U.S. Bank Stadium Hosting WWE SummerSlam

SummerSlam is coming to US Bank Stadium. Not only that, they are apparently expanding it to a two-day event, scheduled for August 1st and 2nd, 2026.

BREAKING: #SummerSlam is coming to @usbankstadium in Minneapolis, MN for TWO NIGHTS on August 1-2, 2026!

MORE INFO: https://t.co/R2GMykNBqw
PRESALE REGISTRATION: https://t.co/sweweJI39K pic.twitter.com/FKJxUXxiGa

— WWE (@WWE) May 23, 2024

This is the first WWE Pay-Per-View event in Minneapolis since “TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs” in 2019 and it’s the first time ever that a WWE event will be hosted in a local football stadium. It was also announced that various fan and community events will be planned in the days surrounding SummerSlam, 2026.

“U.S. Bank Stadium is an absolutely world-class venue, situated in a city with rich wrestling history and an amazing fan base,” said Chris Legentil, WWE EVP, Talent Relations & Head of Communications. “We’re excited to bring two nights of SummerSlam to Minneapolis in 2026.” 

“U.S. Bank Stadium is honored to host WWE’s SummerSlam on Minnesota’s biggest stage in 2026,” said Michael Vekich, Chair of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority. “We look forward to providing a warm welcome and best-in-class experience at U.S. Bank Stadium for WWE Superstars, staff, fans, and guests.”

“We are thrilled to welcome the WWE Universe to Minnesota for SummerSlam,” said Wendy Blackshaw, President and CEO of Minnesota Sports and Events. “We will make this summertime wrestling extravaganza accessible for fans of all ages. Through a variety of festivities and ancillary events in the Twin Cities and affordable tickets to the main events at U.S. Bank Stadium, this will be a SummerSlam for all.”

WWE

SummerSlam is widely recognized as the second most important event on WWE’s calendar, behind Wrestlemania, which Minneapolis failed to secure, when the future location for wrestling’s marquee event was being set earlier this month. It ended up in Las Vegas. So, consider SummerSlam a solid consolation prize.

Related: Gable Steveson Visits Miami Dolphins During OTAs

No doubt, SummerSlam will generate enough buzz around town to make it worth hosting. The influx of people for that weekend not only supports local businesses, but also contributes to the vibrant atmosphere of Minneapolis.

This is two weeks in a row we’ve had players get injured on turf fields. I think it’s time y’all take some of the money y’all make off us and invest in grass fields for every team around the league. The turf is literally like concrete it has no give when you plant @NFL

— De'Vondre Campbell (@Came_Along_Way) November 7, 2022

Now, the NFLPA has taken things a step further, demanding in an open letter on their website, that the NFL put an immediate ban on “slit film” surfaces. There are six stadiums across the league that use slit film turf, including US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings.

The others include MetLife Stadium (Jets/Giants), Ford Field (Lions), Caesars Superdome (Saints), Lucas Oil Stadium (Colts) and Paycor Stadium (Bengals).

NFLPA Demands Ban of “Slit Film” Turf

1. The Immediate Replacement and Ban of all Slit Film Turf

Just like there are different types of grass, there are also different types of turf (Monofilament, Dual fiber, Slit film). The slit film playing surface has statistically higher in-game injury rates compared to all other surfaces for each of the following:

• Non-contact injuries
• Missed time injuries
• Lower extremity injuries
• Foot and ankle injuries

There are currently seven teams that use slit film in their stadiums (New York Giants, New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts, and Cincinnati Bengals).

The NFL and its experts have agreed with this data and acknowledge that the slit film field is less safe. Player leadership wrote a letter to the NFL this week demanding the immediate removal of these fields and a ban on them going forward, both in stadiums and for practice fields. The NFL has not only refused to mandate this change immediately, but they have also refused to commit to mandating a change away from slit film in the future at all.

The injuries on slit film are completely avoidable — both the NFL and NFLPA experts agree on the data — and yet the NFL will not protect players from a subpar surface.

NFLPA.com

More Demands from NFLPA

Banning slit film artificial turf was only one of four demands made by JC Tretter and the rest of the NFLPA on Saturday. The others included:

• No longer allowing games to be played on fields with clear visual abnormalities
• For players, it means we need to raise the field standards and test the safety and performance of all field surfaces.
• Clear the excess people and dangerous equipment from the sidelines

Studies have actually shown little difference in injuries between artificial turf and grass surfaces. But that could be why the NFLPA is targeting one specific type of turf, not all of them. While six teams use slit film, there are ten other artificial surface fields that do not.

