Basketball fans, circle the first week of August. The Minnesota Lynx return to Target Center for a four-game homestand from August 2 to August 9, 2026 — their longest home run of the late summer, capped by a visit from the reigning WNBA champions. If you’re coming to Minneapolis for the games, skip the cookie-cutter hotel block and stay somewhere with a story: 300 Clifton, the historic Eugene J. Carpenter Mansion in Loring Park, about a mile from the arena.
The Homestand at a Glance
Four games in eight days, per the official Target Center schedule release:
- Sunday, August 2 — vs. Indiana Fever
- Thursday, August 6 — vs. Los Angeles Sparks
- Saturday, August 8 — vs. Las Vegas Aces, the reigning WNBA champions
- Sunday, August 9 — vs. Dallas Wings, the Lynx’s only back-to-back home weekend of the season
This is the tail end of the most home-friendly stretch on the calendar — nine of twelve games at Target Center from mid-July through August 9 — and the stakes are real. The Lynx went a staggering 20–2 at home last season, and head coach Cheryl Reeve entered 2026 just sixteen wins shy of becoming the winningest coach in WNBA history. Check tip-off times and tickets on the official Lynx schedule, and book your room before the Aces weekend sells the city out.
A Mansion, Not a Hotel Block
300 Clifton is the finest Georgian mansion in Minnesota, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and tucked into the leafy Loring Park neighborhood — skyscrapers on the horizon, English gardens at your feet. Choose the Crystal Mansion, Grand Edwardian, or Georgian rooms for carved fireplaces and hand-painted murals, or go playful in the Coachman’s, Hayloft, or Blacksmith’s Forge.
After the Final Buzzer
Post-game, the mansion is where the evening gets good. Slip into the four-season garden hot tub under the stars, or head downstairs to Gertrude’s Cistern — our speakeasy and haunted video lounge with heated reclining seats — to argue about fourth-quarter rotations over a nightcap. (Yes, we said haunted. It’s a whole thing.)
Make It a Full Minneapolis Weekend
The second weekend of the homestand might be the busiest, best weekend of the Minneapolis summer. The Minnesota Fringe Festival opens August 6, Kehlani plays the Armory that same night, and the Uptown Art Fair runs August 7–9. Pair a Saturday Aces game with Sunday at the art fair and you’ve built a weekend worth bragging about.
Want the lay of the land first? Minneapolis Trolley Tours rolls right through the city’s best neighborhoods and history — a perfect game-day morning — and their guide to things to do in Minneapolis is the local cheat sheet. Traveling with a group for the games? Our sister property Oakland’s on 9th offers full-kitchen studios downtown, and members can end the night at the Pillsbury Club.
Getting to Target Center from 300 Clifton
Target Center sits at 600 First Avenue North, about a mile from the mansion — a 5-minute rideshare or a pleasant 20-minute walk up Nicollet Mall on a summer evening. Start with a pre-game stroll around Loring Park right outside our door, and see the arena’s getting here guide for parking and transit details.
Book Your Lynx Weekend Now
Between the Aces, the Fringe, Kehlani, and the art fair, the first two weekends of August will fill fast — and the mansion has only a handful of rooms. Midweek for the Thursday Sparks game? Ask about our Midweek Escape and other specials. Catching more shows at the arena later this month? See our guide to summer concerts at Target Center. Either way: the hot tub is warm, the ghosts are friendly, and the basketball is championship-caliber. Book your stay at 300 Clifton.
Keep reading: making it a theater night instead? Here’s where to stay for Wicked at the Orpheum, on stage through August 9.