State-Of-The-Art Features Make New Vikings Stadium One-Of-A-Kind
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Vikings' new $1 billion stadium will open in less than a year. Progress is coming along nicely -- it is officially more than 65 percent complete.
As crews continue their work, David McCoy got a look inside at some of the features that will make U.S. Bank Stadium unique.
When checking out the Vikings new stadium, the first place to look is up. The clear roof is the venue's signature element.
"Well, there's nothing like it in the country," Vikings Executive Vice President Lester Bagley said. "It's acoustically more reflective than the old Metrodome. So with the 40 percent hard deck roof combined with the 60 percent clear, we think it's going to be loud. We think it's going to be that great home field advantage that we need to have to make it difficult for our opponents to have success in this building."
To get in the building, there will be nothing like walking through the massive pivoting glass doors on the east end -- some of the largest in the world.
"One of the key elements is the indoor/outdoor feature -- the five pivoting glass doors. Nothing like it in the country," Bagley said. "Combined with the 60 percent clear roof, that indoor-outdoor experience we think fits Minnesota. We'll leave those doors open as long into the season as we can."
And, like everything else in the stadium, the video boards will dwarf those of the Metrodome. The west end video board is more than 12 times the size of the Metrodome's. The east side more than 8 times.
The next big step in the stadium's construction is installing the seating. Crews will begin doing that in the very near future.
