Sports fans, F1 enthusiasts excited for busy weekend in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS — The city of lakes will be a sea of jerseys with Minnesota’s top teams in town and in action.

On Saturday, the Minnesota Golden Gophers take on the Nevada Wolf Pack at Huntington Bank Stadium, the Twins are looking to knock it out the park against Cincinnati Reds and the Red Bull Showrun is turning downtown Minneapolis streets into a racetrack.

Legendary Driver David Coulthard will zoom through a predetermined route in the championship-winning RB7 car.

Street freestyle motorcyclist Aaron Colton and former F1 driver and rally car champion, Scott Speed, will also be there to entertain the crowd.

“It gives you an opportunity to get up close to an F1 car in a way you never get unless you went to the Singapore Grand Prix,” Coulthard said.

The event starts at noon and is free to attend.

All the excitement comes to a head on Sunday as the Vikings take on the 49ers.

Jesse Manriquez is a lifelong fan and flew in from California just for the game.

“I would like to tell you I fell in love with the color purple, but in those days it was black and white TV,” Manriquez said. “I just fell in love with the Vikings.”

He’s typically surrounded by 49ers fans like his son, who was in red and black outside US Bank Stadium on Friday.

No matter who you cheer for, Manriquez made one thing clear.

“The fans and ‘Minnesota nice’ can’t be beat,” he said.

The cheapest tickets to the game are about $100. If you can’t make it inside don’t worry, we’ve got you covered here on WCCO with kickoff at noon.

More than 200,000 people are expected to be in Minneapolis this weekend.

Minneapolis hotels have recorded more than recorded more than $42.1 million in total guest room revenue in August — the third straight month with revenue above $42 million.