Business View Magazine | August 2019

177 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE AUGUST 2019 On July 25, 2017, Allianz Life was announced as the sponsor for the stadium. Allianz Life, a subsidiary of the German company Allianz, is headquartered in nearby Golden Valley, MN. It is one of eight sports facilities around the world that is sponsored by Allianz or its subsidiaries. The naming rights agreement with Allianz runs until the end of 2028. Recently, Business View Magazine spoke to General Manager, Justin Borrell, to find out about the facility’s inaugural season. The following is an edited transcript of that conversation. BVM: How did the stadium get built and paid for? Borrell: “Allianz Field is the accumulation of a lot of work done on different fronts. Back in 2013, our majority owner, Dr. Bill McGuire, purchased the team from the North American Soccer League, which is a Division II-style league, with the goal of bringing this team to Major League Soccer, and, ultimately, giving them a home for that purpose. That ownership group, which manifested into what it is today, took time to work with the architect, Populous, as well as our general contractor, Mortensen Construction, to privately finance the entire facility. So, the entire building is financed by our ownership group, as opposed to any public funding or benefits of that sort. “Our neighbor down the street, here, U.S. Bank Stadium, had a significant public funding aspect that we just don’t have here at Allianz Field. That speaks to the incentive and the drive of our majority owner, Dr. Bill McGuire, as well as our fan base. St. Paul jumped all over the opportunity and we worked with them on the location we ultimately ended on, to bring a soccer-specific stadium to the community. It was the drive to bring soccer back to Minnesota.” BVM: Bring back? What is soccer’s history in the area? Borrell: “Back in the 1980s, the Minnesota Kicks played at the old Metropolitan Stadium, where the Vikings used to play and now, where the Mall of America stands. Back then, they would draw 30 or 40 thousand. That was through the North ALL I ANZ F I ELD American Soccer League, which was the premier league in the U.S. That franchise was dismantled along the way, and soccer remained in various shapes and forms; there was an indoor league for a couple of years; the Minnesota Thunder came back in the North American Soccer League in the early 2000s, and then they changed team names for the better part of the decade until Minnesota United was formed in 2013, when Dr. Bill McGuire bought the team. I think people were waiting for it to get back to the level it was in the 1980s when the Kicks were around.” BVM: What events have you hosted in the first few months you’ve been open?