I don't know that Minnesota will ever compete for Big Ten championships on a regular basis, but Sunday's groundbreaking of a new on-campus stadium at least gives Gopher fans hope of ending their title drought that's 39 years and counting.

Minnesota won't open the 50,000-seat, $248-million TCF Bank Stadium until 2009, but already coach Glen Mason has seen the facility impact his recruiting. The Gophers have received verbal commitments from 10 of the 11 in-state players they've offered this year - only top prospect Broderick Binns is a holdout - and Mason said the stadium is a big reason why.

For years, Minnesota was the only school to play its games at an off-campus venue. While there were positives to that - the Metrodome is a pro facility, used by the Vikings and Twins, and it gave the Gophers a distinct homefield advantage - opponents also found it easy to recruit against the university's perceived lack of commitment to its football program.

Using the Metrodome hindered Minnesota in other ways. Mason said there were times he wanted to show recruits the stadium they'd call home, only to realize it was being used for a tractor pull or some other non-football related activity. And of course, a handful of games had to be changed or postponed over the years due to the Metrodome's other uses.

Fittingly, Sunday's groundbreaking ceremony came on the same day the Twins clinched the A.L. Central title, which meant this week's Minnesota-Penn State would go on as scheduled. Had the Tigers won the division, the football game would have been postponed til the end of the year.

Mason said an on-campus stadium was "not a want for Minnesota, it was a need." Many others would agree, including Michigan athletic director Bill Martin, who attended Sunday's ceremony.

"I can't believe this is a reality now," Mason said. "I never thought it would happen during my tenure. I spoke about it. I was trying to set the stage for the guy after me and the guy after him."