Minneapolis

Sports

The Twin Cities support major league baseball, football, and basketball teams. The Minnesota Twins (baseball), 1987 and 1991 World Series champions, drew crowds of nearly one-and-a-half million fans in the 1997 season. Since 1982, the Twins have played their home games in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. (The Mall of America now stands at the site of their former home, Met Stadium.) The Metrodome is also home to the NFL's Minnesota Vikings, who went to the Super Bowl four times between 1969 and 1977. About 700,000 fans annually come to see the Minnesota Timber-wolves play basketball at Target Center in downtown Minneapolis, even though the ten-year-old team has yet to deliver a winning season.

The University of Minnesota's sports teams bring the full spectrum of intercollegiate sports to the Twin Cities region and attract a loyal following. Especially popular are men's basketball, hockey, and football, and women's basketball. Auto racing can be viewed at Elko Speedway and Raceway Park; horse racing is held at Canterbury Park; and greyhounds race at St. Croix Meadows.

Popular participant sports in the Twin Cities include bicycling, bowling, canoeing, fishing, golf, horseback riding, ice skating, roller skating, skiing, and tennis.