urbanMSP

very fast surface for their turf

What makes it "fast"? Is it the rubber fill, or the type of fiber used for grass? I'm assuming "fast" means you can run faster on it or something?

Fast means the ball rolls faster. It's harder than grass.

What would that change when playing football (not soccer)?

What do you mean exactly? In gridiron football players carry and throw the ball, rather than roll it across the turf.

A fast football field means that players are more agile, they're able to cute/change directions faster. Typical straight line speeds aren't really affected as much. As for the ball, it would affect punts that aren't caught, they'd bounce & roll further.

A Strib article about the logistics of the temporary grass field.

I was at the game, and one point did see a corner of one of the sod rolls open up. Fortunately, one of the players saw it during a stoppage and laid it back down.

They have been working on the cladding again yesterday and today. Seems like a lot of trouble. You can see from the stadium view on the vikings webcam.

What's the deal with the black drapes put up for the upcoming concert(s)?

Strib said they were needed for the acoustics so sound doesn't bounce off glass.

Vikings setting up bar, music, kid games outside U.S. Bank Stadium
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-sett ... 390993451/

You can see the top of it on the Aerial webcam: http://www.vikings.com/stadium/new-stadium/webcam.html
Just behind the juvenile court building, at Park & 5th.

You can also see it more fully from the Stadium webcam, when you click on Panorama.

So is this just a glorified tent, basically?

It is a very nice, very fancy, very big... tent.

So is this just a glorified tent, basically?

It has glass, and has HVAC. But it's a "temporary" build.

Anyone going to post pics of the "Legacy Ship"? Am told it is now completed along with the Ribbon Horn.

It has a lot of Miller Lite ads on the shields. But it is nicer than I was anticipating.

Never saw a game at the Humpty Dome. Were the miles of chain link fence and the temporary security tents a part of that game day experience too? Seems to me that security and crowd access and flow could (should) have been an integral part of the design of the plaza, the gates and the walks. The place looks like a county fair on game day, and it appears that they're just going to keep much of the fencing up for the whole season. It looks like shit, IMO.

I tried to bike down chicago and was told to go pretty much half way around the stadium...

Never saw a game at the Humpty Dome. Were the miles of chain link fence and the temporary security tents a part of that game day experience too? Seems to me that security and crowd access and flow could (should) have been an integral part of the design of the plaza, the gates and the walks. The place looks like a county fair on game day, and it appears that they're just going to keep much of the fencing up for the whole season. It looks like shit, IMO.

I agree. Metrodome had 8 gates, 4 for each the lower and upper concourse levels. I don't ever recall large lines for entrance/security, granted they're more strict on that sort of thing today. They appear to have consolidated security mostly on the main plaza, along with the opposite side of the stadium.

Never saw a game at the Humpty Dome. Were the miles of chain link fence and the temporary security tents a part of that game day experience too? Seems to me that security and crowd access and flow could (should) have been an integral part of the design of the plaza, the gates and the walks. The place looks like a county fair on game day, and it appears that they're just going to keep much of the fencing up for the whole season. It looks like shit, IMO.

I agree. Metrodome had 8 gates, 4 for each the lower and upper concourse levels. I don't ever recall large lines for entrance/security, granted they're more strict on that sort of thing today. They appear to have consolidated security mostly on the main plaza, along with the opposite side of the stadium.

I think the design of the plaza does account for security. As noted in a different forum, more than any other professional sports league, the NFL has developed close relationships with the CT divisions of the FBI, DHS, and the NCTC. The NFL and college football are prime targets for terror attacks as al-Qaeda has stated. There is also recognition that al-Qaeda-like groups like ISIS and al-Shabab are active with stated intent to act at such events. Over the last year, there has been a heightened threat level. There are terrorist threat levels and terrorist threat conditions. Threat conditions are scalable.

U.S. Bank Stadium plaza looks like it is designed with security in mind. The cyclone fencing and how it deliberately canalizes traffic flows in ways that work against the design flow of the plaza scream enhanced security in recognition of a heightened threat condition warranting heightened stringent protocols that the plaza can facilitate - above and beyond normal threat conditions. As such, the fencing and related security measures should not so much reflect a design failure on the part of the MSFA or Vikings but rather a recognition that ascetics have to give way to security when threat levels reach a certain level - as they have at this time. As noted, the NFL really does listen to the CT community and follow their recommendations.

With the broad open frontage to U.S. Bank Stadium with barriers way to the front almost at curbside, you can see that a standoff space was created between the barriers and the main entrances that allow for multiple levels of security - security in depth - even in the normal course of events. With the security tents close to the street barriers, with police in the crowd in front of those barriers, with a large open space between the security tents and the stadium entrance, yet a third tier or external security exists that allows law enforcement to provide both an additional layer of security while also providing for a reactionary space that allows for a rapid response team to effectively react (time to hear the threat, target it, and engage with lethal or non-lethal force - think suicide bomber in a jacket or a small group charging the entrance with small arms). That substantial standoff space from the curb-side barriers may also account for the fact that U.S. Bank has a large glass frontage.

A few weeks back, someone posted a gigapixel picture of fans at the soccer game at U.S. Bank Stadium that make it possible to zoom deep enough to identify a person at the other end of the stadium. The technology to develop that capability came out of counter-terror efforts to develop facial recognition algorithms/software. As a passive measure, I'd suspect that such facial recognition regimes either are or are readily deployable to the stadium.

Then those structures should have been made a permanent part of the facility. This thing wasn't designed and built 20 years ago, before the fear of those threats became widespread. They shouldn't need to erect two miles of chain link fence to effect pedestrian traffic flow or limit gate access. They shouldn't have to put up tents in the plaza.