The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome) was a domed sports
stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
located in downtown
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for
Metropolitan Stadium
Metropolitan Stadium (often referred to as "the Met", "Met Stadium", or now "the Old Met" to distinguish from the Metrodome) was an outdoor sports stadium in the north central United States, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneap ...
, the former home of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
's (NFL)
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...
and
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
's (MLB)
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...
, and
Memorial Stadium, the former home of the
Minnesota Golden Gophers football
The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its ince ...
team.
The Metrodome was the home of the Vikings from 1982 to 2013, the Twins from 1982 to 2009, the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
's (NBA)
Minnesota Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...
in their
1989–90 inaugural season, the Golden Gophers football team from 1982 to 2008, and the occasional home of the
Golden Gophers baseball team from 1985 to 2010 and their full-time home in 2012. It was also the home of the
Minnesota Strikers
The Minnesota Strikers were an American soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) for the 1984 season and in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1984 through 1988. The team was based in Minneapolis/St. Paul metropoli ...
of the
North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to:
*North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league
*North American Soccer League (2011–2017)
The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...
in 1984. The Vikings played at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
's
TCF Bank Stadium
Huntington Bank Stadium (formerly known as TCF Bank Stadium) is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009, after three years of construction. It i ...
for the 2014 and 2015 NFL seasons, ahead of the planned opening of
U.S. Bank Stadium
U.S. Bank Stadium is an enclosed stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Built on the former site of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the indoor stadium opened in 2016 and is the home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Footbal ...
in 2016.
The stadium had a
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
fabric roof that was
self-supported by air pressure and was the third major sports facility to have this feature (the first two being the
Pontiac Silverdome
The Pontiac Silverdome (also known simply as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, ...
and the
Carrier Dome). The Metrodome was similar in design to the former
RCA Dome
The RCA Dome (originally Hoosier Dome) was a domed stadium in Indianapolis. It was the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise for 24 seasons (1984– 2007).
It was completed at a cost of $77.5 million, as part of the Indiana Convention Ce ...
and to
BC Place
BC Place is a multi-purpose stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located at the north side of False Creek, it is owned and operated by the BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), a crown corporation of the province.
The venue is currently ...
, though BC Place was reconfigured with a retractable roof in 2010. The Metrodome was the inspiration for the
Tokyo Dome
is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...
in Tokyo, Japan.
[Haberman, Clyde ]
Some Doubts, a Tokyo Dome
New York Times, March 23, 1988 The stadium was the only facility to have hosted a
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
(
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
),
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
(
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
,
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
),
MLB All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...
(
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
) and
NCAA Division I Basketball Final Four (
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
,
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
).
The Metrodome had several nicknames such as "The Dome", "The Thunderdome", "The Homer Dome." and "The Technodome". Preparation for the demolition of the Metrodome began the day after the facility hosted its final home game for the Minnesota Vikings on December 29, 2013, and the roof was deflated and demolition began on January 18, 2014. The Metrodome was torn down in sections while construction of
U.S. Bank Stadium
U.S. Bank Stadium is an enclosed stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Built on the former site of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the indoor stadium opened in 2016 and is the home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Footbal ...
began.
History
![Hhh metrodome](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Hhh_metrodome.jpg)
By the early 1970s, the
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...
were unhappy with Metropolitan Stadium's relatively small capacity for football. Before the
AFL–NFL merger
The AFL–NFL merger was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). It paved the way for the combined league, w ...
, the NFL had declared that stadiums with a capacity smaller than 50,000 were not adequate for their needs. The Met never held more than 49,700 people for football, and could not be expanded. The biggest stadium in the area was the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
's
Memorial Stadium. However, the Vikings were not willing to be tenants in a college football stadium even on a temporary basis, and demanded a new venue. Supporters of a dome also believed that the
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...
would benefit from a climate-controlled stadium to insulate the team from harsh Minnesota weather later in the season. This was with the backdrop of the Twin Cities'
harsh winter climate, which provided the Vikings with an overwhelming home-field advantage late in the season and in the playoffs. However, the Met would have likely needed to be replaced in any event, as it was not well maintained. Broken railings and seats could be seen in the upper deck by the 1970s; by its final season, they had become a distinct safety hazard.
Construction success of other domed stadiums, particularly the
Pontiac Silverdome
The Pontiac Silverdome (also known simply as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, ...
near
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
, paved the way for voters to approve funding for a new stadium. Downtown Minneapolis was beginning a revitalization program, and the return of professional sports from suburban Bloomington was seen as a major success story. A professional team hadn't been based in downtown Minneapolis since the
Minneapolis Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA's most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2012, th ...
left for Los Angeles in 1960.
Construction on the Metrodome began on December 20, 1979, and was funded by a limited hotel-motel and liquor tax, local business donations, and payments established within a special tax district near the stadium site. ''Uncovering the Dome'' by
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minne ...
(now a
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
) describes the 10-year effort to build the venue. The stadium was named in memory of former
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
of Minneapolis, U.S. Senator, and
U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Mi ...
, who died in 1978. The building's construction was designed by
Bangladeshi-American
Bangladeshi Americans ( bn, বাংলাদেশী মার্কিনী, Bangladeshī Markinī) are Americans of Bangladeshi descent. The majority of Bangladeshi Americans are Bengalis and form the largest group of Bengali Americans. Ba ...
architect
Fazlur Rahman Khan
Fazlur Rahman Khan ( bn, ফজলুর রহমান খান, ''Fozlur Rôhman Khan''; 3 April 1929 – 27 March 1982) was a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect, who initiated important structural systems for skyscrape ...
,
of
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...
.
The Metrodome itself cost $68 million to build—significantly under budget—totaling around $124 million with infrastructure and other costs associated with the project added.
It was a somewhat utilitarian facility, though not quite as spartan as Metropolitan Stadium. One stadium official once said that all the Metrodome was designed to do was "get fans in, let 'em see a game, and let 'em go home."
The Metrodome is the only venue to have hosted an
MLB All-Star Game (1985), a
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
(
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
), an NCAA Final Four (
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
&
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
), and a World Series (
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
&
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
).
The
NCAA final Four was held at the Metrodome in
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
and
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
. The Metrodome also served as one of the four regional venues for the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship in
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
,
1989,
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
,
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
,
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
,
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
, and
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
. The dome also held first- and second-round games in the NCAA basketball tournament in addition to regionals and the Final Four, most recently in
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
.
The Metrodome was recognized as one of the loudest venues in which to view a game, due in part to the fact that sound was recycled throughout the stadium because of the fabric domed roof. Stadium loudness is a
sports marketing
Sports marketing as a concept has established itself as a branch of marketing over the past few decades, however, a generally accepted definition does not exist.
Academicians Kaser and Oelkers (2005, p. 9) define sports marketing as 'using spor ...
issue, as the noise lends the home team a
home advantage
In team sports, the term home advantage – also called home ground, home field, home-field advantage, home court, home-court advantage, defender's advantage or home-ice advantage – describes the benefit that the home team is said to gai ...
against the visiting team. Until its demolition, the Metrodome was the loudest domed NFL stadium. During the
1987 World Series and
1991 World Series
The 1991 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) held after the 1991 season. The 88th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Minnesota Twins ...
, peak
decibel levels were measured at 125 and 118 respectively compared to a jet airliner—both close to the
threshold of pain
The threshold of pain or pain threshold is the point along a curve of increasing perception of a stimulus at which pain begins to be felt. It is an entirely subjective phenomenon. A distinction must be maintained between the stimulus (an external ...
