You can now add license plates featuring Minnesota’s professional sports teams and nostalgic “blackout” plates to the list of those available from the Minnesota Department of Driver and Vehicle Services. They’ll join the hundreds of thousands of other specialty plates already on vehicles and motorcycles.

“This was one of the new things we put into place this year in the last legislative session,” Gov. Tim Walz said right after registering for a “blackout” plate that has proven popular in many other states. “I think it’s a nostalgia thing. It harkens back to a time when the simplest plates, earliest automobiles coming on were black and white.”

In addition to the black-and-white plates, you can now also buy plates representing the Minnesota Vikings, Twins, Timberwolves, Lynx and Wild. Since sales started Jan. 1, 459 Vikings plates had been sold, more than any other team.

The blackout plates are the most popular with 3,886 sold since Jan. 1. (not including today). The extra $30 fee for the sports plates support team charities, while the blackout plates fees support Driver and Vehicle Services programs.

But they all have a long way to go to match the most popular specialty plates. Those featuring various “critical habitats” were on 254,544 vehicles at the end of 2023. Collector plates are on 232,565, followed by personalized plates at 80,400, Support our Troops at 46,008 and veteran plates at 29,069.

The top five collegiate plates support the University of Minnesota (3,951), UMD (576), Gustavus (285), St. Thomas (273) and St. Johns (179).

“For special plates, all the contributions go back to the organizations that designed the plates or introduced the plates,” says Pong Xiong, director of Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services.

Xiong joined Gov. Walz in promoting the new plates today at a motor vehicle registration site at White Bear Lake City Hall.