The Vikings "upped their stadium contribution Friday by $518,000, adding an eighth elevator, two concession stands and nothing for the birds," according to Rochelle Olson of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. The team's decision "not to include bird-safe glass overshadowed the announcement at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority." Some people at the meeting "carried signs in Vikings’ purple and gold that read 'Never too late to do the right thing.'" The protesters "want the team and/or the authority" to spend an estimated $1M for "fritted glass, which would help birds shift course and avoid untimely deaths by colliding with the stadium’s soaring glass exterior as they migrate along the nearby Mississippi River corridor." The Vikings’ tab started at $477M and "has inched up to just shy" of $527M in the months since construction began. The remainder of the $1B cost "is covered" with $150M from the city of Minneapolis and $348M from the state of Minnesota. Other new enhancements paid for by the Vikings include "redesigns of a skyway and the press box" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/11).