.
The 1991 World Series is considered one of the best of all time.
[Murphy, Brian. Twins `Overachiever' Kirby Puckett Gets Call to Glory, Baseball Digest, April 2001. Quote: "it was his play in Game 6 of the '91 Series against Atlanta that cemented his legacy in Twin Cities sports history. After robbing the Braves' Ron Gant of a home run in the field, Puckett hit an 11th-inning homer off Charlie Leibrandt to force a seventh game that the Twins eventually won in what some baseball historians consider the greatest World Series ever."] The blue colored seat back and bottom where
Kirby Puckett
Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett is the Twins' all- ...
's 1991 World Series Game 6 walk-off home run landed in Section 101, Row 5, Seat 27 (renumbered 34 after the home run in honor of Kirby), is now in the Twins archives, along with the gold-colored back and bottom that replaced it for several years. The Twins reinstalled a blue seat back and bottom as well as Puckett's #34 on the seat where it remained until the final Vikings game of 2013 in the Metrodome when, as local media reported, a fan took the #34 plate off the seat. The original World Series armrests and hardware, as well as the replacement blue seat back and bottom, are now part of a private Kirby Puckett collection in Minnesota.
Seating capacity
Career-achievement events
*The Metrodome was the scene of several players joining the
3,000 hit club
The 3,000 hit club is the group of 33 Batter (baseball), batters who have collected 3,000 or more regular-season Hit (baseball), hits in their careers in Major League Baseball (MLB), achieving a milestone "long considered the greatest measure of s ...
, including
Eddie Murray
Eddie Clarence Murray (born February 24, 1956), nicknamed "Steady Eddie," is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman, designated hitter, and coach. Spending most of his MLB career with the Baltimore Orioles, he ranks fourth ...
,
Dave Winfield
David Mark Winfield (born October 3, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder. He is the special assistant to the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Over his 22-year career, he playe ...
, and
Cal Ripken Jr.
Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. (born August 24, 1960), nicknamed " The Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1981–2001). One of his posit ...
*The Metrodome was the site of
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...
running back
Tony Dorsett
Anthony Drew Dorsett Sr. (born April 7, 1954) is a former American football running back who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos.
From Western Pennsylvania, Dorsett attended the ...
's 99-yard run, on January 3, 1983, the longest run from scrimmage in NFL history, in a Monday night game that was won by the Minnesota Vikings.
*
Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. (; born January 17, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Wade spent the majority of his 16-year career playing for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and won three NBA champi ...
recorded the fourth
triple double
In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...
in
NCAA men's basketball tournament
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...
history on March 29, 2003.
*On June 28, 2007, at the top of the first inning,
Frank Thomas hit a three-run home run to left-center against
Carlos Silva for his 500th career home run. He was later ejected for arguing balls and strikes.
*On September 30, 2007,
Brett Favre
Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 20 ...
of the
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...
threw his record-breaking 421st career touchdown pass to
Greg Jennings
Gregory Jennings Jr. (born September 21, 1983) is a former American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. He played college football at Western Michigan an ...
while playing the Vikings at the Metrodome.
*On November 4, 2007,
Antonio Cromartie
Antonio Cromartie (born April 15, 1984) is a former American football cornerback and current cornerback coach for the Texas A&M Aggies football team. He played college football at Florida State and was drafted in the first round by the San Diego ...
of the
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...
returned a 57-yard field goal attempt, which was short, 109 yards for a touchdown, which became the longest play in NFL history. In the same game,
Adrian Peterson
Adrian Lewis Peterson (born March 21, 1985) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs in football history. He played college football at Oklahoma, where he set the ...
, running back for the
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...
, had 30 carries for an NFL single-game record 296 rushing yards, along with three touchdowns.
*On November 30, 2008, against the
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...
, Vikings quarterback
Gus Frerotte
Gustave Joseph Frerotte (; born July 31, 1971) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the 1994 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tulsa.
Frerotte, who was selected to ...
threw a 99-yard touchdown pass to
Bernard Berrian
Bernard Berrian (born December 27, 1980) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Fresno State.
Berrian also played for the Minnes ...
, tying an NFL record for the longest pass.
*On July 28, 2009, White Sox pitcher
Mark Buehrle
Mark Alan Buehrle (; born March 23, 1979) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played the majority of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Chicago White Sox, playing twelve seasons for the team and winning the World S ...
broke the MLB record for consecutive batters retired. The record was 41; Buehrle retired 45 in a row. His record includes his
perfect game tossed on July 23, 2009.
*On October 5, 2009, with a 30–23 victory over the
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...
, his former team,
Brett Favre
Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 20 ...
of the Vikings became the first quarterback in NFL history to defeat each of the league's 32 franchises.
*On October 27, 2013, in a 44–31 loss to the Green Bay Packers, Viking
Cordarrelle Patterson
Cordarrelle Patterson ( ; born March 17, 1991), nicknamed "Flash", is an American football player for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). A versatile utility player, he plays running back, wide receiver, return specialist ...
returned the opening kickoff 109 yards for a touchdown. This tied the longest play in NFL history. The previous 109-yard play also took place at the Metrodome, as mentioned above.
Features
From the time the stadium was built to when it was demolished, the economics of sports marketing changed. Teams began charging higher prices for tickets and demanding more amenities, such as bigger clubhouses and
locker room
A locker is a small, usually narrow storage compartment. They are commonly found in dedicated cabinets, very often in large numbers, in various public places such as locker rooms, workplaces, elementary schools, middle and high schools, trans ...
s, more luxury suites, and more concession revenue. Team owners, the media, and fans pressured the State of Minnesota to provide newer, better facilities to host its teams. The Metrodome served its primary purpose: to provide a climate-controlled facility to host the three sports tenants in Minnesota with the largest attendance.
For Major League baseball, the Metrodome was regarded as a hitter's park, with a low (7 ft) left-field fence (343 ft) that favored right-handed
power hitter
Power hitter is a term used in baseball for a skilled player that has a higher than average ability in terms of his batting, featuring a combination of dexterity and personal strength that likely leads to a high number of home-runs as well as dou ...
s, and the higher (23 ft) but closer (327 ft) right-field Baggie that favored left-handed power hitters. It gave up even more home runs before air conditioning was installed in 1983. Before 1983, the Dome had been nicknamed "the Sweat Box".
The Metrodome was climate controlled, and protected the baseball schedule during the entire time it was the venue for the Minnesota Twins. Major League Baseball schedulers had the luxury of being able to count on dates played at Metrodome. Doubleheader games only occurred when purposely scheduled. The last time that happened was when the Twins scheduled a day-night doubleheader against the
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
on August 31, 2007. The doubleheader was necessitated after an August 2 game vs. Kansas City was postponed one day after the
I-35W Bridge collapse
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River one-half mile (875 m) downstream from the Saint Anthony Falls in Minnea ...
in downtown Minneapolis.
Roof
The Metrodome's
air-supported roof was designed by the inventor of air-supported structures,
David H. Geiger
David H. Geiger (1935 – October 3, 1989) was an American engineer who invented the Air-supported structure, air-supported fabric roof system that at the time of his death was in use at almost half the domed stadiums in the world.
Geiger was born ...
, through his New York-based Geiger Berger Associates, and manufactured and installed by
Birdair Structures.
