Season Ticket Holder Match Day Guide by MNUFC

MATCH DAY MANUAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TO MLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 MINNESOTA SOCCER HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 2017 MATCH SCHEDULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 TCF BANK STADIUM MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 MATCH DAY AT TCF BANK STADIUM . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 DIRECTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2017 TICKET FAQS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 SEASON TICKET HOLDER BENEFITS . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 SUPPORTERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 MEET THE SERVICES TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 MIDWAY STADIUM INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

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INTRODUCTION TO MLS MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER Minnesota United FC plays in North Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top professional soccer league, Major League Soccer (MLS). The league features 22 teams from across the United States and Canada. After a successful bid to host the World Cup in 1994, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) founded MLS to bring a top level soccer league back to the country for the first time since 1984, when the original NASL folded. The league began play in 1996 with ten teams: Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew SC, D.C. United, Dallas Burn (FC Dallas), Kansas City Wiz (Sporting Kansas City), Los Angeles Galaxy, New England Revolution, NY/ NJ MetroStars (New York Red Bulls), San Jose Clash (Earthquakes) and Tampa Bay Mutiny. The leagueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first match was played on April 6, 1996 as the San Jose Clash played D.C. United in front of 31,000 fans at Spartan Stadium. The league drew large crowds in its debut season, pulling star power from around North America and building on the excitement of the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

As MLS has continued to grow, clubs have begun moving out of shared American football venues and into soccer-specific stadiums, led by the Columbus Crew who moved into the soccer-specific MAPFRE Stadium in 1999. Currently, 14 teams play in soccer-specific venues.

LEAGUE FORMAT The league is split into the Eastern and Western Conferences. Each team plays 38 games during the season. Teams play all conference opponents twice, once at home and once on the road, and each team matches up against a club in its opposite conference once, with an even balance of home and away matches. The remainder of the schedule is filled with games against conference opponents. The top six teams in each conference at the end of the year qualify for the MLS Cup Playoff. The postseason begins with the third through sixth seeds in each conference playing in a knockout round. The winners advance to the conference semifinals to play the first and second seeds in the conference. In this round, the format switches to a two-match aggregate series, with the team scoring the most goals over the series moving on. The same format is used for the conference finals. The winner of the conference final moves on to face the other conference champion in the MLS Cup Final. The final is a singe match, hosted by the team with the better record in the regular season, with the winner being declared MLS Cup Champion.

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MINNESOTA SOCCER HISTORY

KICKS, STRIKERS, AND THE NASL Professional soccer came to Minnesota in early 1976 with the arrival of the Minnesota Kicks. Playing in the original North American Soccer League (NASL), the Kicks found early success with an average attendance of 23,121, a Western Division title and a second-place finish in the Soccer Bowl â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all in the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first season. It was the beginning of a dominant era for Minnesota soccer, with the Kicks running the table and winning their division four straight years while making the playoffs in every season. Minnesota posted some of the top attendance numbers in the NASL, peaking with an average of 32,775 fans in 1977. Financial woes forced the club to cease operations in 1981. However, the NASL would return to Minnesota with the relocation of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in 1984. The Strikers played in the final NASL season before competing as an indoor team for the better part of a decade.

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RETURN OF PRO SOCCER It would be 11 years before a professional team competed in Minnesota again. The Minnesota Thunder, an amateur team from 1990 to 1994, joined the United States International Soccer League (USISL) in 1995. The Thunder won its division and reached the final in each of its first two seasons. The league rebranded to the United Soccer Leagues in 1999, and the change brought about new success for Minnesota. The team won the division and league title in 1999 and repeated the division title but fell in the league final in 2000. Following the 2009 season, the Thunder left the USL to form the reinstated North American Soccer League, but were forced to fold in November of 2009.

Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ETOILE DU NORD Though the Thunder folded, soccer remained in Minnesota with the formation of NSC Minnesota Stars. The Stars competed in the provisional USSF D2 in 2010 before joining the NASL for its inaugural season in 2011. Despite being a league-owned club with the smallest payroll in the league, the Stars won the 2011 Soccer Bowl and returned to the final in 2012 where they lost in penalty kicks.

That team’s success attracted the attention of now-owner Dr. Bill McGuire, who purchased the club after the 2012 season and rebranded them as Minnesota United FC in March 2013.

THE NORTH IS RISING Minnesota United added top NASL players to complement a returning core, but things didn’t come together on the pitch as Minnesota United struggled in its first year finishing sixth and fourth in the Spring and Fall Seasons respectively. The following season told a different story, with the club capturing the Spring Season Championship in 2014 and finishing the year with the best overall record in the NASL. Summer fixtures featured record crowds at NSC Stadium for Minnesota victories over Mexico’s U-21 National Team and Swansea City of the Premier League. The storybook season came to an abrupt end, though, when the Fort Lauderdale Strikers defeated the Loons at home in the NASL Semifinal. Continuing to build for a championship and looking toward the future, Minnesota United made history in the offseason following its semifinal loss. On March 25, 2015, Minnesota United was named the twenty-third team in Major League Soccer. Though the change was not immediate, it was one that provided something rare to pro soccer in Minnesota: security.

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Minnesota had another impressive year in 2015, scoring a record 53 goals. The club was as successful off the pitch as it was on it, selling out nine home matches, including a friendly with Club Léon of Liga MX, and earning a place in the NASL playoffs for the fifth time in six years while building its presence in the community. With eyes set on its inaugural season, Minnesota United began 2016 with a boom, nearly winning a second NASL Spring Championship in three years. Attendance continued to grow as fans packed NSC Stadium throughout the season, and excitement for the club’s future began to spread across the state.

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER On August 19, 2016 at CHS Field in St. Paul, Minnesota’s transition to MLS became official with the announcement that the club would begin play in 2017, playing at TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota. MNUFC was added to the MLS Western Conference, pitting them against former second division opponents Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps as well as U.S. Open Cup rivals, Sporting Kansas City. In all, the Western Conference has won seven of the past eight MLS Cup titles.

Minnesotaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first MLS Head Coach, Adrian Heath, began to build his roster for the inaugural season shortly after joining the club in November. Seeking technical prowess over big name flash, the team recruited a talented group ranging from members of Minnesotaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NASL squad to future prospects to national team regulars. The newest chapter and the beginning of a new era of professional soccer in Minnesota kicks off March 3 in Portland as the Loons and Timbers open the 2017 MLS regular season.

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2017 MLS MATCH SCHEDULE FRI

03/03

PORTLAND TIMBERS