MINNEAPOLIS, MN (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Venue officials for the planned, $965-million multipurpose stadium that will serve as the new home for Minnesota Vikings NFL team have opened the bidding for naming rights partners.
The state legislature paved the way for the new, state-of-the-art stadium this year with a projected opening date of 2016 and ground-breaking for the project expected to take place in the fall of 2013. The state has committed to pay $350 million of the construction costs, with the money coming from taxes on the expansion of charitable gambling in the state.
The new stadium will replace the 32-year-old Metrodome, which suffered a partial roof collapse two years ago, has become a bone of contention with the Viking Organization.
“The Vikings made it really clear that the current metrodome doesn’t support the NFL for a major league football team,” Michele Kelm-Helgen, chair of the Minnesota Sports Facility Authority told Venues Today. “The hallways are too small for public space.”
As of yet, there is no word on who potential new naming rights partners may be. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
