U.S. Bank Stadium gets new public oversight chief from California

The public agency that oversees U.S. Bank Stadium hired a new executive director Wednesday nearly a year after the last one departed.

Ben Jay has extensive experience in youth sports and college athletics from his native Ohio to Hawaii and most recently in Irvine, Calif. Jay will be paid at the top end of the range for the position, slightly more than $192,000.

Previous Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) executive director James Farstad departed last March after allegations of unconscious gender bias against a former staffer who also left at the same time. Farstad went on medical leave for an unrelated injury in January 2022.

The MSFA works closely with the Minnesota Vikings, the stadium's main tenant, and ASM Global, the operator that books concerts, events and oversees stadium security. The MSFA also oversees Aramark, the stadium's concessions operator.

The publicly owned stadium, which cost about $1.1 billion to build, has an annual operating budget of about $41.6 million.

The Minnesota Department of Management and Budget conducted the search for the new executive director. MSFA Chairman Michael Vekich said there were 35 applicants, and Jay was the only finalist.

In nominating Jay, Vekich cited his 25 years of experience in financial, sports and stadium operations. The five-member MSFA board unanimously approved Jay's hiring. He will be one of three full-time staff members at the MSFA. He starts Dec. 5.

Jay is currently the CFO and chief of staff for the Big West athletic conference, based in Irvine. It includes 10 California schools and the University of Hawaii. He is a native of Ohio and the son of Chinese immigrants, and he said he and his wife are "looking forward to returning back to the Midwest."

In other actions, the board approved spending $298,000 to fix the hydraulics on the six glass doors on the stadium's western facade. The six-year-old doors were dripping hydraulic fluid onto the carpet, according to Mary Fox-Stroman, the acting executive director of the MSFA.