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Tim Nelson and Nancy Yang
St. Paul, Minn.

Game on: What to expect when Minneapolis hosts Super Bowl 2018

Vikings stadium construction
The 2018 Super Bowl will be played in the new Vikings stadium, which is under construction and scheduled to be completed in 2016.
Jennifer Simonson / MPR News 2014

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All eyes will be on Glendale, Ariz., this Sunday when the city hosts the Super Bowl. Minnesota gets its chance to shine again in 2018, when football's big game heads to Minneapolis.

What happened in 1992?

Minneapolis last hosted the Super Bowl in 1992 at the Metrodome, which included the debut of the NFL Experience attraction at the Minneapolis Convention Center and the first Taste of the NFL food event.

Harry Connick Jr. sang the national anthem and the halftime show — dubbed "Winter Magic" — featured kids in shiny harem pants rapping about Frosty the Snowman (yes, that really did happen), Olympic champs Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill skating on sheets of Teflon and singer Gloria Estefan performing "Live for Loving You" and "Get on Your Feet."

Here's video from the first part of the halftime show:

Part two:

What can we expect in 2018?

The game will be played in the new Vikings stadium, which is currently under construction and scheduled to be completed next year. The stadium will typically seat 65,400, but will be expandable to 72,000 seats for the Super Bowl.

Events are expected to take place across the Twin Cities metro area. Despite the cold of February, many of those events may take place outdoors.

Nicollet Mall is expected to become Super Bowl Boulevard for the week. Activities and attractions could include ice skating, snowmobiling, horse-drawn sleds, warming houses and fire pits.

"That's really up to us to create," said Maureen Bausch, chief executive of the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee. "In Indianapolis, they had a zip line that went down Super Bowl Boulevard. So cities are really free to create an experience that's totally unique."

Super Bowl rendering
A rendering of downtown Minneapolis during the 2018 Super Bowl.
Courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings

St. Paul Winter Carnival organizers are also working with the planning committee to bring an ice palace back to St. Paul in 2018, its first since 2004.

"Hopefully, we can coordinate the activities that are already happening in the market so that the guests coming into the market can see those, whether it's the Winter Carnival in St. Paul or loppet around the lakes in Minneapolis or some of the others," Bausch said.