An air-supported structure supported by positive air pressure, it required 250,000 ft³/min (120 m³/s) of air to keep it inflated. The air pressure was supplied by 20 fans of each.
[Dave Campbell]
Dome disaster: Snow wrecks Vikings' home
Associated Press, December 13, 2010, accessed December 13, 2010. The roof was made of two layers: the outer layers were
Teflon
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemou ...
-coated
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
and the inner was a proprietary acoustical fabric. By design, the dead air space between the layers insulated the roof; in winter, warm air was blown into space between layers to help melt snow that had accumulated on top. At the time it was built, the of fabric made the roof the largest expanse ever done in that manner.
The outside Teflon membrane was of an inch thick and the inner liner of woven fiberglass was of an inch thick.
The entire roof weighed roughly . It reached , or about 16 stories, at its highest point.
[Pat Borzi and Julie Battista]
Roof Falls In, Sending the Giants’ Game to Detroit
''The New York Times'', December 12, 2010, accessed December 13, 2010.
To prevent roof tears like those that occurred in its first years of service, the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission adopted a twofold strategy: When snow accumulation was expected, hot air was pumped into the space between the roof's two layers. Workers also climbed on the roof and used steam and high-powered hot-water hoses to melt snow.
[Pat Borzi]
''The New York Times'', December 14, 2010, Accessed December 14, 2010. In addition, before the storm that caused the December 2010 collapse, the inside of the stadium was heated to nearly .
To maintain the differential air pressure, spectators usually entered and left the seating and concourse areas through revolving doors, since the use of regular doors without an airlock would have caused significant loss of air pressure. The double-walled construction allowed warmed air to circulate beneath the top of the dome, melting accumulated snow. A sophisticated environmental control center in the lower part of the stadium was staffed to monitor the weather and make adjustments in air distribution to maintain the roof.
Because it was unusually low to the playing field, the air-inflated dome occasionally figured into game action during baseball games. Major League Baseball had specific ground rules for the Metrodome. Any ball which struck the Dome roof, or objects hanging from it, remained in play; if it landed in foul territory it became a foul ball, if it landed in fair territory it became a fair ball. Any ball which became caught in the roof over fairground was a
ground rule double
A ground rule double is a baseball rule that awards two bases from the time of pitch to all baserunners including the batter-runner, as a result of the ball leaving play after being hit fairly and leaving the field under a condition of the ground ...
. That has only happened three times in its history –
Dave Kingman
David Arthur Kingman (born December 21, 1948), nicknamed "Kong," "King Kong," and "Sky King", is a former Major League Baseball left fielder, first baseman, third baseman, and designated hitter who was a three-time MLB All-Star with 442 career hom ...
for the
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...
on May 4, 1984,
['' Green Cathedrals'', 1992 edition, p. 57] the University of Minnesota Gophers player George Behr and
Corey Koskie
Cordel Leonard "Corey" Koskie (born June 28, 1973) is a Canadian former professional baseball third baseman, who played in Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays, and Milwaukee Brewers. On February 4, 2015, Koskie was ele ...
in
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
. The speakers, being closer to the playing surface, were hit more frequently, especially the speakers in foul ground near the infield, which were typically hit several times a season, which posed an extra challenge to infielders trying to catch them. However, beginning with the 2005 season, the ground rules for Twins games were changed such that any batted ball that struck a speaker in the foul territory would automatically be called a foul ball, regardless of whether or not it was caught.
The dome's roof color made it close to impossible to catch balls without taking the eye off the ball. As a result, fielders frequently lost balls in the roof. An example of this is seen in a home run derby put on by a softball entertainment crew before a Twins game. Taken at the field level, the balls generally tended to be lost in the roof.
1980s roof incidents
Five times in the stadium's history, heavy snows or other weather conditions have significantly damaged the roof and in four instances caused it to deflate. Four of the five incidents occurred within the stadium's first five years of operation:
On November 19, 1981, a rapid accumulation of over a foot of snow caused the roof to collapse, requiring it to be re-inflated. It deflated the following winter on December 30, 1982, again because of a tear caused by heavy snow. This was four days before the Vikings played the
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...
in the last regular-season game of the
1982 NFL season
The 1982 NFL season was the 63rd regular season of the National Football League. A 57-day-long players' strike reduced the 1982 season from a 16-game schedule per team to an abbreviated nine game schedule. Because of the shortened season, th ...
. In the spring following that same winter, on April 14, 1983, the Metrodome roof deflated because of a tear caused by late-season heavy snow, and the scheduled Twins' game with the
California Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...
were postponed. On April 26, 1986, the Metrodome roof suffered a slight tear because of high winds, causing a nine-minute delay in the bottom of the seventh inning versus the Angels; however, the roof did not deflate.
2010 inspection
Birdair had conducted a regular inspection of the Metrodome roof in April 2010. Its report to the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission stated that "the outer membrane is in good condition and still holding up well", and rated the inner liner's condition as "fair to poor".
The inspectors also noted that the inner liner of the roof was dirty (mostly due to emissions from automotive events) and had some holes in it, advising that the holes be monitored to avoid large tears from enlarging. Also, Birdair noted some minor areas on the outer membrane that needed repairing, which was done by the time of the Commission's July regular meeting. Overall, Birdair noted the membrane was weathering as anticipated and had exceeded its service life of 20 years; it recommended planning for replacement of the roof fabric and noted that planning and implementation would take an additional five years and cost $12–15 million.
[ In forming their own conclusion, the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission staff decided that the outer membrane was in very good shape and that the roof continued to have serviceable life, and planned to schedule another testing in four years; the Commission made no recommendations.
]
2010 roof incident and replacement
A severe snowstorm arrived in Minneapolis in the late evening of December 10. The snowstorm lasted to the following night on December 11, with of snow accumulated across the city. Due to strong winds, hoses malfunctioning, and a hazardous slippery layer building up on the roof, workers were not allowed to remove the snow from the roof. As the workers were pulled back, many noticed that the roof’s center was sagging down by the weight of the snow.
At around 5:00 a.m. CST on December 12, three of the roof’s panels tore open. Snow fell through, covering the turf
Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls.
In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricult ...
field. The night before the incident a Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...
crew, who were setting up for the football game between the New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
and Vikings, noticed water was leaking through the roof. They decided to leave their cameras on; the cameras captured footage of the roof deflation and the snow dropping to the field. The footage was aired on ''Fox NFL Sunday
''Fox NFL Sunday'' is an American sports television program broadcast on the Fox television network. The show debuted on September 4, 1994, and serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL) game telecasts under the ...
'' and quickly went viral.
The game between the Vikings and Giants, scheduled to take place on December 12 during the afternoon, was postponed to the next day and relocated to Ford Field
Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), as well as the annual Quick Lane Bowl college football bowl game, state champ ...
in Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
. There were considerations moving the game to the University of Minnesota’s nearby TCF Bank Stadium
Huntington Bank Stadium (formerly known as TCF Bank Stadium) is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009, after three years of construction. It i ...
. However, the stadium had limited seating capacity, as well as snow that would have taken several days to clear. A couple days later, a fourth panel ripped open, allowing more snow to enter the stadium. This forced another game between the Vikings and Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...
(originally scheduled at the Metrodome on December 20) to be relocated to TCF Bank Stadium. The final two games for the Vikings for the season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
were on the road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
, and the Vikings were already eliminated from the playoffs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
, meaning no additional home games were to be played.
