Minneapolis based Kraus-Anderson Construction "will build" the proposed Vikings HQ in Eagan, Minn., with a cost speculated between $80-90M, according to Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Mortenson Construction, builders of U.S. Bank Stadium, "didn't bid on the project due to its workload." K.C.-based Crawford Architects is designing the complex. The indoor facility will "compose 45 of the 200 acres and there will be four other outdoor practice fields in addition to the indoor practice field." The project will also include an outdoor stadium where the Vikings hope to "entice a feature Friday night high school football game." The stadium also "could be used" for some college football, lacrosse and soccer matches. The Vikings believe the outdoor stadium will "have 6,000 seats with the ability to grow to 10,000." Meanwhile, the indoor facility and team HQ will feature a "broadcast studio for the Vikings Entertainment Network." Additional phases will include the "construction of office space, a major medical office, a conference center hotel and other retail and residential development." The additional phases will be "dependent upon the marketplace and could take anywhere from 10 to 15 years to develop" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 6/30).
HONORING A LEGEND: In Minneapolis, Rochelle Olson notes when journalists arrive at U.S. Bank Stadium, Hartman's image "will greet them at the media entrance." Vikings Exec VP/Public Affairs & Stadium Development Lester Bagley said there will "never be another Sid Hartman." Bagley said the team thought it was "appropriate to take this opportunity to honor his contributions to journalism" and the community's understanding of sports. Bagley said that Vikings co-Owners Zygi and Mark Wilf "endorsed the honoring of Hartman." The 96-year-old Hartman is featured in two works and his name is "etched on the door of the media entrance to the building under an image of a Vikings' norseman" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 6/30).
