Heavy snow and difficult travel expected again, heaviest snow in southern Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

The University of St. Thomas and St. John’s University football teams will play Saturday in what could be the second-to-last game in the decades-old rivalry.

The annual tradition is set to end next year after St. Thomas was 

The 89th annual Tommie-Johnnie football game will be played before a sellout crowd at St. Paul’s 19,400-seat Allianz Field, which usually is home to the Minnesota United FC professional soccer team. Minnesota United is set to host the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday in a single-elimination playoff game.

But before that happens, thousands of students and alumni from St. Thomas and St. John’s will attend the annual football game between the schools. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. Saturday. The 2017 game was played at 

and broke the Division III attendance record with more than 37,000 people in the stands.

Will the playing surface survive?

 from the Division III Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference after years of dominance in football and other sports. Other schools in the league, of which St. Thomas is one of the seven founding members, felt its size presented an unfair competitive advantage.

Most St. Thomas athletic programs are poised to move up to Division I in 2021 after

 from the Summit League earlier this month; that move remains subject to NCAA approval. But because the Summit League does not include football and hockey, the futures of those programs remain unclear.

The matchup will be the first American football game to be played in Allianz Field, which opened earlier this year. Those who weren’t able to get tickets will be able to watch the game on a big screen at a viewing party outside the stadium.

The 90th — and perhaps final — game between the two schools is scheduled to be played Nov. 7, 2020. Going into Saturday’s game, St. John’s holds the edge in the rivalry with a 52-35-1 record.

Sports

NewsPartners

Mohamed Ibrahim

Author

The sold-out matchup will be the penultimate game of the teams’ decades-long rivalry as St. Thomas is set to leave their Division III league in 2021.

Snow begins to fall within Allianz Field in St. Paul.

Allianz Field to host 89th annual ‘Tommie-Johnnie’ rivalry football game

Go Deeper.

Like this?