DULUTH — Duluth Harbor Monsters general manager Steve Waters knows you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. That’s why Saturday’s debut matchup against the Dallas Falcons, an American Arena League 2 franchise, will have a different look and feel than what you might expect from a typical preseason game. “It's gonna be a fun show from the very get-go,” said Walters, a Twin Ports native whose background is in marketing and sales.
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We'll have beer gardens for adults, bouncy houses and obstacle courses for kids. We’re gonna have vendors there. We’re gonna have music and concerts, and that’s just the pregame an hour and a half before kickoff.
” The action will ramp up when fans receive their first live glimpse of arena football in the Northland since the Indoor Football League’s Duluth Lumberjacks two decades ago. “..
. (It's) a high-paced, high-scoring, big-hits version of football that the audience gets to get so close to,” Walters explained of the proximity fans will have to the action at the DECC. “And then everything within that event, within that game — we don’t want you to have a second to breathe.
” ADVERTISEMENT Walters’ grandiose vision for the Harbor Monsters’ season may seem like pie in the sky to some in the wake of past failed franchises— including the Lumberjacks, which folded after their second season in 2000 — but for Walters, the road map to making this venture a success has never wavered. Since bein.