If the Vikings are forced to immediately replace the turf at US Bank Stadium, due to this NFLPA letter, it will be the second time in two years. They put the current turf in before the 2020 season.

Honestly, I’m all for player safety but the NFLPA, in this case, are taking things way too far. The Vikings play a lot of home games on the exact turf they’re complaining about and haven’t had any more knee injuries than other teams around the league.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The devastation is expected to be widespread and Tampa, the site of Sunday Night Football this week, sits directly in its path. According to a report from Kevin Seifert (ESPN), the NFL has chosen US Bank Stadium as the relocation site for Bucs vs Chiefs, should that be necessary.

The NFL has selected U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis as the contingency site for Sunday night’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, league executive vice president Jeff Miller confirmed Wednesday. — Kevin Seifert (ESPN)

What are the chances?

The current radar doesn’t look goof for Tampa. They stand directly in the eye’s crosshairs, over then next 12-24 hours. Even if the stadium is in good enough shape to play (doubtful), how is the infrastructure and production needed for SNF going to be put in place?

Don’t buy your tickets yet. But if you’re a Bucs or Chiefs fan living near the Twin Cities, you should keep your Sunday evening open. Prayers up for those on the Gulf Coast tonight.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

But what I didn’t see until later in the night was what happened on the US Bank Stadium big screen during a Brian Robison feature cutaway early in the 1st quarter. The former retired, former Vikings defensive end was in attendance so they put him up on the “jumbotron” to rally the crowd. Then, this happened.

Here is the video of Brian Robison ripping a Packers fans cheesehead in half today ???? pic.twitter.com/cpQIpgGNft

— YOU LIKE THAT Podcast (@YOULIKETHATPOD) November 22, 2021

This scene is under further review.

I saw Robison rip that cheesehead and throw it off the balcony in the above video at 9 PM Sunday night, just before this old 32-year-old man’s bedtime. But even then, I had my doubts about the legitimacy. You can’t just go around ripping people’s hats in-half in 2021. Companies get sued for things like that.

But, nothing about the above video really screams fake. So I tweeted “WHAT A LEGEND” with the video, then watched some TV and went to bed.

But shortly after logging into Twitter on Monday morning, I found the full video. With the discover came a little bit of embarrassment, maybe some shame, for my tweet the night before. I felt kind of bamboozled… led astray? Because after further review (seeing the full scene up on the Vikings official Twitter account), it quickly became clear that the bullying scene was all an act. Not just an act, but a really bad acting job on all accounts.

.@brian_robison is the best ???????? pic.twitter.com/w0GNtQProA

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) November 22, 2021

Look, I get it. Nobody wants a lawsuit on their hands and the Vikings organization can’t afford to have a former player walking around and physically destroying the cheesehead property of opposing fans while at US Bank Stadium. But couldn’t they have fixed a better scene than this?

Who did this?

How far did the Minnesota Vikings promotional staff actually go to make this bad SNL skit into reality?

Is that even a real Packer fan or some ($15/hour + commission) member of the Vikings sales team who was just happy to hang out with Brian Robison for a few minutes before the game to go over the script a few times? I mean, that guy’s shirt isn’t even a Packers shirt. It’s a poop green “Gridiron Duel” shirt fresh out of the Packers team store in 1996.

Are we sure that’s a real cheesehead that got ripped in half? Can we even be sure that’s actually Brian Robison? I would have liked to believe that the real Brian Robison would be a much better actor than this. There’s no WWE in that dude’s future.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

10,000 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium for Jayhawks vs Oklahoma State. 17,000 at Texas Memorial Stadium to see their Longhorns get upset by TCU. How about 25,000 (possibly more) at Sanford Stadium to watch their Georgia Bulldogs destroy the Auburn Tigers? On Saturday, all of these college football fans got to go out, watch their team play, and forget about 2020 for a little bit of fun.

Are you yelling at me through your phone, for listing all of the stupid southern states who haven’t taken “The Invisible Enemy” seriously from the beginning? Save it. Kansas is in the Midwest. So is Indiana, where Notre Dame has invited crowds of 15,000 to their on-campus games. Maybe you jumped across our southern border, to Jack Trice Stadium tonight, for Iowa State vs Oklahoma, where they had an announced 15,000 fans to watch them upset Oklahoma in Ames, for the first time since 1960?

