Turf Installation Begins At U.S. Bank Stadium

The new home of the Minnesota Vikings, U.S. Bank Stadium, is approximately 95% complete. One of the finishing touches will be the installation of the turf that the Vikings will be playing on, and that is expected to get underway on Tuesday, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The final prep work for the turf installation was taking place on Monday.

Even though the ETFE that makes up the roof of U.S. Bank Stadium is largely transparent, giving it that "outdoor/indoor" sort of a feel, the stadium could not make the playing surface real grass because of it, according to the story.

The turf that is being installed is the same as the surface that the Vikings currently have at their practice facility at Winter Park. There are also three current NFL stadiums that use the same turf. . .Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Met Life Stadium in New Jersey, and the "Super"Dome in New Orleans. The turf is made by a Canadian company.

Thankfully, technology has advanced enough that the Vikings don't have to play on the same "revolutionary" surface that was put down at the Metrodome in 1982. The Astroturf back in those days was really nothing more than a thin piece of carpeting stretched out over a concrete surface. What we have now is about as close to real grass as you can get, and will hopefully stand up better than the turf at some of the other stadiums across the league.

Seeing pictures of the progress at U.S. Bank Stadium has been pretty impressive so far, but I think we'll all be pretty happy to see the turf down on the surface with that big, beautiful Vikings logo at the 50-yard line, won't we?