MSFC Considers Using Parts Of Metrodome To Build New Stadium
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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).
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