The new Vikings stadium won’t have a retractable roof. So what? Get over it.
About one-third of the world’s population subsists on $2 per day, according to last Sunday TV’s 60 Minutes. Don’t whine about not being able to accommodate a retractable roof in the $975 million budget. That’s plenty of money to spend without adding on the retractable roof for another $25 to $50 million.
The design announced on Monday night detailed how part of the roof and huge pivoting doors will allow light into the building, providing the feeling of that long desired outdoor experience. The stadium will have seven levels, seat 65,000 fans for Vikings games, provide close proximity to the field and be able to accommodate more types of events than any facility in the world, according to venue promoters.
Pro football is a spectacle well suited to indoor accommodations. It’s a made for TV sport and NFL stadiums are giant TV studios. Vikings fans will be cozy inside their new stadium with views of the downtown skyline and giant video boards to entertain themselves. The purple-dressed throngs will be able to walk to the stadium in controlled climate comfort because of the skyway system linking to the facility.
From Detroit to Houston, the NFL has embraced the indoor football experience in multiple cities. In Detroit the Lions play in a fixed roof facility and in Houston the Texans hardly ever play under blue sky despite having a retractable roof, preferring a climate controlled environment.
Instead of complaining about the absence of the roof, celebrate that this city and state has decided to build a state-of-the-art facility that will compare favorably to any in the world. This will be no built-on-the-cheap stadium like the Metrodome, a facility where tightwad politicians and administrators thought about not using air conditioning to save money.
Even when it was new, the dome with its Teflon coated roof, never won a beauty contest. Shoulder pads are optional in the overcrowded concourses. Visiting the restrooms is usually a tradeoff in missed game time. Worst of all, a roof collapse always seemed a possibility.
The Metrodome did ensure the presence of the Twins and Vikings in Minnesota for more than 30 years. In the 1970s both franchises wanted the downtown dome rather play in outdoor Met Stadium. The Vikings particularly pushed hard for a dome. Historians will remember there once were plans for the Twins to stay in Bloomington while the Vikings would move into a football only covered facility on the west side of downtown. A parking ramp was to surround the exterior and daily revenues would help pay for the stadium.
The design detailed by HKS Sports on Monday night gave confidence to the notion that this new endeavor will be a world-class stadium. There’s been a history here of building stadiums without a commitment to quality but that won’t be true of the Vikings’ stadium. Both Met Stadium and the Metrodome were built with “what can we get by with approaches.” TCF Bank Stadium and Target Field broke with that sorry mantra and the Vikings stadium looks like it will go a step higher.
The new stadium will host 10 or more Vikings games per year but it will also be a giant indoor park hosting high school and college baseball, saving the spring season in some years here in our bizarre climate. There will be glamorous and not so glitzy uses of the facility ranging from Final Fours to neighborhood rollerblading, from rock concerts to conventions. Yes, we might even see a bowl game here and certainly the stadium will host the Prep Bowl just like the Metrodome has for all these years.
A few years ago speculation was the Vikings were headed to Los Angeles. But the Vikings will be playing in a new stadium in Minneapolis in 2016 and right now LA is still trying to figure out how to finance a pro football facility. Not only that but LA’s baseball and college football teams play in old stadiums while here in Minneapolis our teams are in new facilities.
Maybe Hollywood is overrated. Maybe like a retractable roof.
Love your take on the Vikings stadium design, David. And I couldn’t agree more. The cost of a retractable roof, unless paid for entirely by the Vikings, doesn’t make sense economical sense. This will be a first-class facility as it is.