METROPOLITAN STADIUM & METROPOLITAN SPORTS CENTER

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METROPOLITAN STADIUM:  American Association Minneapolis Millers Baseball Club (1956-1960), MLB Minnesota Twins (1961-1981), NFL Minnesota Vikings Football Team (1961-1981), and North American Soccer League (NASL) Kicks (1976-1981)

In the 1950s, major league owners Calvin Griffith and Horace Stoneham called the stadium the finest facility in the minors; Stoneham added that it was better than all but two major league stadiums of the time. Indeed, the Met's primary purpose was to attract a big-league team to the area. The NFL was also interested in placing a team at the Met. The Chicago Cardinals moved two of their home games against the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles to Bloomington for the 1959 NFL season.

The Millers were then the top farm team of Stoneham's New York Giants, and there was some hope or expectation that the Giants might relocate there. Under major league rules of the time, the Giants had priority rights to a major league team in the Twin Cities. The Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Senators also seriously considered moving there. However, the Giants chose to follow the Brooklyn Dodgers to the west coast. San Francisco had long been home to the Pacific Coast League's San Francisco Seals, the top farm team of the Boston Red Sox. As part of the deal, the Millers' parent team then became the Red Sox. The Red Sox were certainly not planning to move anywhere. However, in 1961, another American League entry, the Washington Senators, did, to become the Minnesota Twins. The Millers and their perennial crosstown rival St. Paul Saints were then promptly folded by Major League Baseball. The Twins were joined that fall by an NFL expansion team, the Minnesota Vikings.

MET CENTER: Minnesota North Stars (NHL) (1967-1993), Minnesota Muskies (ABA) (1967-1968), Minnesota Pipers (ABA) (1968-1969)), Minnesota Fillies (WBL) (1978-1980), Minnesota Kicks (NASL) (1979-1981), Minnesota Strikers (MISL) (1984-1988)

The Met Center was an indoor arena that formerly stood in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The arena, which was completed in 1967 just to the north of Metropolitan Stadium, seated 15,000. It was best known as the home of the Minnesota North Stars of the NHL from 1967-1993. For its first 15 years, its official name was the Metropolitan Sports Center; the more familiar shorter name was adopted in 1982.

The Met's other tenants included the ABA's Minnesota Muskies, which played just one season before moving to Miami. They were replaced by the Minnesota Pipers, who also played only one season. The North American Soccer League Minnesota Kicks played two indoor seasons at the Met from 1979 to 1981. The MISL Minnesota Strikers played indoor soccer at the Met Center from 1984-1988.

The Met Center was considered to be one of the finest arenas in the NHL for many years, both for its sightlines, and its ice surface. Among NHL players, the Met was known for fast ice, the best lighting, great locker rooms and training facilities. The Met never boasted fancy amenities, and by comparison to modern arenas it had cramped concourses, no luxury suites, and very few frills. As a sports facility, it could best be described as utilitarian, a theme which repeats itself in most Minnesota sports facilities built before 1988 (such as the Metrodome).

After the North Stars moved to Dallas, Texas in 1993 and became the Dallas Stars, the Met Center was demolished in 1994 in a series of three controlled implosions. 

The NHL returned to Minnesota in 2000 when the expansion Minnesota Wild began play at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Unused 4" x 6" continental size chrome postcard.

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