Target Center

• 1. Introduction

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  Target Center opened in Minneapolis in 1990 and has spent the decades since hosting everything from NBA tip-offs to championship gymnastics to a presidential rally. It sits in the heart of downtown, a block from the Warehouse District light rail stop, directly across the street from the storied nightclub First Avenue and within sight of Target Field. What makes this arena unusual is the company whose name it carries. Target Corporation has held the naming rights since the very day the building was announced, on the 7th of August 1990. The corporation was founded and headquartered in Minneapolis since 1902, making the arrangement feel less like a sponsorship and more like a neighbor putting their name on the mailbox. The arena today is the second-oldest in the NBA, trailing only Madison Square Garden, built in 1968. But age tells only part of the story. Behind this building is a longer, stranger history involving soft drink rivalries, a triple axel, a $155 million renovation battle, and a green roof that no arena had ever tried before.

• 2. The Original Owners

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  Marv Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner were the men who built Target Center. They were also the original owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and for five years beginning in 1990 they built, owned, and operated the venue themselves. That arrangement changed in 1995 when the city of Minneapolis stepped in and purchased the arena. Ogden Entertainment then took over day-to-day management. Glen Taylor entered the picture in 1994, acquiring the Timberwolves, and returned in 1999 to pick up the Minnesota Lynx as well. The management chain kept shifting: SFX, which later became Clear Channel Entertainment, took over in 2000. In May 2004 Clear Channel was replaced by Midwest Entertainment Group, a joint venture between the Timberwolves and Nederlander Concerts. Then on the 2nd of May 2007, AEG Facilities assumed the management contract. Since that handoff, Minneapolis has owned the arena outright while AEG handles operations, an arrangement that remains in place today.

• 3. Renovating a Living Arena

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  The 2004 renovation replaced all 19,006 of the arena's original seats and added nearly 1,500 new ones. Workers also reconfigured the lower bowl with a goal of making the arena more fan-friendly, swapped in a new 9-by-16-foot video screen with LED signage, and built a new lounge called Club Cambria. On the 15th of September 2009, a more unusual upgrade was unveiled: Target Center became the first arena in the world to install a green roof. Then, in February 2011, the Timberwolves and the city of Minneapolis floated a much larger ambition: a $155 million proposal to remodel the entire facility. The plan called for shifting the main entrance to the corner of 6th Street and First Avenue, adding two large glass atriums, another restaurant, and a complete interior overhaul. The Minnesota Legislature approved it in 2012 as part of the same bill that authorized a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings. Final approval from the Minneapolis City Council came on the 3rd of April 2015, with the price settling at $140 million. The city contributed $74 million; Glen Taylor covered $60 million; AEG put in $5.9 million. The Timberwolves' lease was extended to 2035 as a result. The renovated building reopened in October 2017.

• 4. The Soda War and the Ice

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  When Target Center opened, the NHL's Minnesota North Stars refused to move in. The reason was soft drinks. The North Stars' home at the time, Met Center, was served by Pepsi. Target Center's pouring rights belonged to Coca-Cola. Rather than switch, the North Stars stayed put. Despite this standoff, the arena did host six neutral-site NHL games during the 1993-94 season after the North Stars relocated to Dallas, including one game that featured the Stars themselves. The International Hockey League's Minnesota Moose filled some of that void, playing several games at Target Center during their existence from 1994 to 1996. In 1998 and 1999 the Boys' State High School Hockey Tournament took place there. A collegiate arrangement followed: in June 2012 it was announced that the NCHC tournament would come to Target Center starting in 2014, though the conference eventually moved that event to Xcel Energy Center in nearby St. Paul starting in 2018.

• 5. Championship Courts

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  Target Center was once one of only three NBA arenas with a parquet floor, alongside TD Garden in Boston and Amway Arena in Orlando. That floor was replaced before the 2007-08 NBA season. The arena hosted the 1994 NBA All-Star Game, the 1995 NCAA Women's Final Four, the 2000 NBA draft, and the 2018 WNBA All-Star Game. The 2022 NCAA Women's Final Four was also held there. In 2011 came the building's first championship: the Minnesota Lynx won the WNBA Finals on their home court, becoming the first team to win a title while playing in Target Center. On the 20th of April 2022, Target Center was announced as the host for the Big Ten women's basketball tournament in 2023 and 2024 and the Big Ten men's basketball tournament in 2024. The building's single-event attendance record was set on the 10th of March 2017, when a Timberwolves versus Warriors game drew 20,412 people.

• 6. Beyond Basketball

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  In 1991, Target Center hosted the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, where Tonya Harding became the first American woman and only the second person in the world to land a triple axel in competition. She won the gold medal. In 1999, the venue drew 14,000 people to the inaugural celebration for newly elected Governor Jesse Ventura, with performances by Jonny Lang, Warren Zevon, and America. The Target Center held UFC 87: Seek and Destroy in August 2008, where Georges St-Pierre defeated Jon Fitch for the Welterweight title. WWE has used the venue for multiple events, and in November 2005 the arena hosted both the Raw and SmackDown tribute shows for Eddie Guerrero following his death that month. All Elite Wrestling taped an episode of AEW Rampage at the center on the 12th of November 2021 and held their Full Gear pay-per-view the following day. In 2024, the arena hosted the US Olympic Trials for gymnastics from the 27th to the 30th of June, sending athletes toward the Paris Summer Olympics.

• 7. The U.S. Bank Theater

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  Target Center is not limited to arena-scale events. A floor-to-ceiling curtain system allows the space to be converted into the U.S. Bank Theater, a venue that seats between 2,500 and 7,500 people depending on configuration. The transformation lets the building accommodate Broadway shows and family productions that would be swallowed by a full arena setup. Target Corporation uses the facility for its own Annual Sales Meeting, an event that regularly brings in more than 10,000 retail managers and employees given the company's nearby corporate offices. In 2018, Dave Matthews performed a short set at that internal event. The flexibility built into the building by the 2017 renovation means that the same week can hold an NBA game, a touring Broadway production, and a corporate gathering without the space feeling like a compromise for any of them.