A year from now, the Metrodome will be no more. The Minnesota Vikings' home since the 1982 season will be demolished February of next year. The team is getting a new home. The new stadium won't be open for business until the 2016 season but the steps needed to get there are being taken. Of course, the biggest step was taken last spring when the Minnesota legislature finally passed the long sought stadium bill. Since that time, all the fun stuff has been taking place. Planning the process and finding the right people to make it all work. The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority was formed to oversee everything and to work with the Vikings. HKS of Dallas was hired as the architects. They did the work on Cowboys Stadium and the Colts' Lucas Oil Stadium. All the various consultants, subconsultants and engineers have been hired. Yesterday it was announced that Mortenson Construction of Golden Valley, Minnesota was chosen as the Construction Manager to build the multi-purpose stadium in downtown Minneapolis. Mortenson has extensive sports venue construction experience in Minnesota. They built Target Field, Target Center, Xcel Energy Center and TCF Bank Stadium. The company's workforce will be 100% Minnesota-based. The firm estimates that the new stadium project will require 4.25 million work hours and employ 7,500 workers during the approximately three-year build. This was one of the most significant stadium development decisions remaining before the stadium design can be finalized and the groundbreaking can take place. That groundbreaking is scheduled to begin this fall as the Vikings play their farewell season in the Metrodome. Perhaps the most anticipated part of this process, outside of the first game played in it, will be the release of the drawings and schematics of the proposed stadium. We have to wait a couple more months for that excitement. Still in play are a retractable roof, wall or window. The Vikings and the Stadium Authority prefer a retractable roof if it can be built within the budget.
Construction of the new stadium will take place next to the old stadium during the upcoming 2013 season. Then that old stadium comes down. The Vikings plan to play the 2014 and 2015 at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium. That means that the Vikings will be playing outdoor home games for the first time since 1981. I'm not counting that one game played at TCF during the disastrous 2010 season when the roof of the Metrodome came down. Cold Minnesota home games after all these years. Great stuff.
The Minnesota Vikings' new home is finally coming together.
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