The Minnesota Vikings opened their new $1.1 billion stadium with a bang on Friday.
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Saturday’s stormy weather forced officials to usher visitors inside quickly, as Vikings fans packed entryways and seats inside the stadium. The wall includes the largest pivoting doors in the world.
Stadium officials anticipate more than 160,000 visitors passing through the stadium over the weekend, based on advanced ticket counts.
But morning and afternoon downpours scrapped the live music lineup and the promise of 50-foot Ferris wheel rides at the park. Tickets to the free open house are still available on Ticketmaster.com for both Saturday and Sunday. The Star Tribune reports that 13-year-old Austin LaMotte took pictures and texted them to his friends.
An International Cup soccer match will be the first sporting event at the stadium on August 3.
According to Rochelle Olson of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, sometime before Wednesday morning, a vandal threw a rock through a window at the new stadium, putting a hole in it that officials say will take up to two months to fix. Oller, of Edina, had been keeping up with the construction progress online each week.
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“The team needs to live up to the standard of the stadium now”, Oller said, looking up at the vast ceiling.
