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South Dakotans Are Signing Up To Volunteer For Super Bowl LII In Minneapolis

208 Minnesota Super Bowl LII

Follow @Nate_WekSDPB

Next February, US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis, Minnesota, will host Super Bowl LII.

According to KDLT News in Sioux Falls, SD, the event is inviting residents of South Dakota to be apart of the ‘big game.’

The Minnesota Super Bowl host committee is looking for volunteers. You may be asking “why?” or “what for?” The Super Bowl is no longer a one-day event – not even close. It’s turned into a weeklong celebration, leading up to the Sunday game.

This coming year, festivities will start 10-days before the Super Bowl. Because of this commitment to increasing the overall fan experience, it requires a lot of workers and volunteers.

So far, 200 South Dakotans have already agreed to volunteer during the (week and a half) extravaganza.

Even though South Dakota doesn’t have a pro-football team – the state is still very much apart of the NFL culture. Most citizens in eastern South Dakota show fandom towards the Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, or Kansas City Chiefs, while western South Dakota leans more towards the Denver Broncos.

Don Davis of the Grand Forks Herald did some research last summer and discovered that roughly a quarter of the Minnesota Vikings season ticket holders live in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

At one point (about five-years ago), the city with the most Minnesota Vikings season ticket holders, outside of the Twin Cities Metro Area, was Sioux Falls. Which makes sense, because it’s roughly a four-hour drive from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis.

This adds to the reasoning of South Dakotans wanting to volunteer at the event.

If you’re a person wanting to buy a ticket to go, then great – but it’s going to cost you.

Ticket Prices through the box office are yet to be released, but some tickets are already available through the secondary market. The cheapest ticket right now, according to Seat Geek, is $2,600, and that’ll put you in the upper level of one of the end zones.

And these prices will go up and down as the NFL season progresses. If the demand increases for tickets, scalpers will certainly raise their prices.

This isn't the first time Minneapolis has hosted the National Football League's biggest game. In 1992, The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome accomodated Super Bowl XXVI between the Washington Redskins and the Buffalo Bills (Washington 37 Buffalo 24).

Super Bowl LII will take place on Sunday February 4, 2018.

Nate Wek is currently the sports content producer and sports and rec beat reporter for South Dakota Public Broadcasting. He is a graduate of South Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism Broadcasting and a minor in Leadership. From 2010-2013 Nate was the Director of Gameday Media for the Sioux Falls Storm (Indoor Football League) football team. He also spent 2012 and 2013 as the News and Sports Director of KSDJ Radio in Brookings, SD. Nate, his wife Sarah, and three sons, Braxan, Jordy, and Anders live in Canton, SD.