The Minnesota Vikings’ first regular season game at U.S. Bank Stadium is about two months away. And while the Vikings are breaking in their new home, the glass panels that make up the exterior of the new stadium will be under heavy watch.
The team and the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority will each contribute $150,000 to a two-and-a-half year study that will basically look at how many birds die from running into the stadium’s large glass panels.
The study comes after a long battle between conservationists and the Vikings over the type of glass the team is using for the panels that are a major part of the stadium’s design. There has been concern from bird watchers that the glass will confuse birds and cause them to hit the glass panels.
Initially, conservationists asked for the installation of glass with etched dots that would divert birds from the buildings’s mirror-like facades. MSFA Chair Michele Kelm-Helgen publicly responded that the etchings would detract from the building’s airy aesthetic. The building has five huge pivoting glass doors on the western wall, a signature element.
Then the push from bird watchers turned to the development of a transparent film to protect the birds while maintaining the translucent glass.
So, the Vikings and Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority have decided to conduct a study in hopes that the glass isn’t the cause of a high number of bird fatalities. Ideally, the glass wouldn’t cause problems and the glass on the stadium wouldn’t have to be replaced with bird-friendly glass.
With the official ribbon cutting less than a week away for U.S. Bank Stadium, there will be plenty of eyes on the new home of the Vikings. The new stadium is already scheduled to host a Super Bowl and Final Four, so there’s no doubt the hosts of these events will be watching to see what happens with the glass, as well as how the stadium holds up. The construction team has already had to replace siding panels and fix a leak in the roof.
