Metrodome Roof Collapsing

Submitted by formerlyanonymous on

Surprisingly on-topic to some you, but with the Minnesota Golden Gophers (henceforth confusingly named UM on a UM blog) playing home games in the Metrodome for the next season or two, the collapse of the Metrodome's roof does have some tangential impact on Michigan sports.

The roof is held up by air pressure and with all the snow, the roof failed and the teflon tore. So how does this affect the baseball team? While UM is working on securing funding to repair the old on campus field, but it hasn't been secured, nor is the on campus field necessarily the best thing for the Gophers.

By playing in the dome, UM and several of the schools from the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin area also play college baseball in the stadium, sometimes around the clock.

With the collapse of the roof, the Vikings will obviously throw a lot of money at getting it fixed, but I have to think that they also use this as a lobbying token for a new stadium, as stadium that may or may not include the option for indoor baseball.

Losing the chance to host the Dairy Queen Classic, UM's February/March tournament was one of the Big Ten's few opportunities to host bigger name opponents early in the year. While there is no doubt the inbalance of Southern powers over the North, this tournament was one of the few bright spots that could be in jeopardy.

Michigan doesn't play at Minnesota this upcoming season, but I can't imagine that the Vikings don't get the roof fixed by May.

/michigan-baseball-spin-on-everything

mGrowOld

December 12th, 2010 at 10:44 AM ^

Looks like that Giants flight getting diverted to KC yesterday was a true blessing in disguise.  Can you imagine the chaos if that had happened with the place filling up with fans and stadium employees?

The place would've looked like the entrance of Best Buys at 6:00am on Black Friday.

winterblue75

December 12th, 2010 at 10:46 AM ^

Rumors are the NFL is leaning towards playing the game at Ford Field, since the Giants traveled with zero cold weather gear. What a thrill that a real NFL game may take place in Detroit!

goblue7612

December 12th, 2010 at 10:47 AM ^

NFL Network and ESPN are both reporting that there's a possibility that the game gets moved to Ford Field. TCF Stadium seems unlikely because the temperatures are expected to drop to -10 degrees and the Giants don't have their cold weather gear. So they'll most likely move it to some domed stadium. In the area that leaves Indy, St. Louis, and Detroit. They're also reporting that FOX expects to cover the game (not sure how they worked out the deal with ESPN), and Detroit is the only one of the three with FOX equipment currently there. That was their rationale. I for one would be at the game if it happened in Detroit.

umich1

December 12th, 2010 at 11:32 AM ^

The original silver-like roof was built of Teflon-coated fiberglass panels, and supported by air pressure inside the stadium. Although the roof has always been white in color as viewed with the naked eye, the stadium obtained the name "Silverdome" due to a silver-like reflection caused by the sun, mainly noticed from the sky.[20] The roof was replaced by a new canvas fabric reinforced by steel girders after a strong snowstorm on March 4, 1985 caused structural damage to the old roof. Because of the damage, the Detroit Pistons played the remainder of the 1984–85 season at Joe Louis Arena.[21] The accident, and the delay in repairs, partially prompted the Pistons moving three seasons later 4 miles (6 km) north to their new, privately owned, 20,000-seat sports arena, The Palace of Auburn Hills.

I never had heard about the silverdome roof collapsing before, that is really fascinating from an engineering perspective.

SysMark

December 12th, 2010 at 11:02 AM ^

This has happened before and they can fix it pretty fast, though not in time for this game.  Maybe its time to re-think that stadium before someone ends up getting hurt.  So far they have been fortunate to not have anything happen while the place was full.

CRex

December 12th, 2010 at 11:28 AM ^

I think Minnesota screwed up by not doming TCF Stadium when they built it.  Football should be played out of doors, but if you're going to build a big stadium you should set it up so you can use it for more than just a few home games in the fall.  Maybe stick a retractable roof on it like Lucas Oil in Indy.  

Also since the Twins are looking at getting their own stadium, and would have no reason to dome it since their season ends in Nov, Minny baseball better hope a NFL Team sticks around and is willing to arrange it so the stadium can be configured for baseball.  

goblue7612

December 12th, 2010 at 11:49 AM ^

According to NFL Network that the game will be played at Ford Field Monday night at 7:20 ET. This coming from the Mara family to the Giants team. No word on ticket sales yet.

Michigasling

December 12th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^

And as the intro they showed an indoor Metrodome HD video of snow coming into the roof and the roof starting to sag.  Either it was a mock-up or they decided not to stay to show the full collapse.