In St. Paul, Doug Belden reports the Vikings tomorrow "are expected to increase their contribution to the new downtown Minneapolis stadium yet again," and the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority plans to apply $16M in project funds to "developing the Block 1 parking ramp." The team "will chip in another $647,000 for a variety of changes." The team last month "upped its total by $517,000 for more concession areas, another elevator and design changes to the skyway and media area." The team "is now funding" more than $526M of the total $1B-plus cost. The state "is putting in" $348M and the city of Minneapolis is providing $150M (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 11/20).
GETTING IT GOING: In Chicago, Dan Wiederer reports the clock malfunctions at Soldier Field that "marred" Sunday’s Vikings-Bears game "appear to be fixed." SMG Dir of Sponsorship & Media at Soldier Field Luca Serra said that all glitches that "caused the game clocks on each of the stadium’s video boards to stop working properly for large portions of last weekend’s game have been rectified by Daktronics." The company "spent the early parts of this week identifying what exactly went wrong during the Vikings game." While Serra would not specify exactly what the technical difficulties "were diagnosed as, he has been given assurance that the problem has been rectified" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 11/20).
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE: Univ. of Oregon AD Rob Mullens yesterday announced that the new Jane Sanders Stadium for softball "will be built in time for the 2016 season on the same plot of land where Howe Field -- Oregon softball's home stadium since 1987 -- already sits." Coach Mike White said that the ballpark "is expected to seat 1,500, with a capacity of around 2,500." In Portland, Andrew Greif notes the site and opening date "stand as important milestones for the stadium project, which was long-desired at Oregon because of prominent limitations" at Howe Field that "include obstructed view seating from above-ground dugouts and lack of permanent restrooms." SRG "will design the park" after previously designing ballparks for the Univ. of Washington baseball team and Single-A Northwest League Hillsboro Hops (Portland OREGONIAN, 11/20).
SOMETHING FROM NOTHING: ROLLING STONE's Kory Grow noted the Foo Fighters as part of their '15 North American Tour will play at facilities including RFK Stadium on July 4; Citi Field on July 16; Fenway Park on July 18-19; and Wrigley Field on Aug. 29 (ROLLINGSTONE.com, 11/18).