The roof collapse also caused schedule complications for the Golden Gophers baseball team. All Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
home games were moved to Target Field
Target Field is a baseball stadium in the historic warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis. Since its opening in 2010, the stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins. The stadium hosted the 2014 Major Leag ...
, the home stadium of Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
's (MLB) Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...
. A Metrodome tournament was replaced with a three-game series against Gonzaga. Another tournament named the Dairy Queen Classic was relocated to Tucson, Arizona
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
. Other changes included many home game cancellations, and some games being pushed to next year's season.
On February 10, 2011, it was announced that the entire Metrodome roof needed to be replaced at an estimated cost of $18 million.[Kevin Duchscherer]
Crew coming to inspect fallen Dome roof
''Star Tribune'', December 13, 2010, accessed December 13, 2010. In November 2010, the University of Minnesota men's baseball team had announced plans to play all of their 2011 games at the Metrodome; however, the roof collapse caused those plans to be abandoned. On February 18, 2011, the Gophers announced that all 12 scheduled Big Ten
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
home games in April and May would be played at Target Field
Target Field is a baseball stadium in the historic warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis. Since its opening in 2010, the stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins. The stadium hosted the 2014 Major Leag ...
, with three non-conference games moved to on-campus Siebert Field
Siebert Field is a baseball park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States. It is the home venue for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference, and is named in honor of Dick Siebert, a former head coach who led ...
.
On July 13, 2011, it was announced that the roof was repaired and had been inflated that morning. However, other construction and repairs were still in progress. The remaining construction and repairs were done by August 1, 2011.
The field
During its early years of operation, the field at the Metrodome was surfaced with SuperTurf. The surface, also known as SporTurf, was very bouncy—so bouncy, in fact, that Billy Martin
Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989), commonly called "Billy", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager who, in addition to leading other teams, was five times the manager of the New York Yan ...
once protested a game after seeing a base hit that would normally be a pop single turn into a ground-rule double. Baseball and football players alike complained that it was too hard.
This surface was upgraded to AstroTurf
AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...
in 1987, and in 2004, the sports commission had a newer artificial surface, called FieldTurf, installed. FieldTurf is thought to be a closer approximation to natural grass than Astroturf in its softness, appearance, and feel. A new Sportexe Momentum Turf surface was installed during the summer of 2010.
When the conversion between football and baseball took place, the pitcher's mound was raised and lowered by an electric motor. The mound weighed and was in diameter. With the field repair, the sliding pits and pitcher's mound used by the Twins and Gophers were removed. Any future baseball games would see baserunners slide on "grass". The home plate area was kept, as it was not "in-play" for football configuration. The original home plate installed at the dome was memorably dug up after the Twins' final game and has been installed at Target Field
Target Field is a baseball stadium in the historic warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis. Since its opening in 2010, the stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins. The stadium hosted the 2014 Major Leag ...
. A new field was installed in the summer of 2011 due to the damage from the December 2010 roof collapse.
Plexiglas
From 1985 to 1994, the left-field wall included a clear Plexiglas
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...
screen for a total height of . It was off this Plexiglas wall that Twins player Kirby Puckett
Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett is the Twins' all- ...
jumped to rob Ron Gant
Ronald Edwin Gant (born March 2, 1965) is an American television news anchor and former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves (1987–1993), Cincinnati Reds (1995), St. Louis Cardinals ...
of the Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...
of an extra-base hit during Game 6 of the 1991 World Series
The 1991 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) held after the 1991 season. The 88th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Minnesota Twins ...
(a game that Puckett would win with an 11th-inning walk-off homer) – in later years, with the Plexiglas removed, it would have been a potential home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
ball.
The Baggie
The Metrodome's right-field wall was composed of the -high fence around the whole outfield and a -high plastic wall extension in right field, known as the "Baggie", or the "Hefty
Hefty is an American brand of household products such as trash bags and trash cans, disposable tableware, children's disposable tableware (including their defunct '' Zoo Pals'' product line), slider closure food storage and freezer bags, plast ...
Bag". The seats above and behind the Baggie were home run territory; the Baggie itself was part of the outfield wall. Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...
's "Green Monster
The Green Monster is a popular nickname for the left field wall at Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. The wall is from home plate and is a popular target for right-handed hitters.
Overview
The wall was part ...
", a comparable but taller feature, is closer to home plate than the Baggie was, so batters who hit short, high fly balls were not typically helped by it. However, it was an attractive target for left-handed power hitters, and it was not uncommon for upper-deck home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s to be hit to the right field. When in a rectangular configuration for football and other small-field events, the Baggie was taken down and the seats behind it extended to form complete lower-deck seating.
Stadium usage
Minnesota Vikings football
As the stadium was designed first and foremost for the Minnesota Vikings, they had the fewest problems. However, the economics of 21st century professional sports meant that the Vikings owners wanted more luxury suites and better concessions. Renovations were rejected twice, with the 2001 price tag at $269 million.
The Vikings played their first game at the Metrodome in a preseason matchup against the Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...
on August 21, 1982. Minnesota won 7–3. The first touchdown in the dome was scored by Joe Senser
Joseph Michael Senser (born August 18, 1956) is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). A 6'4", 240 lbs. tight end from West Chester University, S ...
on an 11-yard pass from Tommy Kramer
Thomas Francis Kramer (born March 7, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) from 1977 to 1990. He played college football at Rice University and was selected by the Mi ...
. The first regular-season game at the Metrodome was the 1982 opener on September 12, when the Vikings defeated Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...
, 17–10. Rickey Young scored the first regular-season touchdown in the dome on a 3-yard run in the 2nd quarter. On January 9, 1983, the Vikings defeated the Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...
, 30–24, in a 1st-round game that was the first playoff game at the Metrodome. On January 17, 1999, the Falcons defeated the Vikings in the first NFC championship game
The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world. ...
played at the Metrodome. On December 29, 2013, the Vikings played their final game at the Metrodome, a 14–13 victory over the Detroit Lions. The team's record at the dome was 162–88 in the regular season and 6–4 in playoff games. They finished with a perfect record at the dome against the Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...
(8–0), Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...
(1–0), Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...
(4–0), and Houston Texans
The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...
(1–0), but with a winless record there against the New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...
(0–3).
Super Bowl XXVI
NFL owners voted during their May 24, 1989 meeting to award Super Bowl XXVI
Super Bowl XXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
to Minneapolis over Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
, Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
*Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
and Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
. The game on January 26, 1992, was the second Super Bowl to be played in a cold, winter climate city. The first one was Super Bowl XVI
Super Bowl XVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...
on January 24, 1982, in Pontiac, Michigan
Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit.
Founde ...
. Super Bowl XXVI resulted in the Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
defeating the Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...
, 37–24.
Minnesota Twins baseball
When opened in 1982, the Metrodome was appreciated for the protection it gave from mosquitoes, and later the weather.[Miller, Scott ]
Metrodome --baseball's historic abomination ... to many
CBSsports.com, September 2, 2009 Over the years there had been a love-hate relationship with the fans, sportswriters, and stadium.
The Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...
won two World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
championships at the Metrodome. The Twins won the 1987 World Series and 1991 World Series
The 1991 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) held after the 1991 season. The 88th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Minnesota Twins ...
by winning all four games held at the Dome in both seasons. The loud noise, white roof, quick turf, and the right-field wall (or "Baggie") provided a substantial home-field advantage
In team sports, the term home advantage – also called home ground, home field, home-field advantage, home court, home-court advantage, defender's advantage or home-ice advantage – describes the benefit that the home team is said to g ...
for the Twins. The 1991 World Series has been considered one of the best of all time.
