Campus Alert Archive
UMN

Empty Stadium, Real Alert: A Bomb Threat to TCF Bank Stadium the Day Before Iowa Came to Town

MNbomb threatemergency notificationmedium confidence
UnfoundedNo evidence of an actual threat was found. The institutional response is documented because the alert communication is identical to what would occur during a real incident.

On the afternoon of November 12, 2020, the University of Minnesota Police Department issued a SAFE-U emergency alert reporting a bomb threat at TCF Bank Stadium, the football home of the Golden Gophers. UMPD ordered the stadium evacuated and asked the campus community to stay away while officers and a K-9 unit swept the building. The Gophers football team was not on site at the time — the team played Iowa at TCF Bank Stadium the following night — and the threat was declared unfounded about an hour after the first alert.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
University of Minnesota
Public R1 · MN
~51,848 studentsSAFE-U
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Verified verbatimCBS Minnesota — quoted verbatim from the UMN SAFE-U alert181 chars
U of M Twin Cities: UMPD is investigating a bomb threat at TCF Bank Stadium. Building is being evacuated. Please stay away from the area. Updates and safety tips at z.umn.edu/alerts
Sent at 1:29 p.m. CST on November 12, 2020, roughly 14 minutes after the threat was called in around 1:15 p.m. CST
Uses the standard 'U of M Twin Cities:' SAFE-U preface that identifies the campus affected (the system also serves the Duluth, Morris, Crookston, and Rochester campuses)
Directs recipients to z.umn.edu/alerts — UMN's shortened URL for its centralized alert log, used to reduce SMS character load while still pointing to live updates
Issued the day before the Gophers' home football game against Iowa, which proceeded as scheduled on Friday, November 13, 2020
ALL CLEARSMS
Approximate reconstruction137 chars
U of M Twin Cities: All clear. UMPD has completed its investigation at TCF Bank Stadium. No threat was found. Normal activity may resume.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed from reporting that UMPD issued a second SAFE-U notification about an hour after the first alert giving the all-clear
CBS Minnesota and KSTP confirmed that UMPD officers and a K-9 detection unit swept the building and 'did not find anything relevant to the threat'
The full text of the all-clear SAFE-U was not preserved in publicly available reporting, so this is a paraphrase consistent with standard SAFE-U format
Context

Background

TCF Bank Stadium — renamed Huntington Bank Stadium in 2021 — is the on-campus home of Minnesota Golden Gophers football and seats roughly 50,000 fans. The November 12, 2020 bomb threat is notable not because the stadium was full (it was empty, and the pandemic-era Big Ten season was being played without fans) but because the UMN SAFE-U alert system treated a threat to an athletic venue with the same urgency it would treat a threat to a classroom building. The alert was issued by UMPD at 1:29 p.m. CST after a threat was called in around 1:15 p.m. CST. Officers and a K-9 detection unit swept the building; no device was found and the all-clear was given about an hour later. The Gophers played Iowa at the same stadium the following night. The incident illustrates an under-appreciated category of campus alerts: emergency notifications about athletic facilities that nonetheless go out to the full student, staff, and faculty population because the stadium sits on the academic campus.
Analysis

Key Findings

SAFE-U alerts about athletic venues at UMN go to the same population that receives alerts about classroom buildings — there is no separate stadium-specific alert channel
The 2020 incident occurred during a pandemic-era empty-stadium season, but UMPD treated the threat with the same procedure it would use during a sold-out game
The 14-minute gap between the threatening call (approximately 1:15 p.m.) and the first SAFE-U alert (1:29 p.m.) reflects the time needed for UMPD to verify, draft, and dispatch the message
The all-clear came about an hour after the first alert — consistent with the rapid K-9 sweep typical of a single-building threat without follow-on credible intelligence
Outcome
UMPD officers and a K-9 detection unit swept the stadium and found nothing relevant to the threat. An all-clear SAFE-U notification was issued at approximately 2:30 p.m. CST. The Gophers' home game against Iowa proceeded on Friday, November 13, 2020 without further incident.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    TCF Bank Stadium Evacuated After Bomb Threat (CBS Minnesota)
    cbsnews.com
  2. News
    Authorities give all clear following bomb threat at TCF Bank Stadium (KSTP)
    kstp.com
  3. News
    All clear after bomb threat prompts evacuation of TCF Bank Stadium (Bring Me The News)
    bringmethenews.com
  4. Student Paper
    UMPD resolve bomb threat investigation at TCF Bank Stadium (Minnesota Daily)
    mndaily.com
  5. News
    All clear given after TCF Bank Stadium evacuated during bomb threat investigation (FOX 9)
    fox9.com
Tags
bomb-threatstadiumathletic-facilitytcf-bank-stadiumhuntington-bank-stadiumfootballminnesotasafe-uumpdunfoundedk-9-sweepUnfounded
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion