16 thoughts on “TCF Stadium: The New Home of the Vikings

  1. KFAN host said the #1 question they were getting from listeners was whether or not the U would allow alcoholic beverages to be served at TCF. Host guy asked why alcohol has to be a part of spectator sports. Host guy must not watch much Vikings football.

  2. This is phase two of the Vikings ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’ approach to a new stadium.

    Phase one is the plethora of articles and comments about the roof of the Dome being a safety issue, not just for the Vikings but ‘” the safety and well being of Vikings fans and player, the hundreds of youth sports, community and other groups that use the Metrodome throughout the year and our employees,”

    I think they borrowed that line from Education Minnesota; its for the kids!

    Phase 2 will be the inevitable number of articles about playing in the open air, with photos of fans bundled up and still frozen. The team already says they won’t pay for a roof because they don’t need it. Now they will bombard the legislature with pictures of frozen fans when arguing for the usefulness of a roof they don’t need.

  3. Host guy asked why alcohol has to be a part of spectator sports.

    I don’t know too much about drinking during a Vikings game only that I feel the need to drink after a Vikings game.

  4. The Vikings…let me see. They are a sports team that plays something similar to American football with a sometimes retired quarterback that has not done them any “favres”…Aren’t they? Or are they a Rugby team?

  5. Was that roof was 28 years old? I don’t recall any stories about it being replaced. A standard commercial roof would have been end of life by then. Why hadn’t the metropolitan sports commission replaced it already? Were they planning on the existing roof not being needed much longer any way?

  6. If the Metrodome was able to accomidate the Vikings, Twins and Gopher ( ahem) football why can’t TCF handle just the Gophs and Vikings.

    TCF gets a great deal more advertising, the Vikes get to play in brand new stadium, the taxpayers don’t get soaked for yet another facility, Zygi doesn’t have to shell out any money and the U gets more revenue.

  7. TCF is as good as anywhere else; the Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears could crush the hapless ‘queens in a corn field.

    Daaaaa Bears.

  8. The team already says they won’t pay for a roof because they don’t need it. Now they will bombard the legislature with pictures of frozen fans when arguing for the usefulness of a roof they don’t need.

    Retractability, here we come.

  9. Regarding the roof–imagine trying to get a permit to put such a roof on a privately owned building. The building inspector would ask what the R value was and shoot you down right there.

    (and I’d have to guess that the collapse of the homer-dome roof was in part due to that very factor….heat from inside melts snow, turns to ice, weighs down the roof and BOOM)

    And hey, if the Pack can play in January in Lambeau, the Queens can play in December in the open air, too.

  10. and I’d have to guess that the collapse of the homer-dome roof was in part due to that very factor….heat from inside melts snow, turns to ice, weighs down the roof and BOOM

    Weight and wind broke the roof. It actually had a gap between layers where warmer air could circulate to melt the snow. So ice wasn’t really a factor. It was designed to melt.

  11. JPA,

    I was thinking the same thing. Besides, snow is already ice. It’s just that the cubes are a lot smaller!

  12. JPA, Leslie, Stooj; the point here is that in an ordinary storm, excess snow will blow off the roof. Now when you have an extremely cold snap along with an extremely heavy storm, combined with a very low R value on the roof, you end up freezing that weight in place as more falls on it.

    Ordinarily, yes, it would melt and the water would flow off. Drop the temperature below zero, as occurred, and I’d have to guess that this “safety valve” is compromised, to say the least.

  13. Bubba, let me help you and paraphrase what you are trying to say. Sustained rate of snowfall on that day was beyond Metrodome snow removal capacity.

  14. You got it, and it turns out that snow removal from the Homer-Dome really depends on a LOT of hot water being sprayed on the roof. See today’s Pioneer Press for how they keep the roof going in winter; suffice it to say this is a job I’d not sign up for.

    Not a tremendously bad idea south of Indianapolis, but here? And again, try doing that kind of roof in the private sector. No dice, I’m sure.

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