For Twins baseball, the address of the Metrodome became 34 Kirby Puckett
Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett is the Twins' all- ...
Place, an honor given to one of the most famous Minnesota Twins players. In 1996, a section of Chicago Avenue in front of the Metrodome was renamed Kirby Puckett Place by the city of Minneapolis. The Metrodome Plaza was added along Kirby Puckett Place before the 1996 season. Before that, the address for the Twins was 501 Chicago Avenue South. For baseball, the Metrodome informally has been called "The House That Puck Built".
By 2001, several newer purpose-built Major League Baseball stadiums
There are 30 stadiums in use by Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The oldest ballpark is Fenway Park in Boston, home of the Boston Red Sox, which opened in 1912. The newest stadium is Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, home of the Texas Ran ...
had been constructed, and the Metrodome was considered to be among the worst venues in Major League Baseball.
Only two Twins games at the Metrodome were ever postponed. The first was on April 14, 1983, when a massive snowstorm prevented the California Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...
from getting to Minneapolis. The game would have likely been postponed in any case, however; that night heavy snow caused part of the roof to collapse. The second was on August 2, 2007, the day after the I-35W Mississippi River bridge
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River one-half mile (875 m) downstream from the Saint Anthony Falls in Minneap ...
had collapsed a few blocks away from the Metrodome. The game scheduled for August 1 was played as scheduled (about one hour after the bridge had collapsed) because the team and police officials were concerned about too many fans departing Metrodome at one time, potentially causing conflict with rescue workers. The August 2 ceremonial groundbreaking at the eventual Target Field
Target Field is a baseball stadium in the historic warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis. Since its opening in 2010, the stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins. The stadium hosted the 2014 Major Leag ...
was also postponed, for the same reason. The Metrodome carried a memorial decal on the backstop wall for the remainder of the 2007 season.
The Twins played their final scheduled regular-season game at the Metrodome on October 4, 2009, beating the Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
, 13–4. After the game, they held their scheduled farewell celebration. Because they ended the day tied with the Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
for first place in the American League Central
The American League Central is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. This division was formed in the realignment of 1994 by moving three teams from the American League West and two teams from the American League East. Its teams are all loc ...
, a one-game playoff between the teams was played there on October 6, 2009, with the Twins beating the Tigers 6–5 in 12 innings. The division clincher would be the Twins' last win at the Metrodome. The announced crowd was 54,088, setting the regular-season attendance record.
The final Twins game at the Metrodome was on October 11, 2009, when they lost to the New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
4–1, resulting in a three-game sweep in the 2009 ALDS. The Twins' appearance in this series gave Metrodome the distinction of being the first American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
stadium to end its Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
history with post-season play. The only other stadiums whose final games came in the postseason are Fulton County Stadium
Fulton may refer to:
People
* Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship
* Fulton (surname)
Given name
* Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer
* Fult ...
in Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
(1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
), the Astrodome
The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas. It was financed and assisted in development by Roy Hofheinz, mayor of Houston ...
in Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
(1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
) and Busch Memorial Stadium
Busch Memorial Stadium, also known as Busch Stadium II, was a multi-purpose sports facility in St. Louis, Missouri, that operated for 40 years, from 1966 through 2005.
The stadium served as the home of the St. Louis Cardinals National League b ...
in St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
(2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
), all of which were home venues for National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
teams. With the departure of the Twins, this leaves the Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...
as the last remaining major league team to play their games in a domed stadium.
Basketball
When configured as a basketball arena, the fans in the nearby bleachers got a suitable view of the court, but the action was difficult to see in the upper decks. Concessions were very far away from the temporary infrastructure. The Metrodome as a basketball arena was much larger than most NBA and major college basketball arenas, which run to about 20,000 seats; it functioned like Syracuse's large Carrier Dome. However, the NCAA made a significant amount of money selling the high number of seats for regional and championship games for the men's basketball tournament.
Ten NCAA tournaments took place at the stadium:
* 1986 1st and 2nd round
* 1989 Midwest Regional
* 1991 1st and 2nd round
* 1992 Final Four
* 1996 Midwest Regional
* 2000 1st and 2nd round
* 2001 Final Four
* 2003 Midwest Regional
* 2006 Minneapolis Regional
* 2009 1st and 2nd round
The Timberwolves used the stadium for their home games during their inaugural season (1989–90) in the NBA while the team waited for construction of Target Center
Target Center is a multi-purpose arena located in Minneapolis that opened in 1990. It hosts major family shows, concerts, sporting events, graduations and private events. Target Corporation, founded and headquartered in Minneapolis since 1902, ...
to be completed. The team set NBA records for the highest single-season attendance ever: 1,072,572 fans in 41 home games. The largest crowd for a single game occurred on April 17, 1990: 49,551 fans watched the T-Wolves lose to the Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...
in the last game of the season. This was the third-largest crowd in the NBA's history.
College football
Beginning in the 1982 college football season, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers began playing their home football games at the Metrodome. The first game was a 57–3 victory over the Ohio Bobcats
The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946) of the Mid-Amer ...
on September 11, 1982.[Minnesota Gopher Football Media Guide 2009, University of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics. 2009] The Gophers football record at the Metrodome 1982–2008 (27 seasons) 169 total games 87–80–2 .521%. 109 Big Ten Conference games 41–66–2 .385%
With the Gophers' move to TCF Bank Stadium
Huntington Bank Stadium (formerly known as TCF Bank Stadium) is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009, after three years of construction. It i ...
, only one NCAA Division I FBS football program now plays in a domed stadium. Syracuse has its own such facility on campus. When the Gophers first moved to the Metrodome, the NFL-class facilities were seen as an improvement over the aging Memorial Stadium. Initially, attendance increased. However, fans waxed nostalgic over fall days playing outdoors on campus. TCF Bank Stadium now provides an outdoor, on-campus venue for the team.
College baseball
In the 2010 season, the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Baseball team played all of their home games at the Metrodome (except a game at the new Target Field
Target Field is a baseball stadium in the historic warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis. Since its opening in 2010, the stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins. The stadium hosted the 2014 Major Leag ...
on March 27, 2010). The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball team had played games at the Metrodome during February and March since 1985 because of weather. Later games were played at Siebert Field
Siebert Field is a baseball park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States. It is the home venue for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference, and is named in honor of Dick Siebert, a former head coach who led ...
, except for 2006 when all but two home games were played at the Metrodome. The team often played major tournaments at the Dome, which included the Dairy Queen Classic, where three other major Division I baseball teams play in an invitational. Before the NCAA's 2008 rule in Division I regarding the start of the college baseball season, the Golden Gophers would often play home games at the Metrodome earlier than other teams in the area to neutralize the advantage of warmer-weather schools starting their seasons earlier in the year. Some early Big Ten conference games were played at the Metrodome, and the Golden Gophers enjoyed home-field advantage during the early part of the season before the weather warmed, and the Gophers could play games on-campus. Other small colleges also played games in the stadium during the weeks before the Metrodome was open for Division I play. In 2010, 420 amateur baseball and softball games—including the majority of the Golden Gophers' home schedule—were played at the Metrodome.
The size of Siebert Field
Siebert Field is a baseball park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States. It is the home venue for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference, and is named in honor of Dick Siebert, a former head coach who led ...
also affected the Golden Gophers starting in 2010. The Golden Gophers last hosted an NCAA baseball tournament regional in 2000, with temporary seating added. With the Metrodome being available for the tournament starting in 2010, the team could easily place a bid for, and have a better possibility of hosting, an NCAA baseball regional or super regional.
