BLAINE, Minn. — The 3M Open kicked off its fourth year at Blaine's TPC Twin Cities golf club Wednesday, drawing in hundreds of thousands of people from around the world.
"We take a lot of pride in having the PGA Tour in our city," Blaine Mayor Tim Sanders said.
Before this was a FedExCup event, the Senior PGA Tour played the 3M Championship dating back to 2001. It's been a well-known, busy week in Blaine for decades.
"We generate $50 million in economic impact from the 3M," Sanders said.
Adam Thielen, Jake Owen, Kyle Rudolf and Larry Fitzgerald were among those who played in the ProAm on Thursday. This year, the 3M Open is expected to make a big recovery with fans following COVID-19.
"It's a family friendly event," Thielen, wide-receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, said.
Thielen said he doesn't get up to that area of the state often, but said he'd be coming back to watch the professional golfers this weekend with his family.
The mayor says on average, 7.5 million people come to Blaine for sporting events throughout the year. The USA Cup wrapped up earlier this month. It's the largest soccer event in North America.
"Improving infrastructure is our top priority," Sanders said.
Events are getting larger and the population is increasing in Blaine. It's now the 10th largest city in the state, but it has only two hotels and lacks a restaurant scene to rival other big sport cities around the metro.
"This week we're hoping businesses will see the opportunity in Blaine. We have dirt. A lot of cities in the metro don't. You can build here and don't have to just redevelop," Sanders said.
Sanders thinks there will be more interest in developers coming to Blaine if they can show them how they're investing in updating their traffic issues, with particular focus on Highway 65, which runs directly through the city.
The City of Blaine has $160 million construction plan that calls for creating four overpasses along Highway 65. They will go above some of the most highly trafficked intersections to ease congestion and traffic.
They're in the process of holding public comment as they apply for federal transportation grants to fund the project. The mayor estimates sections of the construction will begin in 2023.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist: