U.S. Bank Stadium dwarfs its predecessor and, officials hope, so will the pregame action.
The Minnesota Vikings are encouraging fans to come early to home games and stay late. The team is setting up an 800-person bar and music garden on the plaza outside the stadium when the Vikings are in town.
The new venues are adjacent to a family area with kid-friendly games on the Commons, the park outside the new $1.1 billion stadium.
The Vikings Longhouse bar is the most visible new element. The aluminum and glass building, going up on the plaza just in time for Sunday's first preseason home game, is 67 feet by 116 feet and 35 feet tall at its highest point. It will have heating and cooling systems.
Adjacent to the bar: The Miller Beer Garden will have live music. The venues will come down after the NFL season.
And fans don't even need tickets.
"The Vikings Longhouse is for fans to come and mingle together, enjoy some of the camaraderie that comes with a pregame," said Dannon Hulskotter, Vikings vice president of marketing and fan engagement.
For reasons both practical and commercial, the Vikings say the new spaces make sense. When the Vikings played at the Metrodome, a closed-off stretch of Chicago Avenue S. was the only pedestrian space for pregame action. The cramped passage included some concessions and merchandise sales but didn't encourage mingling or lingering.