Other cold-weather teams have played at the Metrodome. Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
member Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
has played two series (2007 and 2010) at the Metrodome because of inclement weather against South Dakota State University
South Dakota State University is a public land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest and most comprehensive university and the oldest continually-operating university in South Dakota. The ...
and Eastern Michigan, respectively.
Soccer
The Minnesota Kicks
The Minnesota Kicks were a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League (NASL).
Initiall ...
were supposed to move into the Metrodome for the 1982 NASL season. However, the franchise folded in November 1981. The Minnesota Strikers
The Minnesota Strikers were an American soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) for the 1984 season and in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1984 through 1988. The team was based in Minneapolis/St. Paul metropoli ...
played the 1984 NASL season at the Dome. 52,621 saw the Minnesota Strikers defeat Tampa Bay 1–0 on May 28, 1984. MSHSL boys and girls soccer championships were also held at the stadium. The Minnesota Thunder
Minnesota Thunder was an American professional soccer team based in Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1990, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009. The team played its hom ...
played selected games at the Dome from 1990 to 2009. Minnesota Stars FC
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to i ...
, later renamed to Minnesota United FC, opened their 2012 season at the stadium and used it for the 2013 NASL spring season. The field dimensions for soccer at the Metrodome were . The largest crowd to see a soccer game in Minnesota was at the Metrodome.
Large concerts
The concert capacity of the Metrodome was around 60,000 people, depending on seating and stage configurations, which made it a profitable location for stadium tours during the late 80s and 90s. By comparison, the Target Center
Target Center is a multi-purpose arena located in Minneapolis that opened in 1990. It hosts major family shows, concerts, sporting events, graduations and private events. Target Corporation, founded and headquartered in Minneapolis since 1902, ...
in Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
has a concert capacity of up to 20,500. Acoustics at the Metrodome for these concerts were "iffy at best".[. City Pages. Erik Thompson. December 27, 2013 – "The Metrodome's musical history: A look back"]
Other events
* 2002 and 2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Victory Bowl
The Victory Bowl is the championship football game between schools that sponsor football and are members of the National Christian College Athletic Association and did not qualify for either the NCAA or NAIA playoffs. It is one of the few post-se ...
s, the NCCAA National Football Championships.
* Prep Bowl (Minnesota State High School League
The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) is a voluntary, non-profit association for the support and governance of interscholastic activities at high schools in Minnesota, United States.
The association supports interscholastic athletics an ...
(MSHSL); state high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
championships) (1982–2013).
* MSHSL football semifinal games (1990–2013)
* MSHSL soccer championships and semifinals (1986–2013).
* High school and small college baseball games through the spring.
* Small college football games in November hosted by Augsburg College
Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the u ...
. Also other small college football events including the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference
The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the western Midwestern United States. Nine of its ...
and the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference
The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) is a college-level athletic conference. The UMAC is a conference of NCAA Division III since the 2008–09 season. Prior to that, it was a non scholarship conference affiliated with National Associatio ...
.
* AMA Motocross Championship
The AMA Motocross Championship (commercially known as Lucas Oil Pro Motocross) is an American motorcycle racing series. The motocross race series was founded and sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1972. The series is th ...
(1994–2004, 2008, 2013)
* The Stadium Super Trucks
The Stadium Super Trucks (SST), formerly known as Speed Energy Formula Off-Road, is an American short course off-road racing series created by off-road racer and former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Robby Gordon in 2013. Sanctioned by the United State ...
off-road racing series scheduled an event in 2013.
* Other motorsport events.
* Large religious services and gatherings.
* The American Wrestling Association, promoted WrestleRock 86 on April 20, 1986, drawing 23,000. This was one of the AWA's last major shows before they went out of business several years later.
* Rollerdome inline skating around the stadium's concourses and Minnesota Distance Running Association running (exercise programs in the concourses).
* Conventions, such as Twins Fest, golf shows, home and garden expos, and car shows.
* Cultural celebrations, such as Hmong New Year gatherings and the Oromo people, Oromo Jilboo American Games.
*Youth in Music Band Championships
* The Promise Keepers, an all-men's evangelical Christian service.
* The annual Hmong people, Hmong American New Year celebration was held in December over the course of two days.
* Monster Jam.
* The 1991 World Special Olympics Summer Games Opening Ceremonies
Oddities
Stadium neighborhood
The Metrodome was constructed in an area of downtown Minneapolis known as "Industry Square". Development in the Downtown East, Minneapolis, Downtown East neighborhood around Metrodome took many years to materialize. For many years, there were few bars or restaurants nearby where fans could gather, and Tailgate party, tailgating was expressly forbidden in most parking areas. The City of Minneapolis was directing the development of the entertainment districts along with Seven Corners in Cedar-Riverside, Minneapolis, Cedar-Riverside, Hennepin Avenue, and North Loop, Minneapolis, the Warehouse district. The Metrodome existed among several parking areas built upon old rail yards, along with defunct factories and warehouses. The Star Tribune owns several blocks nearby that have remained parking lots. The Metrodome was not connected to the Minneapolis Skyway System, although that had been proposed in 1989 to be completed in time to host Super Bowl XXVI
Super Bowl XXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
. The Star Tribune properties and the Minneapolis Armory had not been developed and stood between the Metrodome and the rest of Downtown Minneapolis. Only in recent years did redevelopment begin moving Southeast to reach the Metrodome. More restaurants, hotels, and condominiums have been built nearby. The METRO (Minnesota), METRO Blue Line (Minnesota), Blue Line light rail connected the Minneapolis entertainment district with the Metrodome and the Airport.
Sight lines
The Metrodome was not a true multi-purpose stadium. Rather, it was built as a football stadium that could convert into a baseball stadium. The seating configuration was almost rectangular in shape, with the baseball field tucked into one corner. The seats along the four straight sides directly faced their corresponding seats on the opposite side, while the seats in the corners were four quarter-circles.
While this was more than suitable for the Vikings and Gophers, with few exceptions this resulted in poor sightlines for baseball. For instance, the seats directly along the left-field line faced the center field and right field fences. Unlike other major league parks, there were no seats down to field level. Only 8,000 seats were located in the lower deck between home plate and the dugouts, where most game action occurs.[ Seats in these areas were popularly known as "the baseball section." However, even the closest front-row seats were at least above the field.
The way that many seats were situated forced some fans to crane their necks to see the area between the pitcher's mound and home plate. Some fans near the foul poles had to turn more than 80°, compared to less than 70° with Yankee Stadium (1923), the original Yankee Stadium or 75° at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Camden Yards. For that reason, the seats down the left-field line were typically among the last ones sold; the (less expensive) outfield lower deck seating tended to fill up sooner. Nearly 1,400 seats were at least partially obstructed – some of them due to the right-field upper deck being directly above (and somewhat overhanging) the folded-up football seats behind right field; and some of them due to steel beams in the back rows of the upper deck which are part of the dome's support system.
On the plus side, there was relatively little foul territory, which was not typical of most domed stadiums (especially those primarily built for football). Also, with the infield tucked into one corner of the stadium, the seats in the so-called "baseball section" had some of the closest views in Major League Baseball. In 2007, the Twins began selling seats in extra rows behind the plate which were previously only used for football. The sight lines were also very good in the right field corner, which faced the infield and was closer to the action than the left field corner.
