On the edge of downtown Minneapolis, U.S. Bank Stadium is more than the home field of the Minnesota Vikings. Its address at 401 Chicago Avenue places it in the city’s East Town area, close to the central business district and the light-rail network. The venue occupies the former site of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the enclosed stadium that served the Vikings before closing in 2013. That replacement was a major public project, not simply a new shell for football: the Minnesota Legislature and Minneapolis City Council approved a $975 million funding plan in 2012.
The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, the Vikings and architecture firm HKS presented the design in 2013. Construction took a little over two and a half years, and the building opened on July 22, 2016. Its first public weekend drew more than 190,000 Minnesotans, according to the stadium’s own history. The scale of that opening reflected an ambition to create a year-round gathering place in a northern city, where an outdoor venue is not practical for every date on the calendar.