Gopher football season starts on a Thursday night this year, and if you are coming into town for a game — or several — the question is usually the same: stay near campus, or stay downtown and travel in?
Downtown is the better answer more often than people expect. Here is the 2026 home schedule, and what staying at Oaklands on 9th looks like on a game weekend.
Minnesota Gophers 2026 home schedule
All home games are at Huntington Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota’s East Bank campus. Times below are from the official athletics schedule, which notes that opponents and dates are subject to change — worth a second look the week of your game.
- Thursday, September 3, 7:00 p.m. — vs. Eastern Illinois (home opener)
- Saturday, September 12, 2:30 p.m. — vs. Mississippi State
- Saturday, September 19, 11:00 a.m. — vs. Akron
- Saturday, October 3 — vs. Michigan (time to be announced)
- Saturday, October 24 — vs. Iowa (time to be announced)
- Saturday, November 7 — vs. UCLA (time to be announced)
- Saturday, November 21 — vs. Northwestern (time to be announced)
Three home games inside seventeen days in September, then Michigan and Iowa in October. If you are coming in for more than one, the month-to-month math starts to matter — more on that below.
Getting to Huntington Bank Stadium from downtown
This is the part that makes downtown work. The stadium sits on the light rail line that runs straight through downtown Minneapolis, so a game day does not require a car, a parking pass, or a plan for what to do with either afterward.
Rather than quote a schedule that changes, use Metro Transit’s trip planner the morning of your game — it will give you current routes and departure times from downtown. The University also publishes a gameday page with stadium policies, bag rules and entry information, which is worth reading once before your first visit.
For an 11:00 a.m. kickoff in particular, being able to walk out the door and be on a train in a few minutes beats fighting campus traffic. And after a night game, you are heading back toward a downtown that is still awake.
What Oaklands on 9th actually is
Oaklands on 9th is a furnished, month-to-month studio apartment hotel at 215 South 9th Street, in the middle of downtown Minneapolis. The building is an 1889 brownstone by architect Harry Wild Jones, restored in 2019 — so it looks nothing like the tower next door, which is rather the point.
Every studio is fully furnished and comes with a full kitchen, WiFi, all utilities and heat, and free laundry. There are no contracts: stay a night, a week, or a month. Studios come in three tiers — Good, Better and Best — and some of the units are pet friendly.
The Skyway is one block away. It is not connected to the building, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something — but one block, in January, is a walk you can live with.
Why the kitchen matters on a football weekend
An 11:00 a.m. kickoff means eating early. A 7:00 p.m. Thursday game means eating late, after most kitchens downtown have hit their dinner rush. A hotel room gives you neither option; a studio with a full kitchen gives you both, plus somewhere to put the leftovers.
Free laundry is the other quiet advantage if you are in town for a long weekend, or coming back two or three times across the fall. So is not signing a lease to do it — see what is included for the full list.
The rest of your weekend
You are a walk from Target Center, the Armory, Orchestra Hall and Nicollet Mall, and a short one from U.S. Bank Stadium — see our guide to walking to games at U.S. Bank Stadium if you are stacking a Vikings weekend on top. For everything else happening around your visit, the September events guide covers the month.
Driving in? Read overnight parking downtown first. Want to keep training through the season? We wrote up downtown gyms recently.
And if the rest of your party would rather have a historic mansion than a studio, 300 Clifton is a bed and breakfast in Loring Park, the Pillsbury Club is a short ride away, and Minneapolis Trolley Tours runs sightseeing that fills a Sunday morning nicely.
Book a game weekend
Studios go quickly on football weekends, especially the Michigan and Iowa dates. Check availability and book online, or call us at (612) 314-5124 and we will help you sort out which tier fits. Questions: info@oaklandson9th.com.
Keep reading: What Was Found Under the Parking Lot at Oakland’s on 9th?