As pointed out in today’s team-by-team tour of the league (give or take a team or two), Josh Alper pointed out that the new roof at the Metrodome is ready to be inflated.
“Weather conditions permitting, but it looks very positive,” Bill Lester, executive director of Metropolitan Sports Facility Commission, told Tim Nelson of Minnesota Public Radio.
“It’ll take between two and three hours,” Lester said of the new tan-colored ceiling. “It’s a vast amount of space. But we have 20 100-horsepower motors, fans.”
The entire roof was replaced after snow tore a hole in the lid last December, forcing the Vikings to play one home game in Detroit and another at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium.
The replacement of the roof cost more than $20 million, most of which was covered by insurance.
The Vikings are due to play their first home game of the preseason on August 27. The team’s lease at the Metrodome expires after the 2011 season.