If you’d told me a few years ago when we took a tour of the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis that I would one day live just blocks away from the home to the Minnesota Vikings football team, I might not have believed you. I say might not because, let’s face it, life for me has been a long list of experiences that might seem unlikely to some, myself included. But here I am, literally looking at the staudim just out the window!
It’s one thing experiencing a venue of this size surrounded by thousands of fans (The stadium holds 66,000 which is waaaaayyyyy down the list of stadiums with the largest seating capacity.) and a very different perspective when it’s empty. A tour of the stadium would not have been at the top of the list of things I’d want to do personally, but since my son was with us (a huge Vikings fan at the time), my cousin arranged the tour.
My first impression after the enormity of the place was how sparkling clean it was. And of course my mind went right to the daunting task of maintaining it. The team of miracle workers it must take to bring the stadium back to nearly-new condition following the throngs of jublient fans partying and celebrating (Someone has to win.) at each game, only to do it again the next week or two following. There are 10 home games each NFL season. We were at the stadium late summer and could literally hear a pin drop, it was so quiet.
If you’re into sports or architecure or both, I’d recommend a tour of any of the nation’s billion-dollar venues. You may be surprised at what it takes to build and maintain these venues, especially the structural design and supports it takes just to hold them together! The US Bank Stadium is the first enclosed stadium built since 2002. Just to learn about the technology used to achieve this, is really fascinating. Just remembered the 2018 Super Bowl was played here.
The one other thing that really shocked me about the stadium and the tour in particular was the fact that they allowed participants to actually go onto the field. As seen in the feature photo. That’s my son. Does he look like he belongs in the NFL? (No comment.) Here he is again. Just realized he wore Vikings colors on purpose that day! 
Also published on Medium.
