The Vikings’ Future Home is Starting to Look like a Stadium
By Nick Fritz
The largest construction project in the history of Minnesota is starting to take shape. It’s the new Vikings stadium and it’s about 40% complete.
Although, you might think it’s farther along if you were to drive by.
The multi-purpose behemoth was originally budgeted at $975 million, but has since increased to over $1 billion. The extra fees are being paid solely by ownership and according to Vikings Executive Vice President Lester Bagley, things are running smoothly.
“We were fortunate,” he said. “I think there’s some challenges in the market right now on cement and other materials, but we got in at the right time. We purchased our materials a year or so ago — enough time to get them locked down and secured.”
“July of 2016, we’re on schedule for sure, they’re working today, working around the clock. They don’t work in the middle of the night but they work every day of the week. Sunday is a little lighter crew, but they don’t stop. They have about 700-plus workers on the construction site right now, and in the next couple of months it will be close to 1,100. … It’s on schedule. It’ll be enclosed next fall, so they’ll start to work inside by the end of the year. By this fall of 2015 we’ll start to enclose it and by the end of the year they’ll start working inside for the finishing touches over the last six months of the project. About 18 months to go.”
Especially in this economy, it’s never an easy task to fill a building with 65,000 people. But Bagley says it will be no problem, and even though the available seating will be similar to that of the Metrodome, it’ll be twice the size with many more activities for fans to enjoy.
What the exact economic boost the stadium will give the state is still unknown, but we know it will be a world class facility and have no problem attracting big events. It has already been chosen to host the 2018 Superbowl, an event that is estimated to generate around $500 million for its host city.
According to the Minneapolis/St. Paul business journal, the next push will be for Wrestlemania 33, which would bring in around $100 million.
After having to deal with the Metrodome, or concrete-land as I liked to call it, the yet-to-be-named stadium on the same site will be unlike anything a lot of Minnesotans have experienced before. But buried in all the excitement, let’s remember the most important thing: the Vikings aren’t going anywhere for a long time.
Credit to Vikings.com for photos