Thunder Home Opener To Be Played At Metrodome

[François]

News Release
2/25/2003
Phillip Bohn
(763) 785-3668
Thunder Home Opener To Be Played At Metrodome
Game Marks First Professional Soccer Match Inside Dome Since 1984
BLAINE, Minn. (Tuesday, February 24, 2003) – For the first time in the 13-year history of the Minnesota Thunder, the team will play a match in the Metrodome, opening its 2003 regular season home schedule against the Cincinnati Riverhawks on Sunday, May 4 at 5 p.m.


Tickets, which go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m., are priced at $15 for VIP reserved, $12 for adult general admission and $8 for youth 18 and under. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Thunder ticket office at 763-785-3668, or through the Thunder website at www.mnthunder.com. These will be the only single game tickets available until March 1.


“This is part practical and part novelty,” said Thunder General Manager Jim Froslid. “We eliminate the remote possibility of playing in snow in early May and we add the excitement, prestige and convenience of playing in the Dome. Our goal is to set a record for Thunder attendance.”


The Thunder’s all-time attendance record is 15,412 set in 1997, a 3-2 exhibition shootout loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. The Thunder’s A-League record attendance came in October 1999 when the Thunder defeated Rochester in the A-League final in front of 9,987.


The match marks the Thunder’s earliest scheduled home opener in A-League play.


The match doubles as a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open match. It is the first of a two-game total goals series with Cincinnati. The U.S. Open is the oldest annual tournament in U.S. sports history, dating back to 1914.


The game represents the first professional soccer match held inside the Metrodome, since the Minnesota Strikers lost their North American Soccer League (NASL) season finale Sept. 4, 1984.


During the 1984 NASL final season, the Minnesota Strikers utilized the dome as their home field, averaging 14,263 fans per game.


The Metrodome’s history of drawing large soccer crowds reached a record size on May 28, 1984, as the Strikers hosted Tampa Bay in front of 52,621 fans. The soccer match, which ended in a 1-0 Strikers loss, was proceeded by a Beach Boys concert.