MINNEAPOLIS / TARGET CENTER
Your arena trip starts with the right door.
Target Center’s sign and facade, photographed October 10, 2019. Photo: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Display crop and resize by GameDayTraveler.
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For a Timberwolves or Lynx game, build around Target Center, the basketball arena on the northwest side of downtown. The nearby ballpark is Target Field. That small distinction matters when your parking reservation, train stop and ticket all need to lead to the same place.
Choose a route that reaches your entrance
- Rail: Metro Transit directs arena travelers to Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue Station on the Blue or Green Line. Include the remaining street-level or building approach.
- Parking and skyway: confirm the ramp connection and the hours of every building you will use. An enclosed route is valuable only when the whole chain is open.
- Walking from a hotel: use the actual starting address and ticket entrance. Keep a usable street-level alternative.
- Accessible drop-off: start with the current arena accessibility guidance, not an old arena diagram or an ordinary rideshare pin.
Northwest downtown works as a base, with conditions
Target Center is at 600 First Avenue North, between 6th and 7th Streets. A base on this side of downtown can put your basketball night and a separate Twins visit in the same part of the city. U.S. Bank Stadium is at the other end of the downtown sports territory.
That is useful geography, but hotel-to-door convenience still depends on the exact property, your preferred route and conditions when the event ends. Compare the return first if you expect a late finish or need an accessible journey.
Compare downtown and other Twin Cities bases
See the Twin Cities venue and transit relationships
Do not make “skyway” the whole plan
Target Center’s main gate is on skyway level; it also has other entry points. The operator says skyway hours vary with the individual building. It also publishes ticket-dependent entry instructions, including different treatment for some floor tickets. Read the instructions attached to your event.
Ask your hotel or ramp which connection will be open when you return. If a segment closes, know how to get outside and continue. A weather-protected plan should not leave you searching for an unlocked door after the final buzzer.
Check the event’s current entry instructions
Two basketball homes, one arena
Target Center is home to both the Timberwolves and the Lynx. The arena opened in 1990 and received a major renovation in 2017. A visit belongs to the team and event on your ticket, rather than a generic arena checklist.
Give yourself time to notice that home-team identity before the game starts. You came to see your team in somebody else’s building; taking in the setting is part of the return on the trip.
The visiting side has its own story.
The visiting Connecticut Sun bench and the Target Center audience during a game against the Minnesota Lynx, May 23, 2025. Photo: John McClellan (John Mac) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. This image remains under CC BY-SA 2.0. Display crop and resize by GameDayTraveler.
The Connecticut Sun bench reacts during a May 2025 visit to the Lynx at Target Center. The people on this bench are the visiting team. A Wolves night, a Lynx game and an arena concert each deserve their own ticket, seating setup and arrival plan.
Pack for this building and this event
- Load the ticket before leaving the hotel and check the event’s entry instructions.
- Check the current bag, prohibited-item and payment guidance. Do not assume rules match Target Field or U.S. Bank Stadium.
- Plan the meal so its timing survives screening and finding your section.
- If you need sensory support, seating assistance or a particular entrance, organize that before the busy arrival period.
Accessibility: use the current instructions
Target Center’s current guidance places ADA drop-off and pickup on First Avenue in front of the arena and identifies Ramps A and B for skyway-level access. Use the current page and confirm what applies to your event, including the final approach from your starting point.
The arena says it cannot provide wheelchair transportation outside the building. If your plan depends on assistance between the station, car or hotel and the entrance, arrange that part separately.
Confirm current Target Center accessibility arrangements
Set the postgame direction before tipoff
Check train direction and usable return service, or save the correct ramp and vehicle exit. If your plan uses skyways, verify the evening route rather than assuming the afternoon connection remains available.
A simultaneous event at Target Field can change the crowd around the northwest district. Build a little flexibility into your meal, parking and pickup decision; the nearby venue makes another game easier to consider, not automatic to combine.
Before you buy: seats to double-check
At Target Center, check the basket angle and the rails around your exact seat before choosing the bargain.
- Directly behind the basket: inspect both ends of the floor. Lower-level sections 101 and 121 deserve an extra look; so do upper-level 201 and 221 when offered for your game. The basket can interrupt the view down the court. Compare an offset corner or sideline seat if following every possession matters more than being behind the hoop. Lower-baseline viewing details · Upper-baseline viewing details
- Lower corners: check the rail and which way the seat faces. Basketball visitors have reported rail interference at particular seats in sections 116 and 126, and Lynx reports describe some corner seats that do not point toward the court. Inspect your exact row and seat from seated eye level. If watching comfortably would mean leaning around a rail or staying turned throughout the game, compare another location. These reports do not condemn either whole section. Section 116 visitor reports · Section 126 visitor reports
Our call: For a basketball-first trip, pass if a basket or rail hides action you want to follow. Get the section, row and seat number, read every view restriction, and compare a recent basketball photo with the team’s viewer. Use the Wolves tool for a Wolves game and the Lynx tool for a Lynx game, then confirm the seat is offered on your event’s ticket map.
Open the Timberwolves 3D seat viewer · Open the Lynx 3D seat viewer
Checked October 6, 2026. Basketball guidance. A section image or model does not guarantee the view from every seat; concerts and other layouts need their own check.
Check the moving parts
These operator pages own event rules and live travel information. Recheck for your date before leaving; a normal rail connection does not promise service after your event.
- Target Center: event calendar
- Target Center: know before you go
- Metro Transit: Target Center station relationship
- Metro Transit: exact journey planning
Source review: October 6, 2026. Live fares, train times, parking availability and event opening times are deliberately left with the operator.
Your next move
Keep the hotel, game and return journey in the same plan. Your ticket gets you in; a good base makes the rest of the trip work.