Unlike most domed stadiums, the Metrodome's baseball configuration had asymmetrical outfield dimensions.
The Twins stopped selling most of the seats in sections 203–212 of the upper level in 1996. This area was usually curtained off during the regular season. However, the stadium could easily be expanded to full capacity for the postseason, or when popular opponents came to town during the regular season.
]
Scheduling conflicts
As part of the deal with Metrodome, the Minnesota Twins had post-season priority over the Gophers in scheduling. If the Twins were in the playoffs with a home series, the baseball game took priority and the Gopher football game had to be moved to a time suitable to allow the grounds crew to convert the playing field and the stands to the football configuration.
The last month of Major League Baseball's regular season often included one or two Saturdays in which the Twins and Gophers used Metrodome on the same day. On those occasions, the Twins game would start at about 11 am local time (TV announcer Dick Bremer sometimes joked that the broadcast was competing with ''SpongeBob SquarePants''). Afterward, the conversion took place and the Gophers football game started at about 6 pm. The University of Minnesota was the only school in the Big Ten that shared a football facility with professional sports teams for an extended period of years.
In 2007, there were two such schedule conflicts, on September 1 and 22. In 2008, there were no conflicts on the regular-season schedule.
Due to the minimum time needed to convert the field, a baseball game that ran long in clock time had to be suspended, and concluded the next day. The only time this happened was on October 2, 2004, when a game between the Twins and Indians reached the end of the 11th inning after 2:30 pm in a tie and resumed the next day.
The Vikings had rights to the Dome over the Twins except for World Series games. In 1987, the Vikings' home date with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...
scheduled for the same day as Game 2 of the 1987 World Series, World Series was moved to Tampa, and the Vikings' game with the Denver Broncos scheduled for the same day as Game 7 was pushed back to the following Monday night.
The Twins' 2009 AL Central division one-game playoff, tiebreaker with the Detroit Tigers was played on Tuesday, October 6, 2009. One-game playoffs are normally held the day after the regular season ends (in this case, the season ended on Sunday, October 4), but the Vikings were using Metrodome for ''Monday Night Football'' on October 5. The Twins were awarded the right to host the tiebreaker because they won the season series against Detroit.
Record NFL plays
The Metrodome will also be remembered in NFL history as the site of four of the longest NFL touchdowns in history in terms of yardage. From scrimmage, only 15 plays have ever gone the maximum 99 yards for a touchdown in league history. One of the two runs on that list is by Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett
Anthony Drew Dorsett Sr. (born April 7, 1954) is a former American football running back who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos.
From Western Pennsylvania, Dorsett attended the ...
against the Vikings on January 3, 1983 during a ''Monday Night Football'' game. One of the 13 such pass plays is Vikings quarterback Gus Frerotte
Gustave Joseph Frerotte (; born July 31, 1971) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the 1994 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tulsa.
Frerotte, who was selected to ...
's connection with receiver Bernard Berrian
Bernard Berrian (born December 27, 1980) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Fresno State.
Berrian also played for the Minnes ...
during a game against the Chicago Bears on November 30, 2008.
Because returns can go longer than 99 yards, the Metrodome had also seen the record set for longest return at the maximum possible total of 109 yards. On November 4, 2007, the San Diego Chargers' Antonio Cromartie
Antonio Cromartie (born April 15, 1984) is a former American football cornerback and current cornerback coach for the Texas A&M Aggies football team. He played college football at Florida State and was drafted in the first round by the San Diego ...
returned a missed Vikings field goal for a touchdown, a mark that stood unequaled until October 27, 2013, when Minnesota's Cordarrelle Patterson
Cordarrelle Patterson ( ; born March 17, 1991), nicknamed "Flash", is an American football player for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). A versatile utility player, he plays running back, wide receiver, return specialist ...
returned the Green Bay Packers' opening kickoff of ''NBC Sunday Night Football, Sunday Night Football'', the maximum distance.
Naming rights
In 2009, Mall of America purchased naming rights for the field at Metrodome. The contract stated that the field would be called "Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome" for a three-year period, beginning October 5, 2009, and ending February 28, 2012. The name was still used for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Despite possible inference from the signage, the MoA name applied only to the field, not the stadium as a whole. The building remained Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The connection between Mall of America and the Metrodome is also notable because Mall of America is built on the site of the former Metropolitan Stadium
Metropolitan Stadium (often referred to as "the Met", "Met Stadium", or now "the Old Met" to distinguish from the Metrodome) was an outdoor sports stadium in the north central United States, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneap ...
. The mall and the dome were located about apart from each other.
Foul "poles"
From the tops of the outfield fences upwards, the baseball foul poles in the Metrodome were unique, in that they were not "poles" at all. Instead, they consisted of a fabric-like material. In left field, the "pole" hung from the roof, down to the top of the left field fence. In right field, the "pole" hung from the bottom of the upper deck to the top of the right field fence. Because the upper deck in right field overhung the playing field slightly, this resulted in the foul pole not being vertical, actually leaning inward slightly toward home plate.
Replacement facilities
With the passage of time, the Metrodome was thought to be an increasingly poor fit for its three major tenants, all of whom claimed the stadium was nearing the end of its useful life.
One major complaint was about the concourses, which were considered somewhat narrow by modern standards, making for cramped conditions whenever attendance was anywhere near capacity. During a 2010 Vikings game, Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports' Alex Marvez wrote that the Metrodome's passageways were so cramped that it would be difficult for fans to evacuate in the event of an emergency. Two of the former tenants, the Gophers (football) and Twins, moved out, while the Vikings played their final years there until demolition. The Vikings' 2014 and 2015 seasons were played at the University of Minnesota's Huntington Bank Stadium, TCF Bank Stadium, and U.S. Bank Stadium
U.S. Bank Stadium is an enclosed stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Built on the former site of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the indoor stadium opened in 2016 and is the home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Footbal ...
, built on the Metrodome site, opened in time for the team's 2016 season.
The Twins, the Vikings, and the Gophers all proposed replacements for the Metrodome, and all three were accepted. The first of the three major tenants to move was the Gophers, who opened their new TCF Bank Stadium (now Huntington Bank Stadium) in September 2009. The next to depart were the Twins, whose new Target Field
Target Field is a baseball stadium in the historic warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis. Since its opening in 2010, the stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins. The stadium hosted the 2014 Major Leag ...
was completed in time for Opening Day 2010. On May 10, 2012, the Vikings were granted a new stadium by the Minnesota legislators that was built on the Metrodome site, which opened for the 2016 NFL season. Governor Mark Dayton signed the bill on May 14.
