Vikings kick in $1.3M for more escalators, TVs in new stadium
Published 12:32 pm Saturday, June 21, 2014
The Vikings are kicking in another $1.3 million to the new stadium project, as part of changes they requested that will add six escalators and more than 1,000 TVs.
The changes, approved Friday, push the total project cost up slightly, to $977.5 million.
With the additions, there will be 18 escalators at the main entrance and a total of 33 in the building.
The new money for TVs is actually paying for design changes that will accommodate 1,180 additional televisions. It doesn’t include buying or installing the TVs.
Six months into construction, the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority has received final construction documents for the project and is in the process of reconciling those specifications with the budget, said chair Michele Kelm-Helgen. “It’s not a big difference, but we definitely have some numbers moving around that we need to reconcile,” she said.
Some additional costs are expected as part of hosting the 2018 Super Bowl and perhaps serving as a college basketball Final Four site, Kelm-Helgen said. She said there may need to be additional suite capacity for the Super Bowl, which the team would pay for.
As part of the original deal in May 2012 to get the facility built, the team agreed to contribute $477 million to go with $348 million from the state and $150 million from the city of Minneapolis.
Last November, the Vikings agreed to put up $26.4 million in contingency money, some of which could go back to the team if construction costs come in less than expected. In April, the team put up an additional $1.2 million for video-related changes they wanted.