Western U.S.-Based Vikings Fans Out of Luck in 2022
Dustin Baker
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Are you a Minnesota Vikings fan living west of the Missouri River, wanting to attend a game in your neck of the woods?
Too bad.
The 2022 Vikings will do no such thing. The NFL released the schedule for 2022 on Thursday night, and unbelievably, the farthest west a Vikings regular season game will occur is at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Aside from a mammoth trip to Europe against the New Orleans Saints in Week 4, the 2022 season for the Vikings is a small-travel affair. And it’s an anti-West campaign. Outside of Vikings home games, Green Bay is the most westerly road game the Vikings will attend — if that can be believed.
Here’s the full schedule for context:
- 9/11 – Green Bay Packers (W1)
- 9/19 – at Philadelphia Eagles (MNF) (W2)
- 9/25 – Detroit Lions (W3)
- 10/2 – at New Orleans Saints (London) (W4)
- 10/9 – Chicago Bears (W5)
- 10/16 – at Miami Dolphins (W6)
- Week 7: BYE
- 10/30 – Arizona Cardinals (W8)
- 11/6 – at Washington Commanders (W9)
- 11/13 – at Buffalo Bills (W10)
- 11/20 – Dallas Cowboys (W11)
- 11/24 – New England Patriots (Thanksgiving) (W12)
- 12/4 – New York Jets (W13)
- 12/11 – at Detroit Lions (W14)
- 12/17 or 12/18 – Indianapolis Colts (W15)
- 12/24 – New York Giants (Christmas Eve) (W16)
- 1/1/23 – at Green Bay Packers (New Year’s Day) (W17)
- 1/8/23 – at Chicago Bears (W18)
Minnesota basically scoots around stadiums east of the Mississippi River for the entirety of 2022. It’s not quite like the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that won’t leave the Eastern Time Zone, holding the tiniest travel itinerary of all 32 teams. Indeed, Mike Tomlin’s bunch won’t take on any road opponents from the NFC West, AFC West, or NFC North.
The tiny travel schedule isn’t a bad thing. It just deprives fans in the western United States of a chance to see the Vikings as they might in “normal years.” Seemingly every season for a while, Minnesota at least traveled to Seattle for an annual loss — or did business with the Los Angeles Chargers, Arizona Cardinals, or San Francisco 49ers at their houses.
But not this year. Minneapolis is the westernmost venue for the Vikings in 2022.
However, in 2023, the Vikings are guaranteed to visit Denver and Las Vegas for dates with the Broncos and Raiders. So, there is some future-planning solace for western folks.
Unless, of course, the Vikings reach the Super Bowl. That is westerly in Glendale, Arizona.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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