The Metrodome is no longer and the Minnesota Vikings will have a temporary home for the next two seasons while their new stadium is being constructed.
TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota will host the team for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. With the Golden Gophers spring game now in the rear-view mirror, renovations to the facility have begun as part of $6.6 million worth of improvements to the site.
According to Rochelle Olson of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the process of removing the turf field from the stadium has already begun and is expected to be completed by the end of the week.
The stadium has previously hosted the Vikings on a temporary basis after the roof collapsed at the Metrodome in December 2010. It was also the site of the last game of Brett Favre’s career.
Favre left the game after suffering a concussion being slammed to the turf by Chicago Bears’ lineman Corey Wooten. With temperatures in the 20s, the artificial field was rock hard. Adding a new heated playing surface is among the list of improvements to the stadium to make it suitable for play in December, and theoretically January.
The cost of the upgrades comes from the pie allocated for the construction of the Vikings’ new stadium, which is set to open in the fall of 2016.