.@OU_Football takes a 17-13 lead over @CycloneFB into halftime of their game at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames on Saturday. #cyclonenationhttps://t.co/zBp1QNcUUG pic.twitter.com/IFmhQLtJJm

— Brian Powers (@bpowersphoto) October 4, 2020

13K Fans for Vikings/Texans

The Vikings have played three games so far this season, two at US Bank Stadium in front of purple seats and one on the road in Indianapolis, for a human crowd of 2,500. On Sunday, that will change when the Vikings land in the state of Texas to play against the Houston Texans. The crowd is to be limited at 13,300 (less than 20%). 13K will feel completely different than what this team experienced vs the Colts.

Crowds during coronavirus isn’t new to this weekend. Nah, they’ve had fans in stands for football games at both the NFL and NCAA levels all over the country, all season long. It’s time we tell Governor Tim Walz that the Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Gophers need their football fans back too.

Minnesota COVID #’s

Coronavirus numbers are better in Minnesota, than they are in most of the country. The new “rise in cases” that we’ve heard about for the last week, is mostly a rise in testing (as expected) and nothing we need to lock ourselves in our socially distant closets for.

The testing increase in MN is real and notable. In late April, MN began a sustained rise in testing from an average of about 1,500 per day to nearly 15,000/day by July 4. But then growth slowed a ton, and stayed slow for months.

The last few weeks have finally seen more growth: pic.twitter.com/IIyjVjANEM

— David Montgomery (@dhmontgomery) October 1, 2020

Hospitalizations are up slightly but ebbs and flows are to be expected and even those rates look to be on the decline the last couple days. COVID is caused by a living virus that isn’t going to suddenly stop infecting people, even after we have a vaccine. These are just facts, people. Luckily, it isn’t as deadly as we once worried. Just as long as you can keep it out of nursing homes, where 71% of COVID deaths in Minnesota are attributed (1,482 of 2,073), your recovery rate is through the roof.

In Conclusion, Let’s Just Use Common Sense

So, if you live in a nursing home, don’t buy a ticket to a Vikings or Gopher game. If you are healthy (the younger the better) and willing to take “the risk” of attending a game at US or TCF Bank Stadiums, then both the Vikings and the University of Minnesota should be able to sell you a ticket.

We aren’t asking for anything unprecedented or untested. We’re just asking for some common sense. Other stadiums across the country are putting fans in their stands and then living to talk about it. There’s absolutely no reason why Minnesota football fans shouldn’t be able to do the same.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

*British people spell a lot of words wrong: “graying, defense, and savior” are all misspelled in this piece.

*British men use the c-word as if it’s a replacement for “asshole” in our profanity dictionary, and get away with it for whatever reason… (I’ve seen it in movies too)

*they also use weird words like “twat” and “wanker”

*I have no idea what a “Hokey Cokey” is… sorry.

———-

We are approaching the end of another decade and everyone is doing a top-10 this; or a top 10 that, of the decade. I am different. I am a non-chest hair shaving, *greying, British man; who loves being unique (or a *cunt, whatever works).

So, here is your Minnesota Vikings TOP-6 “Good, Bad and Ugly” of the decade:

Let’s start happy and end in misery. We have had a lot of good this decade, but here is my top 6!