Minnesota Twins
The Twins moved to their new ballpark, Target Field, in 2010, after attaining their new stadium with an effort that began in the mid-1990s. Although indoor baseball had critics when Metrodome opened, it was positively regarded by players and fans.[Brackin, Dennis ]
Metrodome? It was when it opened
''Star Tribune'', April 2, 2010 ''The initial reaction to Metrodome was an overwhelmingly positive one, perhaps in part because the Twins played there for the first time just as a blizzard hit the Twin Cities.'' By 2001, with Metrodome's peculiarities revealed, and several newer purpose-built Major League Baseball stadiums constructed, an ESPN Page 2 reader poll ranked it as one of the worst Major League Baseball stadiums. Twins management claimed Metrodome generated too little revenue for the Twins to be competitive; specifically, they received no revenue from luxury suite leasing (as those were owned by the Vikings) and only a small percentage of concessions sales. This came to a head in 2001, when the Twins were nearly 2001 Major League Baseball contraction plan, contracted along with the Montreal Expos, who were also generating insufficient revenue and had a stadium in poor condition. Also, the percentage of season-ticket-quality seats was said to be very low compared to other stadiums. From 2003 Major League Baseball season, 2003 through 2009 Major League Baseball season, 2009, the Twins had year-to-year leases, and could have moved to another city at any time. However, with no large American markets or new major-league-quality stadiums existing without a current team, it was accepted that the Twins could not profit from a move. The Twins sought a taxpayer subsidy of more than $200 million to assist in construction of the stadium. On January 9, 2005, the Twins went to court to argue that their Metrodome lease should be considered "dead" after the 2005 season. In February, the district court ruled that the Twins' lease was year-to-year and the team could vacate Metrodome at the end of the 2005 season.
In late April 2007, Hennepin County officially took over the future ballpark site (through a form of eminent domain called "quick-take") which had been an ongoing struggle between the county and the land owners. On October 15, 2007, the two sides reached a negotiated settlement of just under $29 million, ending the dispute. As a result, the county noted it would have to cut back on some improvements to the surrounding streetscapes, though it also revealed that the Pohlad family had committed another $15 million for infrastructure.
University of Minnesota Gopher football
The Minnesota Golden Gophers football
The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its ince ...
program began playing in Metrodome for the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season, 1982 season. Attendance was expected to increase over the old Memorial Stadium attendance, especially for late fall games, due to the climate controlled comfort. Initially, average attendance had increased over previous seasons at Memorial Stadium. But, the venue was removed from the traditional on-campus football atmosphere if fans wanted to attend a Gophers football game. Students had to take a bus from the campus to the stadium. The distance from the main campus, along with poor performance by the Gopher football team, caused interest to wane.
The Gophers officially moved back onto campus, to TCF Bank Stadium
Huntington Bank Stadium (formerly known as TCF Bank Stadium) is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009, after three years of construction. It i ...
, for the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 2009 football season. The University believed an on-campus stadium would motivate its student base for increased ticket sales, and also would benefit from athletic revenues, not only for the football program, but the non-revenue sports as well. The new stadium reportedly cost less than half of a current-era NFL-style football stadium, and was built on what were former surface parking lots just a few blocks east of the former Memorial Stadium, with the naming rights purchased by TCF Financial Corporation. The University of Minnesota expected to raise more than half the cost of the stadium via private donations. The Gopher Stadium bill was passed by both houses on May 20, 2006, the day before the Twins Stadium bill passed. On May 24, 2006, Tim Pawlenty, Governor Pawlenty signed the Gopher bill on the University campus.
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings initially supported a Superfund site in Arden Hills, but costs of developing infrastructure made the site unworkable. A number of sites in Minneapolis were floated before the team and state settled on a location adjacent to and including the current Metrodome site.
On May 10, 2012, the Minnesota Legislature approved funding for a new Vikings stadium on that site. The project had a budget of $1.027 billion, of which the Vikings covered $529 million, the state covered $348 million, and the remaining $150 million was covered by a Minneapolis hospitality tax. The bill was signed by Governor Dayton on May 14. The Vikings played in the Metrodome until the end of the 2013 season. The Vikings' temporary home during construction was TCF Bank Stadium
Huntington Bank Stadium (formerly known as TCF Bank Stadium) is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009, after three years of construction. It i ...
.
Demolition
With the approval of the new Vikings stadium at the Dome site by the Minnesota legislature, the fate of the Metrodome was sealed. The Vikings played their final game at the Metrodome on December 29, 2013, beating the Detroit Lions 14-13. The following day, a local company began removal of seats for sale to the public and various charities and nonprofits. Individual chairs went for $40 each to charities, $60 each to the public and $80 each for specific seat requests.
The roof was deflated for the final time on January 18. On the morning of February 2, 2014 the steel support cables that stretched from end-to-end of stadium that held together the roof were severed, as construction crews set off a simultaneous set of 42 explosive charges that detached the cables from the concrete structure. The general public was not informed about this phase of the demolition process, prompting about a half-dozen phone calls to police from people who wondered what was going on. This was viewed as the final step before the destruction of the concrete bowl of the Metrodome would begin. On February 10, 2014, shortly after 9:15 a.m., after more than two months of preliminary work that dated back all the way to the groundbreaking of the new Vikings stadium, demolition of the stadium walls finally began.
Just after 1 p.m. on February 17, 2014, one week after demolition of the stadium bowl had begun, demolition crews were working on taking down the concrete ring beam that encircled to top of the Metrodome, when a portion of the ring beam collapsed out of sequence, bringing an immediate halt to the work. No one was hurt and no equipment was damaged by the collapse. After five days of investigation from structural and demolition experts, it was decided that the remaining portion of the concrete ring beam would be destroyed using controlled explosive charges—virtually the same method that was used to bring down the Metrodome's steel support cables for the roof. This second controlled explosion was a continued deviation from the original plan to not use explosives to destroy the stadium, as it was determined that this was the safest way to bring down the remaining ring beam structure. On February 23, 2014, the remaining ring beam and corners of the Metrodome were brought down with 84 explosive charges of dynamite. This enabled demolition crews to continue with the wrecking ball demolition method that was originally chosen (though the order in which the sections would be brought down were changed as a result of the ring beam implosion), to bring down what was left of the Metrodome. Despite this unexpected setback, Mortenson Construction said that the demolition of the Metrodome and construction of U.S. Bank Stadium
U.S. Bank Stadium is an enclosed stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Built on the former site of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the indoor stadium opened in 2016 and is the home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Footbal ...
were both still on schedule.
On March 15, 2014 the final upper deck bleachers and concrete bleacher-support girders (on the northwest side of the Metrodome) were brought down, taking away any standing remnants of the exterior stadium walls. On April 11, 2014 the final portion of the inner-stadium concrete walls were reduced to rubble, marking the official end of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Demolition of the Metrodome was formally declared complete six days later—a month ahead of schedule—as the final truckload of rubble was loaded up and removed from the new stadium construction site. Officials from Mortenson Construction said the entire demolition job required 4,910 truckloads and 16,000 man hours to complete the job.
References
External links
Metrodome Dreamscapes - digital ephemera archive
Blog with pictures of 2011 roof
*
{{Authority control
Defunct multi-purpose stadiums in the United States
2014 disestablishments in Minnesota
Hubert Humphrey
Demolished sports venues in Minnesota
Sports venues in Minneapolis
Defunct college baseball venues in the United States
Defunct college football venues
Defunct American football venues in the United States
Defunct Major League Baseball venues
Minnesota Golden Gophers football venues
Minnesota Timberwolves venues
Minnesota Twins stadiums
Minnesota Vikings stadiums
Fort Lauderdale Strikers stadiums
Minnesota United FC sports facilities, h
Defunct baseball venues in the United States
Defunct National Football League venues
Former National Basketball Association venues
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings
Air-supported structures
American football venues in Minnesota
Baseball venues in Minnesota
Sports venues completed in 1982
1982 establishments in Minnesota
American inventions
Bangladeshi inventions
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) stadiums
Sports venues demolished in 2014
Defunct soccer venues in the United States
Soccer venues in Minnesota
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four venues
Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion
Fazlur Khan buildings