If you have not had the opportunity yet to see the fabulous new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, you are in for a treat. The remarkable new home for Vikings football is finished. The historic ribbon cutting ceremony was Friday, July 22.
“It’s a special day, said Vikings COO Kevin Warren. “A lot of work and sacrifice went into this. Our owners have kept their word and promise that they were going to do everything that they possibly could to build the best stadium not just in the NFL, but in the world.
“They put their resources into it. They’ve honored it, and I think when you walk in here, it will make everyone proud to be a Minnesotan.”
The grand opening included remarks from Gov. Mark Dayton, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, Louis King of Summit Academy, Michele Kelm-Hegen, chair of Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf, Vikings COO Warren, Tod Leiweke, COO of the NFL, and representatives from HKS and Mortenson Construction.
Before the program began, attendees were asked to join in a moment of silence to honor former Vikings Head Coach, Dennis Green, who died Friday at age 67.
U.S. Bank Stadium is the largest construction project in the history of the state, and will host Super Bowl 52 in 2018. Having seen most, if not all of the NFL’s new stadiums — including the home of the San Francisco 49ers, where Denver beat Carolina 24-10 in Super Bowl 50 — I can say that U.S Bank Stadium is spectacular. The Vikings will have a big advantage.
“8,000 construction workers worked at this site,” said Warren. “The biggest thing is the money we re-investment back into the community [and] what we did for women-owned and minority-owned businesses… People told us we set our work force goals too high [but] we were able to exceed those and we did it in a manner with class grace and style.
“I’m just glad to have had a small piece to do with this, and be a part of it and to really deliver this to the fans that we have here and around the world,” he concluded.