In what could perhaps be described as a Festivus miracle, there’s a chance that all ticket holders to Monday night’s Bears-Vikings game scheduled for the Metrodome will be able to attend the game at TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota.
V.P. of sales and marketing Steve LaCroix said that, between the number of tickets returned and the standing-room tickets added, the 13,000-person gap in capacity is closing.
“We don’t have the exact number,” LaCroix said, per Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (via SportsBusiness Daily). “But we’re very confident that if you come down to the game Monday night that you’re going to get in. We think we’re going to have a smooth process to get you in.”
Another potential concern arises from the general-admission approach to seating. “I used the term yesterday Minnesota Nice,” LaCroix said. “Lets put that in play here. Not everyone wants to go to the same spot. Some people prefer end zone down low, some people prefer 50, some may want to go up to the second deck and have a seat there from a viewing angle. We hope that some of the personal preferences kind of filter some of that out and just that common sense prevails.”
One area in which common sense may not prevail is traffic. “I expect it to be very bad over there,” Minneapolis city traffic engineer Don Sobania told Randy Furst of the Star-Tribune regarding the streets in the vicinity of the venue. “If you don’t have any business in the area, stay away. . . . If I was going to [the Monday night game], I would get a very early start and have a full tank of gas.”
Good or bad, it’s going to be memorable. And if it’s memorable in a good way, who knows? Maybe the next NFL stadium in Minnesota will avoid the risk of a roof collapse by ditching the roof altogether.