With the demolition of the Metrodome set for early 2014, the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority will be auctioning off the contents of the facility this fall. The Metrodome, the former home of the Minnesota Twins and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball team, will be torn down to make way for a new Minnesota […]
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New Vikings stadium renderings released: pretty swank
Those sleepy high-school baseball players on the field at 3 a.m. will be competing in some pretty swanky surroundings, as the Minnesota Vikings unveiled plans for a new multiuse stadium. Besides serving as the home of the Vikings, the new stadium will host high-school and college baseball. This was a key point in negotiations over […]
Compromise reached on baseball at new Vikings stadium
There will be a workable baseball field at the new Minnesota Vikings stadium for college, amateur and high-school baseball after architects made changes to the seating design. The Vikings had argued for one of the most intimate stadium designs in the NFL, with the goal to place fans as close to action as possible. Good […]
New Vikings stadium could host Gopher baseball — if the numbers work
February is an awfully cold time to be playing outdoor baseball in Minnesota, so University of Minnesota baseball coach John Anderson is working to make the new Minnesota Vikings stadium baseball-friendly — but the NFL team is skeptical about what he is proposing. The Vikings want to build a state-of-the-art stadium to replace the Metrodome, […]
The Year That Was: 2012
Ballpark visits across the country, the future of Wrigley Field, the preservation of old ballparks and planning for future MLB ballparks. The top stories posted on Ballpark Digest in 2012, as measured by page views. Appalachian Power Park / West Virginia Power JetBlue Park at Fenway South / Boston Red Sox Turner Field / Atlanta […]
It’s official: Target Field to host 2014 All-Star Game
The Minnesota Twins, Major League Baseball and Bud Selig made it official today: the 2014 MLB All-Star Game will be played July 15 at Target Field. “It is my great honor to name the Minnesota Twins as the hosts of the 2014 All-Star Game,” Selig said in announcing the game today. “This is especially meaningful to […]
Big announcement tomorrow means one thing: Twins land 2014 All-Star Game
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will be at Target Field tomorrow for a big announcement, which can mean only one thing: the Minnesota Twins have landed the 2014 All-Star Game. It’s been a foregone conclusion among MLB types in recent weeks that the Twins would land the event at Target Field: we’ve been told the only […]
Fate of Astrodome again under debate in Houston
It’s a topic that pops up every few years, as Houston decides what to do with the economically obsolete Astrodome, the indoor ballpark once hailed as the Eighth Wonder of the World. There had been plans floating around for domed ballparks in the 1950s and 1960s — most notably Buckminster Fuller‘s proposal for a covered […]
Adios, Metrodome
The decision last week to build a new stadium for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings had one bittersweet side effect: the Metrodome will be torn down to make way for the new facility. The decision really wasn’t hard: though other downtown Minneapolis sites were under consideration to house the new 65,000-seat football stadium (including a site […]
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome / Minnesota Golden Gophers
Hailed as an engineering marvel when it opened in 1982 and abandoned by the Minnesota Twins for a spiffier Target Field, the Metrodome is still a functioning ballpark, hosting Golden Gopher baseball as well as a slew of small-college and high-school games every winter and spring. FAST FACTS Address: 34 Kirby Puckett Place, Minneapolis.First Game: […]
One anniversary not marked by MLB this year: Metrodome opening
We’ve been running plenty of anniversary stories this season, but here’s one you won’t see trumpeted by Major League Baseball: the opening of the Metrodome 30 years ago. When the Metrodome opened in 1982, indoor baseball was still a relative novelty: the Astros played in that futuristic amusement park called the Astrodome and the Seattle […]
DLR lands Golden Gopher design gig
The DLR Group landed the design contract for the new University of Minnesota replacement for Siebert Field, with PCL Construction Services inked to build it. The first phase of construction, slated to open in 2013, will include a new grandstand (with concessions and restrooms), new seating and a new plaza to the south uniting the […]
Twins: We like Target Field fences where they are
Though other teams are moving in their ballpark fences to pump up the offense, the Minnesota Twins braintrust says they’ll keep the spacious dimensions at Target Field — for now. Target Field is known as a pitchers’ ballpark, partly thanks to the spacious dimensions and partly thanks to the high fences. (In right field, for […]