Minneapolis because of it's rough cold winters wisely decided to build a domed stadium in the late 1970's. Because of the success of the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit, it was decided to make it an inflatable cloth dome, instead of a solid concrete dome like the Superdome in New Orleans. Most of the time that's OK, sometimes not so much.
This morning at around 5AM, it collapsed. There had been 17 inches of snow the previous day. There were 3 tears in the roof. The NFL game between the Vikings & the NY Giants had already been postponed because the airport had been closed, meaning the Giants couldn't get into town. The game has now been moved to Detroit.
This is not the first time this has happened. In fact there have been four other deflations. November 19, 1981 (also because of over a foot of snow in Minneapolis), December 30, 1982 because of a tear caused by heavy snow (what a surprise), on April 14, 1983 (heavy snow again-don't you just want to live there?), & on April 26, 1986 a tear was caused by high winds. The last two happened when the Minnesota Twins were to play the California Angels. Hmmm. (Source: Wikipedia)
Even though this roof may be impressive, it clearly isn't the best idea for this part of the country. According to Wikipedia, it's the largest application of Teflon on Earth. But the midwest is home to some of the worst weather around, & it's just luck that none of the collapses happened during a football game. can you imagine the injuries had all that snow & the collapsing roof happened while there were 50,000 people in the building?
This morning at around 5AM, it collapsed. There had been 17 inches of snow the previous day. There were 3 tears in the roof. The NFL game between the Vikings & the NY Giants had already been postponed because the airport had been closed, meaning the Giants couldn't get into town. The game has now been moved to Detroit.
This is not the first time this has happened. In fact there have been four other deflations. November 19, 1981 (also because of over a foot of snow in Minneapolis), December 30, 1982 because of a tear caused by heavy snow (what a surprise), on April 14, 1983 (heavy snow again-don't you just want to live there?), & on April 26, 1986 a tear was caused by high winds. The last two happened when the Minnesota Twins were to play the California Angels. Hmmm. (Source: Wikipedia)
Even though this roof may be impressive, it clearly isn't the best idea for this part of the country. According to Wikipedia, it's the largest application of Teflon on Earth. But the midwest is home to some of the worst weather around, & it's just luck that none of the collapses happened during a football game. can you imagine the injuries had all that snow & the collapsing roof happened while there were 50,000 people in the building?
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