Vikings Stadium Miscellaneous Discussion

[moda253]

What's up with the Minnesotan superiority complex? This a rhetorical question and just something I've noticed living here for the last 9 years. We should be proud of this state, but Wisconsin is our mirror image in most ways. Now let's get back to the Viking's stadium.

No we really have nothing in common with Wisconsin. At least not from a development and architecture standpoint we don't.

[spearson]

Great news on the stadium, I have a friend who is married to a mort project manager; this will be nothing like Lucas, nothing!

Thanks Nasa. That is great news! It's a hint it could be something very contemporary and bold.

Ha, ha....that I don't know. She stated that her husband said they were all laughing at the Lucas rumours and quote; "paranoia".

Makes me wonder who all reads our often crazy/heated threads on this site.

[mullen]

i'm hopeful. i never though this would be a similar design to lucas oil stadium. they went the traditional route there. target field set the bar high. this city has more a modern design aesthetic than indianapolis.

[Didier]

One of my friends actually said, and I quote, "I wouldn't be surprised if it looked kind of like Lucas Oil."

[nasa35]

One of my friends actually said, and I quote, "I wouldn't be surprised if it looked kind of like Lucas Oil."

Well, you did make me laugh!

[ace]

One of my friends actually said, and I quote, "I wouldn't be surprised if it looked kind of like Lucas Oil."

get better friends

[Tyler]

One of my friends actually said, and I quote, "I wouldn't be surprised if it looked kind of like Lucas Oil."

get better friends

ohh no he didn't!

[talindsay]

fotoapparatic:

I have to disagree. For centuries, the standard "civic" style in Western cultures has essentially been Greco-roman. (See, e.g., Washington, DC.) Civic structures were built with that aesthetic precisely because they were NOT the wild architectural vogue of the time - they represented a baseline that people were familiar with. They were designed to evoke a shared cultural ethos, not the fickle tastes of an architectural elite.

Funny you would choose Washington, DC, a city where a very large percentage of the buildings were building during the massive expansion of federal government, which happened to coincide with Brutalism's ascendancy. Washington, DC probably has the most Brutalist public architecture of any city in the United States, and that most certainly represents the "wild architectural vogue of the time". Sure, the monuments in the monument area and many of the buildings fronting the Mall are neo-Classical, but as a whole public architecture in DC certainly represents the vogue of the era in which it was built - and most of that is 1960s and 1970s Brutalism.

[talindsay]

By the way, I finally discovered the awesomeness that is the Minnesota Distance Running Association's Tuesday and Thursday evening running sessions at the Metrodome. For a dollar you can run the upper concourse, which is 3/8 mile per loop. On a cold February day it's much nicer to run 6 miles in the Dome than outside, where it's cold, or on a treadmill, which is some sick masochistic torture contraption.

Anyway, the design requirements for a stadium that accommodates this community use are quite simple: just a concourse that's continuously open and wide all the way around the entire stadium, that's a reasonably long loop, that can be secured for a few hours a couple times a week; and yet I'm pretty sure the Dome is the only facility in the Twin Cities that meets this need - Xcel could probably work in a pinch but is much too small a loop to be ideal, while Target Field, TCF stadium and Target Center all break the possibility of a continuous loop. The various University arenas are all much too tight to work.

I do hope the designers of the new Vikings stadium remember this very easy community use in their planning - obviously it doesn't make any money, but several hundred Minnesota runners use it throughout the winter and it's really great.

[mamundsen]

Target Field could work on the 100 level. It's just outdoors.

[Didier]

Indoor running in the Dome is one of the many random but surprisingly awesome uses of our old friend. Even though the $1 fee can't possibly cover the electricity bill on Tuesday nights, I hope they continue doing this.

I occasionally run around TCF Stadium as it's only a mile away from me and it's an unobstructed loop to get in an extra 1/3 mile without stoplights or anything, but even if you could run in the actual concourses they are technically outside, too.

[SixOneTwo]

Metrodome razing slated for January or February of 2014.

[RailBaronYarr]

Metrodome razing slated for January or February of 2014.

And I'll be there with beer in hand. Let me count the horrible memories there... UMN vs Mich 2003, UMN vs WI 2005, UMN vs Iowa 2008 (although Lois Feldman may be sad to see the place go), any Twins vs Yankees playoff series, I could go on.. For the money our metro got a steal of a deal in that stadium but it did nothing for me as a Twins or Gopher Football fan.

[Nick]

I officially declare UrbanMSP tailgating for the demolition.

[MNdible]

This conversation reminds me. When Target Field was being designed, the promise was that you would be able to walk through the outfield concourse as a way to connect from Northstar to the Skyway. That is, this stretch was to be open to the public during non-game times. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't actually the case. Anybody recollect this, and if so, does anybody know how the got away with breaking this promise?

[TWA]

By the way, I finally discovered the awesomeness that is the Minnesota Distance Running Association's Tuesday and Thursday evening running sessions at the Metrodome. For a dollar you can run the upper concourse, which is 3/8 mile per loop. On a cold February day it's much nicer to run 6 miles in the Dome than outside, where it's cold, or on a treadmill, which is some sick masochistic torture contraption.

Anyway, the design requirements for a stadium that accommodates this community use are quite simple: just a concourse that's continuously open and wide all the way around the entire stadium, that's a reasonably long loop, that can be secured for a few hours a couple times a week; and yet I'm pretty sure the Dome is the only facility in the Twin Cities that meets this need - Xcel could probably work in a pinch but is much too small a loop to be ideal, while Target Field, TCF stadium and Target Center all break the possibility of a continuous loop. The various University arenas are all much too tight to work.

I do hope the designers of the new Vikings stadium remember this very easy community use in their planning - obviously it doesn't make any money, but several hundred Minnesota runners use it throughout the winter and it's really great.

Years ago I remember paying a nominal fee to rollerblade around the dome as well. Good childhood memories. I hope future generations can have something like that as well.

And yes, I was a badass rollerblader... not a rollerskater

[mullen]

that will be a long tailgate. this won't be a big explosion on a sunday morning, as cool as that would be. sounds like they're going to demolish it in phases.

the dome served it's multiple purposes. i won't say it served them "well" though. job done. if you have tickets in the lower bowl football sightlines are fine. from every other perspective of a modern facility it is a relic. one of the last of this type of dome, with the carrier dome in syracuse.

[Rich]

The baseball field dimensions dispute is settled. Right field will be 300 feet deep with a 26-foot temporary outfield wall. For comparison, left field in Fenway is 310 feet deep with a 37-foot wall. Other details here:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikin ... 96711.html

[RailBaronYarr]

Wow, who woulda thunk that the Vikings could compromise and still have a modern facility that will bring them millions in extra revenue each year compared to the dome and an improved fan experience.

For the money the state and city put in to this I'm glad they compromised. More likely, they came out swinging with an outrageous proposal to "compromise" on something they would originally have done anyway.

[min-chi-cbus]

The baseball field dimensions dispute is settled. Right field will be 300 feet deep with a 26-foot temporary outfield wall. For comparison, left field in Fenway is 310 feet deep with a 37-foot wall. Other details here:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikin ... 96711.html

Can sombody highlight and summarize what baseball has to do with this new stadium? I saw the argument here on urbanmsp.com but it was pages long and I don't really have time to research it.....I don't know what baseball has to do with this new stadium since the Gopher baseball team is getting a new field on campus and the Twins already have a field (or is this for playoffs in October and November)?