NFL Dir of Event Operations Eric Finkelstein said that everything is "on schedule" for Super Bowl LII, despite "losing two weeks of renovation time because the Vikings hosted a divisional playoff game a week ago," according to Rochelle Olson of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. The "most obtrusive element on the field" at U.S. Bank Stadium yesterday was "massive metal rigging at midfield." The rigging "carries supplemental lighting for Justin Timberlake's halftime show and will be hoisted toward the stadium's ceiling." Halftime show rehearsals are, for now, "happening off-site." Construction on the main concourses above the eastern and western end zones was "visible from the field." Broadcast booths with "field-facing windows had been installed along a rail where fans can usually stand" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 1/24). Super Bowl planners have said that "more than a million visitors" will be in town for the game. But in a front-page piece in Minneapolis, Eric Roper notes the actual number is "closer to 125,000." In Houston last year, the "postgame estimate was closer to 150,000 visitors." Just over "64,000 of those had tickets to the game." Another 46,000 were "non-ticketed visitors," and 30,000 were "support staff from out of town" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 1/24).
PARTY'S OVER: In Minneapolis, Liz Sawyer notes Club Nomadic Entertainment Group "filed a federal lawsuit" yesterday alleging that Mystic Lake Casino "abruptly shelved its glitzy pop-up concert venue without notice just three weeks before Super Bowl LII -- after promoters had already sunk" $2.4M into the nightclub. A lawyer for Club Nomadic said that it must now spend $1M "tearing down the 65,000-square-foot temporary structure built in the casino's parking lot for the event, meant to lure thousands of visitors to the Prior Lake complex" a half hour from U.S. Bank Stadium (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 1/24).