1. The Minneapolis Miracle: It was 2am or 3am or something late am for me on this cold night in January. The kids were asleep, I was lying in bed on my own, sad. Head on the pillow, staring at my phone wondering what happened to the *defence in the second half? And then Keenum steps in to… I do a full-on burpee in bed. My first one ever! Jumping up and down. Silently cheering and punching the air… Vikings win it! Goosebumps. Still. I will be telling my grand kids to tell their grand kids about this one
2. Adrian Peterson MVP season: Purple Jesus ran for TWO THOUSAND and NINETY-SEVEN (2,097) yards! Coming off of a career threatening injury, he battled back to win the league’s MVP, in a year where he carried the Vikings into playoffs. The O-line got some credit for giving him the holes, but boy did he fill them (Giggidy)! I was personally thankful I picked him up in the 3rd round of my fantasy draft that year!
3. Rob Brzezinski: If someone told the 13-year-old me that a Math geek would make some arbitrary top 6 list in 2019, I would have been walking around with even more awkward erections than what I remember (I remember there being a lot)! Instead I got a $0.99 cone from McDonald’s for getting a statistically impossible 103% in the math test. But enough about my awkward and lonely teen years, Mr. B is the hero we don’t deserve. We signed Kirk to a guaranteed deal, extended Hunter, Diggs, Thielen, Barr, Kendricks, Griffen… all thanks to a guy who was good with numbers. Nerds of the world salute you sir!
4. WR bargains: Did you know that Adam Thielen was undrafted? Yeah crazy right! He nearly became a dental equipment salesman. The horror! We also found something called a “Diggs” in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL draft. Both are now absolute cornerstones of the team. You would easily stud them out to mate with your wife or girlfriend. Or both!
5. Aaron Rodgers getting hurt: Now before any of your Boomers/Gen Z (who ever you pricks are) come into my mentions (that’s @UKSkol on Twitter) with “you really gonna celebrate an injury brah?”. I am not celebrating the injury. I am enjoying the amount of whining he did post-injury. I mean, he walked into A. Barr and we all know A-Rod can’t handle his drink. But of course, the NFL sucked him off and changed the rule, and as a result Clay Matthews got punished. It was the gift that kept on giving…
6. US Bank Stadium: What a beaut! It is loud, modern and fucking beautiful! It is better than Wembley, and that is high praise coming from a Brit. My only game at the Bank will forever be cherished in my memory as one of the best days in my life!

Shout out to the UK Skol Squad who made it out to @USBankStadium for the Eagles game ?

?? Vikings fans are taking over ?@UK_Vikings | @UKSkol | @KevinSayer pic.twitter.com/LsvPqAK2Xt

— Minnesota Vikings UK (@UKVikings) October 17, 2019

The bad, ugly, painful, and/or crying in the fetal position Top-6:

1. 27 yard field goal: I don’t want to talk about it. It was TWENTY-SEVEN FUCKING YARDS BLAIR. *Twat. No, I am fine. I am over it. Just kick the damn thing straight. You weren’t even close with-it you *wanker. I am fine. Honestly. Prick.
2. The 2018 offensive line: You spend $84 million on a quarterback and you put a sieve in front of him. You might as well have IR’d the poor fucker, at the start of the season. Poor Kirk stood no chance. We started with Remmers and Compton at guard. Elflein at *centre and Hill at RT! The horror. Anyway, Kirk got to taste the US Bank turf really well!
3. Laquon Treadwell: The *saviour. All we needed was a wide receiver to get us over the hump. Forget the awesome linebackers, Myles Jack and Jaylon Smith. Forget Xavien Howard or Michael “145 receptions” Thomas. Laquon Treadwell was the *saviour. 9 starts. ONE catch. 15 yards… Decent catch radius, though!
4. Brett Favre’s second season: This one just sneaks into the decade. 2009 was great – NFCCG, 4200+ yards and a career best QB rating of 107.2. We had to bring him back, right? No brainer! I mean he is a Vikings HOFer, after all. 13 games, 2500 yards and the worst QB rating of his Vikings HOF career, this went bad quick. But we will always have the 1st of November, 2009 and the four touchdowns you threw at Lambeau.
5. Tony Sparano: No jokes. This was sad. RIP Tony Sparano
6. US Bank Stadium killing the birds: We built this beautiful stadium with 200,000 feet of glass. Apparently, glass reflects the sky. Who knew?! The dumbass birds get confused and crash into the glass and die. Get this, on average 111 birds die every year at the US Bank stadium. Well, that and the hopes of 66,655 Vikings fans far too often…

Ah the ugly. Brace yourself. You are about to enter a dark part of the decade. This section will haunt you.

Maybe grab a strong drink before you read on… whatever skinny-canned seltzer you Americans are drinking this month.

