The Vikings' new U.S. Bank Stadium includes "production space with cutting-edge equipment for social media mavens and digital entertainment teams," allowing the team to "send even more exclusive content to fans inside and outside" the $1.1B building, according to front-page piece by Rochelle Olson of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. The Twins, T'Wolves and Wild all "show self-produced videos and interviews during games, giving fans access to players in a forum that the team controls." But no other team in the Twin Cities "pushes out content with the immediacy and variety that the Vikings do." Postgame locker room footage is "routinely delivered to the team’s website." Vikings President & co-Owner Mark Wilf said that from the day his family acquired the team in '05, they "wanted to develop a network to satisfy fans’ insatiable interest in all things purple." Olson noted the network, which "has its studio and production area at the team's Winter Park headquarters, now has 18 full-time employees with more coming aboard before the new stadium opens." The Vikings are "consistently in the top three of the NFL’s 32 teams for video views and in the top five for photos." They had "been in the middle of the pack for stories, but now rank in the top 10." The number of Vikings Twitter followers has grown 17% since the start of the season, surpassing 500,000. The Vikings also have 1.9 million Facebook fans, "putting them 17th in the NFL." Wilf and Vikings COO Kevin Warren said that the goal is to "supplement rather than supplant traditional media with the homemade content." Wilf: "What I think is great about it is that it gives a perspective on the team that is more than just the game. The fans want it. We’re always looking at the fan experience and now it’s 365/24/7" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 1/7).
