MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The home of Minnesota football games has a new name: Huntington Bank Stadium.

that of the university Board of Regents approved the change at a meeting Tuesday with a 9-2 vote. The 50,000-seat facility opened to Gophers on campus in 2009 as TCF Bank Stadium. Huntington Bank’s acquisition of Minnesota-based TCF Bank was completed earlier this month.

The newly merged company will be headquartered in Detroit and Columbus, Ohio. The TCF bought the original naming rights four years before the stadium opened for $ 35 million, a deal that currently runs through the 2030 season.

The original agreement foresaw the potential for these types of name changes. Under a 2017 amendment, which added the stadium logo to the playing surface and included an $ 8 million contribution to the university’s new sports department, Huntington can extend the agreement for 10 years. until the 2040 season for an additional $ 17.6 million. Exercising this option would include an immediate payment of $ 4 million to the university.

The new logo incorporates Huntington’s green and silver colors. The TCF logo was red, orange, and black, which more closely matched Minnesota’s brown and gold.

Regent Darrin Rosha cast one of the votes against. He introduced a resolution, which failed, to renegotiate the terms of the naming rights deal, on the basis that the new branding and signage will take up more space to accommodate a name. longer business.

“The university doesn’t get such a good deal with this logo,” Rosha said at the meeting.

The only other Big Ten football stadium with a corporate name is at Rutgers, which plays at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Minnesota’s season opener is at home against Ohio State on September 2.

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