Tailgating at U.S. Bank Stadium Could Be In Trouble

Kudos to Adam Carlson over at The Viking Age for finding this one first.

For as long as there has been football in the city of Minneapolis, there has been tailgating. I got an opportunity to hang around the tailgate lots a little bit before the last game I got to attend at the Metrodome, and it really is quite an experience. . .if you haven't really done so before, it's something you should go out of your way to attempt to do at least once.

The new U.S. Bank Stadium is significantly larger than the Metrodome, as we know, and as a result a lot of the places that had previously been used for tailgating are no longer there. The team and some of the neighborhoods around the stadium came to an agreement a while back about opening up some areas for tailgating, but now the city of Minneapolis appears to be trying to tighten up regulations surrounding tailgating.

According to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, the city is looking to put some of the areas that had been designated as tailgating locations along Washington Avenue and the Mississippi River off-limits. Supporters of the plan are quick to point out that areas are being added to replace them, but it's still going to wind up being a smaller area than what was originally agreed on. There's a map of the proposed changes available at the Business Journal link.

If you'd like to exercise your right to be heard on this matter, there is going to be a public hearing about it on 17 May (that's this Tuesday) at 1:30 PM at the Minneapolis City Hall. So, if you're someone that's planning on organizing, or even just participating in, tailgating sessions around the new U.S. Bank Stadium, be sure to attend if you can. Hopefully any solution that winds up being agreed upon will have the greatest number of benefits for the fans of the Minnesota Vikings and their tailgating experience.