Houston gifts Minneapolis a Super Bowl tree

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Super Bowl 52 is now still nine months away, but the Vikings and the NFL are making sure Minnesota takes the handoff from Houston smoothly.

Apparently the handoff has a bit of a green thumb as well.

Each year, a symbolic Super Bowl gift is passed from the former host committee to the next.

On Thursday, the City of Houston today presented Minnesota with a river birch tree.

Representatives from the NFL, Vikings, Super Bowl Host Committee, Tree Trust, Verizon and local students were on hand to plant the tree along with 14 other trees at Currie Park in Minneapolis.

It's the first of many Super Bowl urban forestry grants and habitat restoration projects in Minnesota.