The Minnesota Vikings play in one of the coldest climates, but weather is never a factor since they are in a dome.
All that will change following next season, as the Vikings will play two seasons outdoors at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium as they prepare to move out of the 31-year-old Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and construct a new stadium.
According to ESPN.com, Vikings vice president Lester Bagley announced Friday that the team will play the 2014 and 2015 seasons outdoors at the stadium while a new stadium is built at the Metrodome site in downtown Minneapolis.
The report says that the deal for the stadium is being finalized and that the Minneapolis firm Mortenson Construction company will earn between $12.5 and $15 million for the project. According to the Associated Press, Mortenson built the Minnesota Twins' Target Field and TCF Bank Stadium.
The new venue is only 10 minutes from the Metrodome, but the Vikings had hoped to only play one season at the stadium, but the plans turned out to be too difficult to do that. The Metrodome will go down and be demolished in February after next season and the new stadium will open up in July of 2016.
"The Vikings are operating under the assumption that 2013 is our last season in the Metrodome," Bagley said.
The Metrodome has long been in need of an upgrade and the Vikings were considered one of the top NFL options to move to Los Angeles because of the inability ot get a new stadium deal done. That all changed over the past couple years and now the franchise will be able to move on from a stadium that opened in 1982.
The Twins previously played at the dome and won two championships there, while the Timberwolves played their first season in the NBA at the stadium as well. The Twins got their own stadium built in 2009, but the Metrodome has long been considered outdated and the Vikings knew they needed a stadium in 2010 when the dome roof collapsed during a winter storm.
Following the collapse, they had to have an impromptu game at TCF Bank Stadium during the snow in December. It was a notable game as it was the end of Brett Favre's consecutive starts streak. Joe Webb started for the Vikings. The next season the Viings went 3-13 under a repaired Metrodome roof.
The new stadium will coast $975 million and will be enclosed so the Vikings will not have to worry about snow or the cold in the future. "The Vikings are very interested in a retractable feature," Bagley said. He said a decision on that is likely within 90 days.
The Vikinsg made the playoffs last season on the final game of the year and lost to the Packers after defeating them in Week 17. Adrian Peterson took home the MVP award ths season after gaining over 2,000 yards, while Percy Harvin has been the subject of trade rumors this offseason.
The team also updated its logo with a new, sleeker-looking Norseman and a variation on its hair and color scheme.
