MSFC Considers Using Parts Of Metrodome To Build New Stadium

Sports Facilities Commission Considers Using Parts Of Metrodome In Construction Of New Stadium

In an effort to jump start the lagging Vikings stadium debate, the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission (MSFC), which owns and operates the 27-year-old Metrodome, unveiled a new $853M retractable-roof concept that re-uses some of the Dome's foundation. The design, developed by architects at Ellerbe Becket, would literally turn the stadium around, reorienting the current North-South football field to an East-West configuration. It would widen concourses, add 8,000 club seats and increase suites from 99 to 150. According to stadium consultant CSL, the "reconstruction" would generate $32M in new premium seating, signage, naming rights and ticket revenues over the current Metrodome revenue streams. The Vikings' lease at the Dome expires after the 2011 season. Vikings VP/Stadium Affairs & Development Lester Bagley said the plan and financial projections "require further study." Bagley: "We need to get this resolved sooner rather than later or this franchise is going to be in jeopardy." One issue: the Vikings would have to play elsewhere, probably at the new Univ. of Minnesota stadium, for two seasons. A plan to seek approval at the Legislature for a new stadium in ‘07 was cut short when the I-35 bridge collapsed barely a mile from the Dome (Jay Weiner, Correspondent). In Minneapolis, Heron Marquez Estrada reports Ellerbe Becket's plan "would cost about $100[M] less than a previous proposal for an all-new stadium," and the information will be presented to the Legislature next year. The previous proposal for a new stadium "called for the demolition" of the Metrodome, and MSFC Chair Roy Terwilliger said that the "pricetag on that plan was $954[M]" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/18).

DESIGN PLANS: In Minneapolis, Sid Hartman reports the MSFC "unanimously approved issuing proposals for the hiring of architects and construction management to carry out the 'schematic design' phase of a multi-purpose, retractable-roof facility on the Metrodome site." The Vikings and the MSFC will "share equally the cost of the architect and the construction manager" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/18).