In a move that could impact hundreds of college-baseball games annually, the city of Minneapolis will be unveiling a plan today to build a new Minnesota Vikings stadium on the current Metrodome site, leaving local universities without a warm place to play during the mean months of March and April.
The Dome is best known in baseball circles as the former home of the Minnesota Twins, but it’s now serving a vital purpose as the cold-weather home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers as well as the home to hundreds of games between regional colleges. March and April are pretty iffy months for outdoor baseball in Minnesota — as the Twins discovered this year with two rainouts and some small crowds, a pretty typical one when it came to the weather — and the Dome was a way for many teams to get in their spring games.
The plan, to be discussed today, has the city working with the state and the Vikings on a funding plan that would place a new stadium at the Dome site, minimizing the new need for new infrastructure (the site is already well-served by freeway and light-rail access) and keeping the team in Minneapolis. There’s a completing plan from Ramsey County to put a new stadium in Arden Hills.
Speaking the Metrodome: repairs to the roof are expected to be done this summer, in plenty of time to serve college programs next spring.
RELATED STORIES: Metrodome repairs to begin today; Gophers shift 2011 Big Ten season to Target Field; Metrodome out for the count; Gophers working on backup plan; Metrodome roof won’t be fixed until March; Dome roof could be repaired for Gophers season; Will Metrodome be ready for baseball season?; Metrodome roof collapses in dramatic fashion; Pohlads pledge $2 million toward new U of Minnesota ballpark; U of Minnesota announces ballpark plan — kinda
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