Metrodome
The Metrodome: Home of champions and the only stadium to host a Super Bowl, World Series, All-Star Game, and Final Four.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, commonly called the Metrodome, was a domed sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium and Memorial Stadium. The Metrodome was the home of the Minnesota Vikings from 1982 to 2013, the Minnesota Twins from 1982 to 2009, the Minnesota Timberwolves in their 1989–90 inaugural season, the Golden Gophers football team from 1982 to 2008, and the occasional home of the Golden Gophers baseball team from 1985 to 2010 and their full-time home in 2012. It was also the home of the Minnesota Strikers in 1984. The stadium had a fiberglass fabric roof that was self-supported by air pressure and was the third major sports facility to have this feature. The Metrodome was the only facility to have hosted a Super Bowl (1992), World Series (1987, 1991), MLB All-Star Game (1985), and NCAA Division I Basketball Final Four (1992, 2001).
- Location
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Opened
- 1982
- Final Twins game
- 2009
- Demolished
- 2014
- Named for
- Hubert H. Humphrey (U.S. Senator & Vice President)
- Surface
- Artificial turf under a Teflon-coated dome
- Replaced by
- Target Field (2010)
Lore & Background
The Metrodome was named in memory of former mayor of Minneapolis, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who died in 1978. The building's construction was designed by Bangladeshi-American architect Fazlur Rahman Khan. The Metrodome cost $68 million to build, totaling around $124 million with infrastructure and other costs. It was a somewhat utilitarian facility. The stadium had several nicknames such as 'The Dome', 'The Thunderdome', 'The Homer Dome', and 'The Technodome'. The Metrodome was the inspiration for the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.
In Their Own Story
October 1987. The dome is a pressure cooker. You can feel it in the soles of your shoes—the artificial turf vibrating with 50,000 bodies pressed together, the air thick and warm, the silver membrane overhead glowing like the inside of a giant egg. The umpire leans toward the microphone. The crowd goes silent. He says the words. *Twin Cities.* And the dome *detonates.* The sound is not a cheer; it is a physical force, a wall of noise that bounces off the curved walls and slams back into your chest. You are on the third row, your father's hand on your shoulder, and you feel the whole stadium shudder. The Twins are up. The Cardinals are on the mound. The silver light above is the only sun you will ever know, and for one breathless moment, the whole city is holding its breath under the same roof, waiting to see if the miracle will land or shatter. It shatters. It always shatters. But God, the sound it makes while it's still in the air.
Reader's Guide
The Metrodome hosted the 1987 and 1991 World Series, both won by the Twins. The stadium's roof deflated multiple times due to weather, including a major collapse in December 2010 that forced relocation of Vikings games. The roof was replaced in 2011. The Vikings played their final game at the Metrodome on December 29, 2013, and demolition began on January 18, 2014, while construction of U.S. Bank Stadium began.
Did You Know?
- The Metrodome was the only facility to have hosted a Super Bowl, World Series, MLB All-Star Game, and NCAA Final Four.
- The roof collapsed five times in the stadium's history, with four of the five incidents occurring within the first five years of operation.
- The Metrodome was the inspiration for the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.
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