It will be colder at Vikings home games in 2014 and 2015.
Vikings vice president Lester Bagley announced Friday that the team intends to play the 2014 and 2015 seasons at TCF Bank Stadium while their new stadium is built on the grounds of the Metrodome. The Associated Press reports that the team hoped to play just one year outdoors, but it wasn’t feasible to begin construction on their new home with the old one still in place.
The Vikings’ temporary digs on the campus of the University of Minnesota hosted a game when the Metrodome’s roof collapsed due to a heavy snowfall. Other than that game, though, the Vikings haven’t hosted opponents in the elements since 1981.
Bagley also said that Mortensen Construction, the firm hired to build the stadium, would draw up plans for a retractable roof, wall or window to the stadium. He said the team was “very interested” in including that feature in the stadium and that a decision would likely be reached in 90 days.
Until that stadium’s built, though, there won’t be any choice in allowing Mother Nature to play a role on Sundays.