1. 38-7: Sigh. We just came off a miracle win at home. The Eagles had a backup quarterback, Napoleon Dynamite. We are looking at a super bowl at our new home stadium with a win. “Bring it home” is the cover photo for every single Vikings fan on Twitter. First drive was exactly by script, Case marches the team down the field. Rudy scores. Paint the end zone in the purple colours fellas, it is coming home. But then, shit got ugly. Like your wife screaming at you during birth because “YOU PUT THIS THING IN ME!”, ugly. It was all a blur after the interception. I just wanted it to end. Please, make it stop…
2. Adrian Peterson hitting his kid: Why AP? Why? You were league MVP. a hero in every Vikings fans’ eyes. Then you do that shit. I could never wear his jersey again after that shit. This isn’t 1950’s America anymore. It wasn’t just the action that was ugly. It was the ban for the year and how the whole situation just left the fanbase in purgatory. Is he coming back? Do we trade him? Nope, he’s staying… It was U-G-L-Y. We should have just traded his ass to Somali or something.
3. Teddy’s knee: Who got excited for what Teddy could do, after he made those two throws against the Chargers in the preseason? This guy! New stadium, solid team, Teddy firing… Postseason, here we come! — *Beep beep* — ‘Oh I got a text message’, “FUCK! WHAT?! HOW?! Why is Rick is crying??” — Yup, it was Ugly. This didn’t go as planned at all. We are known for our knee injuries but this one was gut wrenching. The guy had potential and the team loved him… it all had so much promise.
4. Zimmer’s eye: Well this was just crazy. Mike Zimmer scratches his eye. Has a gazillion surgeries and still can’t see out of it! What the hell kinda crazy ass shit is this?! For a long time all we saw in the news cycles was news on his eyes. We even had Mike Priefer as acting head coach, for a crucial game against Dallas, because of an eye surgery. You can’t write this shit. Well, I am… But you know what I mean.
5. Sam Bradford’s knee: We loves our knew injuries, amirite? But this was just puzzling. Who got a boner when Sam absolutely torched the Saints on that Monday night in September? I did. I wanked over his throw to Jarius Wright several times. This was the year for sure. Or not.. another freak knee injury, one *Hokey Cokey in Chicago, and we’re suddenly looking at starter, Case Kennum with Teddy as a back up.That lead to our rinsing in the NFCCG. What the hell kind of ugly is this? I still don’t know what happened to his knees? Carpet burns?!
6. US Bank Stadium super bowl: 1.061 billion Dollars spent on the state of the art facility. Bid for super bowl and win the bid. Build a team to win the super bowl. Make the game… well almost. We have covered this already. But we wasted the opportunity to make US Bank the greatest place in Vikings history. Ever.

Sanka | Minnesota Sports Fan

Luckily, we have the Star Tribune around to cover such important stories so we can get such important quotes from people like Ann Laughlin, who “belongs to a coalition of bird conservation groups that have advocated for bird-safe glass for several years”.

US Bank Stadium received a “Platinum” LEED rating recently, for environmental friendliness and being very “Woke” “Green” with their massive new building. Platinum is the highest rating that LEED gives out for buildings like the Purple Palace. But, such a soul-less rating was the last straw for Ann and bird protectors around the Twin Cities (via the Star Tribune):

The release, which noted the building already had received a gold LEED award for environmentally friendly design, touted the stadium’s recycling, the amount of waste diverted from landfills, donated food and renewable energy credits.

But no mention was made of birds. Former legislator Phyllis Kahn, who sponsored a bill for bird-safe buildings, said she found the platinum LEED rating for the stadium incredible.

“My biggest objection was that an environmental rating wouldn’t look at the effect on birds,” she [Ann] said.

To make Ann and other bird protectors sleep better at night, the Vikings have partnered with some of her great organizations to spend $300,000 on a study that is supposed to give us a better idea of how many birds are actually dying by US Bank Stadium Accidental Kamikaze (USBSAK) and Ann is hopeful…. but if the results aren’t what she imagines heaven being like, then her frustration will continue. I mean, there could be a much larger conspiracy behind this whole thing…

Laughlin is among a small group of conservationists who rarely miss a monthly meeting of the MSFA. She said there’s little doubt the study will find dead birds. In their own preliminary study in the fall of 2016, she said, her group found lots of dead birds outside the stadium in the early morning hours before cleaning crews arrived: hummingbirds, warblers and sparrows.

“We’re working on the assumption that there’s been a lot of dead birds and it’s a problem,” she [Ann] said.

“It’s just aggravating because we’ll now be in the fall migration and birds will begin smashing into it,” Laughlin said, referring to the stadium. “That’s not very green.”

Those sly Wilfs, man…. sending out cleaning crews at the crack-ass of dawn to make sure nobody catches onto the bird genocide taking place downtown. Who we once thought were bright lights of shining ownership, in what has often been a dark void of cheap renters here in Minnesota… are actually nothing more than conspiring mass bird murderers.

And to think that we helped fund their weapon of mass birdstruction…. make sure you go to confession this week Vikings fans.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan