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The grey color represents the Iron Range of Minnesota. The upward pointing crest and the North Star were inspired by L'Etoile du Nord which is the state motto. Zeus Jones created the designs.

Sponsorship
In January 2017, Minnesota United announced that the Minnesota-based retail giant Target Corporation had become the team's first MLS kit sponsor. In addition to having their bullseye logo displayed on their jerseys, Target also became an official partner of Major League Soccer. This deal grants them airtime during MLS broadcasts along with other advertising opportunities affiliated with both the team and league.

Club culture
Minnesota United's mascot is PK, a loon. PK has been the club mascot since mid-2014. The two main supporters of Minnesota United FC are Dark Clouds and True North Elite, although the over-arching organization "MNWonderwall" includes affiliated groups the Red Loons and Dark Glitterati as well. In early 2019, Wonderwall founded "THUNDERWALL", a coalition drumline permanently affixed in Allianz Field that provides percussion to support chants in the Wonderwall section during match days.

Stadium
McGuire stated a desire to build an 18,500-seat, outdoor soccer-specific stadium next to the Minneapolis Farmers Market in downtown Minneapolis. At the time of the club's launch, the league did not give any timeline for the stadium plan, but said it was working on finalizing a plan by July 1, 2015, the deadline set by the league. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton said he would oppose a publicly financed stadium, but said he would not oppose ancillary support for infrastructure reinforcements.

In a plan released in April 2015, the ownership showed a projected cost for the stadium of $250 million: $100 million for MLS expansion fee, $30 million for land acquisition, and $120 million for construction. The ownership group met with Governor Dayton and other state political leaders to share the plan. The group asked the politicians for a sales tax exemption of up to $3 million on construction materials, as well as breaks or caps on city and county property taxes for the stadium site. The tax relief could potentially add up to around $50 million.

The day after the meeting, Mayor Hodges said she opposed the sales tax and property tax exemption because unlike other stadiums in Minneapolis that have received similar breaks, Minnesota United's stadium would be privately owned. The following week, the Minnesota Senate voted 61–4 to prevent any state funds or tax expenditures from being used for the stadium, although the vote was termed "largely symbolic" as McGuire had not asked for state funds and the bill would not prevent the team from seeking city or county funds. McGuire later said that he would be open to signing the property over to Minneapolis, Hennepin County, or another public entity if that would make property tax exemption possible.

Although the July 1 deadline passed without a stadium deal, and the plan for a Downtown Minneapolis stadium was the primary reason for choosing McGuire's group, league deputy commissioner Mark Abbott said Minnesota was still considered an expansion site, partly because of interest from the neighboring St. Paul. Later that month, St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman spoke to Abbott proposed building on a city-owned vacant lot that formerly housed the Metro Transit bus barn near Interstate 94.

On August 31, 2015, the team's deal for an exclusive right to purchase industrial land near the Farmer's Market expired with no public statement about any extension of the deal.

On September 8, 2015, the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners passed a non-binding resolution to support the stadium's construction on the St. Paul bus barn site, provided the design and construction are paid for by private funds. On October 23, 2015, it was announced that Minnesota United would build a stadium on the 35-acre St. Paul Bus Barn site. The proposed stadium will seat approximately 20,000, is to be completed in 2018, and will be privately financed.

On November 25, 2015, Minnesota United FC hired Populous to design the stadium. On December 9, 2015, the team hired Mortenson Construction as part of the stadium construction along with Populous.

On February 24, 2016, the team revealed design plans for their 21,500-seat soccer-specific stadium, set to be built by 2018 and financed privately by the team.

On July 25, 2017, the stadium's name was announced as Allianz Field, which opened in March 2019.



On August 19, 2016, it was announced that Minnesota United would play in the 2017 Major League Soccer season, with home matches at TCF Bank Stadium. The stadium had been home to the club for 2017–2018 while their soccer specific stadium was in construction.

Front office

 * Bill McGuire – owner
 * Chris Wright – chief executive officer
 * Storm Newman – director, public relations

Technical staff

 * Manny Lagos – sporting director
 * Amos Magee – director of player personnel
 * Adrian Heath – head coach
 * Ian Fuller – assistant coach
 * Mark Watson – assistant coach
 * John Pascarella – goalkeeping coach
 * Tim Carter – academy director

Broadcasting
All non-nationally broadcast Minnesota United games were broadcast locally on WFTC for the 2017 Major League Soccer season, then moved to Fox Sports North and Fox Sports Wisconsin in the 2018 season. KSTP serves as the team's radio partner.

Minnesota United's commentary team features Callum Williams as the play-by-play commentator. Williams had previously worked for Sporting Kansas City when they were known as the Kansas City Wizards and during their rebrand as Sporting Kansas City. He has also worked in his native UK for notable broadcasters including the BBC and Sky Sports. Williams is joined in the commentary box by Kyndra de St. Aubin who provides color commentary. De St. Aubin, a Stillwater native, is the only female color commentator currently covering Major League Soccer. Prior to joining Minnesota United's broadcast team, she worked across the country covering many men's and women's soccer games at college and professional levels. She also covered the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup as part of the five broadcast teams that covered that tournament. Williams and de Saint Aubin are joined by sideline commentator and former Minnesota United player Jamie Watson.