A zinc panel from U.S. Bank Stadium’s problematic western prow "fell to the ground early Monday while others have come loose again," according to a front-page piece by Olson & Sawyer of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. A missing horizontal strip of black panel "stretches from the glass facade to underneath the U.S. Bank Stadium logo that appears on the 270-foot high prow." Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority Dir of Communications Jenn Hathaway in a statement said that one panel "fell to the ground in the hours after midnight" on Monday. Olson & Sawyer note both moisture and wind have "previously caused trouble" for the $1.1B stadium that opened in August. The zinc panels on the exterior have been the "focus of a couple of concerns on the building." Thousands of the panels, which are "12 inches high and 6 to 12 feet long," line the exterior of the venue. The panels initially were "bolted down only along the bottom edge." After heavy storms last summer, some panels "came loose and flapped in the wind" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 12/28).
