There were many signs Minneapolis’ 66,200-seat U.S. Bank Stadium would be a success story in its first year.
It began even before the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings hit the field or the first sold out concert was held. It began when the stadium’s two-day open house in July 2016 brought in 190,000 visitors to check out the city’s newest venue.
It was a fitting kickoff for its first three major events, which had their own impressive accomplishments. For the International Champions Cup soccer match between A.C. Milan vs. Chelsea F.C., natural grass was successfully installed and maintained atop the artificial turf, not an easy feat.
Another real test was hosting two sold-out concerts — country singer Luke Bryan and heavy metal band Metallica—in less than 24 hours.
Icing on the cake was the Minnesota Vikings’ triumph over the San Diego Chargers at home on Aug. 28, 2016, in their first pre-season game, followed by a victorious home opener against the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 18.
It was just a glimpse of what was to come in the first year, as 1.6 million people attended more than 600 public and private events at U.S. Bank Stadium.
“The big test was opening with a sold out international soccer game, then hosting the back-to-back concerts just a couple weeks later,” said Jerry Goldman, assistant general manager of the stadium for SMG, which was contracted by the Minnesota Sports Facility Authority, the stadium’s owner, to manage its opening and operation in 2014.
“Another testament to our success was the December Monster Jam event. This sold out so quickly, we added a second night, and Feld Motorsports did a record of over $3 million.”
Yet another early victory was locking in the four-day Summer X Games, a first for a stadium, for two consecutive summers. The extreme sports competition and festival included a two-week load in, pouring temporary concrete skate parks, hauling in 8,000 yards of dirt and constructing an 82-foot mega ramp. The competitions were globally broadcast and attended by 110,000 visitors.
“The X Games was the most unique event,” said Patrick Talty, the stadium’s general manager/SMG. “It showed both the versatility and uniqueness of the building and how we approach things outside of the box.”
Yet to come is the pinnacle, Super Bowl LII, which U.S. Bank Stadium will take on in February 2018.
“This past year, we hosted more than 650 events, from four signature trade shows to weddings and product launches, all in addition to the 10 Vikings home games,” said Goldman. “We had four scheduled concerts this summer, including sold out Guns ‘N Roses and U2 shows.”
A New Beginning
At 1.8 million square feet, U.S. Bank Stadium is twice the size of its predecessor, the Metrodome. It also includes more club and circulation space.
The downtown location has been ideal, with 13,000 stadium visitors utilizing the light rail this year.
Talty was the first U.S. Bank Stadium employee hired in 2015, before the venue was built.
“This was supposed to be a multipurpose venue for the state and people of Minnesota, and that’s what it has become,” he said. “It was an amazing experience getting the team and building up and running, and the highlight was seeing the stadium live up to its billing.”
Being chosen to host the year’s most highly anticipated and watched sporting event was not taken lightly. Planning for the Super Bowl began the first day the stadium was up and running. It was a big advantage that the venue’s other assistant general manager, John Drum, had been part of two Super Bowls at the University of Phoenix Stadium in 2008 and 2015.
“[The National Football League (NFL) representatives] came out here to watch Vikings games and other events to see how this building will be transformed and operated,” said Drum. “It’s always exciting, but it takes a lot of planning when a brand new building is brought online.”
U.S. Bank Stadium’s design is conducive to a wide range of events, big and small. Retractable seats have enabled the stadium to host 140 baseball games in 52 calendar days. It also has held 95 days of community events, including band and high school football competitions.
“We’re not making a lot of money with these events, but we know it’s the right thing to do and part of the mission as to why the stadium was built,” said Talty. “The X Games was the most unique event, because it showed both the versatility and uniqueness of the building and how we approach things outside the box.
What also sets the stadium apart is its five main clubs, which are on separate levels and of various sizes to host different events at the same time.
Inaugural Year Highlights
This is one facility that has been put to the test with quick turnarounds. In addition to the back-to-back Luke Bryan/Metallica shows, it more recently held a U2 concert on a Friday night and the Vikings’ season opener the following Monday evening.
U.S. Bank Stadium has already served as an asset to the community. The venue held 13 youth football events August through December as well as in-line skating and running for 17 events in the winter months.
Over 140 college and high school baseball games were played at the facility in its first season, with nearly 30,000 fans in attendance across all games. In May and June, U.S. Bank Stadium hosted the inaugural season of Party on the Plaza, a free outdoor concert series for the public.
Due to its flexible design, the stadium also has brought in a significant amount of convention center-type business.
“Compared with other stadiums, we’re marketing ours in a different way locally,” said Lisa Niess, the stadium’s marketing and communications manager. “As a result, we do many corporate meetings, weddings, conventions, trade shows and consumer shows.”
Despite a strong start, the stadium has not been without challenges. One has been a critique of the acoustics during concerts due to its large size.
“We’re a big building, so we heard from some concert goers that there was echoing,” said Goldman. “We will be addressing this issue before the next run of concerts.”
Booking concerts also tends to be more difficult, because only a handful of promoters work with stadium shows.
Consequently, the stadium has been positioned as being promoter-friendly.
“We make an effort to stay in front of promoters,” said Goldman. “And considering we have a roof, performers don’t have to worry about the elements. We can book concerts year-round here.”
Interest in the stadium is palpable from the public’s standpoint, with more than 86,000 people from all 50 states participating in the facility’s public tour program.
“Whenever you open a new building, no matter what the capacity, it will experience growing pains,” said Goldman. “You don’t know until you get people in how it will flow and function. Everything looks great on paper, but there are always things that need to be tweaked.”
By listening to the public and paying close attention to how the building operates, adaptations have been made to improve operations, such as crowd control at concession stands.
“Opening a building comes with all kinds of challenges, so year two will be about looking to find efficiencies now that we’re up and running,” said Niess. “With all of the opportunities for events, it’s a great problem to have.”
Content is already finalized for year two. Along with the 52nd Super Bowl, the stadium will play host to home and custom car shows as well as an RV show, two Monster Truck events, Supercross, state high school championships for football and soccer, four to five concerts and another Party on the Plaza series, which will be expanded on over the summer.
“I’m extremely proud of the staff we’ve put together and how they’ve grown into one of the best teams in the country,” said Goldman. “I’m excited to see what the future holds.”
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STADIUM SCORES ON SUSTAINABILITY
U.S. Bank Stadium is currently working through LEED certification as part of its sustainability plan. The certification is in progress.
“U.S. Bank Stadium is creating best practices with our sustainability initiative that will become the standard in the NFL,” said Curtis Schmillen, director of operations for SMG.
As a part of this effort, waste management is a key piece of day-to-day operations as well as decreasing the amount of landfill waste.
The stadium’s sustainability efforts and accomplishments include:
• The first stadium to be designated a Bicycle-Friendly Business.
• The first sport facility to partner with Recycle Across America (RAA). Recycling rates
have gone up 11% from the year one average after the installation of RAA signage.
• Reducing the venue’s carbon footprint in water reduction, energy efficiency, waste
diversion and sustainable purchasing.
• A green cleaning policy requiring all cleaning products and cleaning machinery to be
at acceptable environmental standards.
• Donation of 489 meals to date from unused, still edible food from the kitchens.
• Using water bottle fillers on the concourses to divert 168,174 bottles of water from
being used.
• 100% post-consumer paper in all offices. From August of 2016 to August 2017,
paper consumption dropped 68%, which is roughly 80,000 sheets of paper.
• A bag color policy (i.e. white bags for trash, green for compost and blue for
recycling) helps eliminate confusion among staff members and keeps the waste
streams accurate and clean.