St. John's-St. Thomas game gets moved to Vikings stadium

Posted February 12, 2020 6:00 am

The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - NCAA Division III rivals St. John's and St. Thomas will play their final game as Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foes at U.S. Bank Stadium this fall.

St. John's announced Wednesday that the Nov. 7 game will be in Minneapolis, the first college football game to be staged at the NFL home of the Minnesota Vikings. This will be the 90th edition in a series that first began in 1901, potentially the last meeting between the two schools. St. Thomas, which will be ousted from the MIAC after the 2020-21 school year for competitive reasons, has applied to the NCAA to become a Division I institution.

St. Thomas moved its home games in the rivalry to Allianz Field in 2019 and to Target Field in 2017. Last year at the Major League Soccer stadium, a crowd of 19,508 was counted. Two years before that at the Major League Baseball venue, the attendance was announced at 37,355, then a record for a Division III game.

Six of the eight largest crowds recorded in Division III have been games between the Tommies and Johnnies. Last year, Cortland and Ithaca set the all-time record at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with announced attendance of 45,161.

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FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2003, file photo, the St. Johns bench celebrates the winning field goal for a 15-12 victory over Div. III NCAA football rival St. Thomas, in St. Paul Minn. St. John's and St. Thomas will stage their final game as Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foes at U.S. Bank Stadium this fall. The 90th edition in the series will be played Nov. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Andy King, File) The Associated Press

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