I saw this in the middle of a game, and thought it was some weird promotional spot, but couldn't figure out exactly what it meant.

Clearly, God is displeased with Pawlenty and Bachmann. Minnesota, let this be a warning to you.

^whoa*

is this what happens when you don't pay into keeping infrastructure in good shape? or one of those "acts of god"?

It's what happens when you have a balloon for a roof in a state that can get 17" of snow at a time.

it looks like the roof having a loose bm on the floor

Wild! Yet, another reason I'm glad I didn't move to Minneapolis.

Well at least it's much more interesting than any football game would've been.

As a lifetime Giants fan: Vikings suck.

Inflatable roofs don't just collapse on their own, sheeple! Did you see how fast it came down? How it suddenly failed all at once? How not one piece of the roof remains behind -- every bit of it comes down just like a controlled demolition!

And all because of a little harmless snow? Children play with snow every day and it doesn't make them suddenly collapse.

I've seen this same inflatable fabric technology used in many large structures such as bouncy castles and a lawn Santa who waves at passing cars. I've never seen one fail -- without a little help. Have you?

Places that get a lot of snow typically build roofs that have a steep pitch, like this:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_C2BPkHEMHfI/S6…

Lessons from the Homeland, eh? (Uff Da!)

@9, you've founded the 12/12 Truthers movement just there. Well done. Note how similar that video is to this one, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xLzTKQ4-…

Awesome!

I hope no one got hurt. I would assume no one did, as it was fairly obvious the thing was going to cave in for quite some time.

Man, bridges collapsing, domes caving in... Minnesota is falling apart bit by bit.

@3,

Don't forget, a few years ago there was a bridge collapse during commute hours there in MN because of the Republican failure to pay for maintenance.

I assume this happened when no one was expecting it, so why were there cameras already trained on an uninteresting spot of the ceiling?

Okay, just rewatched it a few times, and I see there are a lot of angles that had to have been chosen once it started collapsing. Nevermind.

So, you chose this over the Santa Speedo Run over at JoeMyGod? Really?

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/12/bos…

@14 I think it may have been obvious that something was happening. There were probably some ominous sounds going on, as well as a noticeable distortion of the roof shape. In fact, the videographer may have been surprised as anyone when it opened up. They may have just thought they were documenting a sagging part.

@ 12, "it was fairly obvious the thing was going to cave in for quite some time"?? Then why were they planning on playing a game there tomorrow night? (And would have played today if the airport closure hadn't meant that the visiting team couldn't fly in?)

Watching a stadium implode is a lot more fun than watching a game. This oughtta happen more often.

@18,
Well, I don't mean it was obvious for days or weeks or months or anything, I meant it was obvious for an hour or so... enough time to keep people out from underneath it.

I love how they play thrilling back-to-the-game Fox Sports music as they cut to the footage.

Oh, Fox, is there nothing of which you can't make a mockery?

Whoa, fucking cool!

Pretty sure Favre was under there. But it shouldn't break his starting streak. He can still hand off with his left.

I'm pretty sure this happened to the Metrodome when I lived in the cities back in the early 90's. Or something like it, anyway.

@ 21, got it.

Green River stream gauge near Auburn just broke 5000 cfs...triggering an "Internal Alert"

http://green.kingcounty.gov/rivergagedat…

Why are we even monitoring streamflows? That's a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money, right Supreme Ruler?

Welp, this is what happens when you build structures that nobody else thinks are a good idea (with Teflon or concrete roofs). Or keep them open past the point when they're a clear danger (old crumbling bridges or viaducts).

At least Minnesota isn't doing something ridiculously stupid like building the world's widest deep bore tunnel through soft coastal soil underneath their downtown.

The thing is 30 years old, and it's fallen in before (never quite this badly, though). Although I'm glad we'll soon have a new governor here, I doubt he could've done much to prevent this.

29/raku, you seem to be making the assumption that talk = action in Seattle. I maintain that, decades from now, government officials will still be talking about replacing the viaduct. This is a city that, after all, took ten years to decide to install five public toilets (and then, pathetically, couldn't prevent them from being overrun by hookers and drug users so it had to sell them at a huge loss.)

Perhaps the government should spend $500 million on a new roof that can't even close very quickly, in case there's bad weather or something.

No?

I suppose that just happened in BC.

@29 & @31 - wrong thread. This is a Vikings hate thread.

Shout-out to Detroiters - free tickets tomorrow. Please go, if only to boo the Queens.

Pretty sure this was God's way of telling Brett Favre that even he doesn't find it funny/cute anymore.

@19 yup, the Kingdome was much more impressive.

I live in the twin cities and was surprised to hear this has happened 5 times before. You'd think they'd be a little more prepared for snow in MN.

On the other hand, the Vikings are trying to get taxpayers to buy them a new stadium (while the state is cutting police and teachers among everything else) so I wouldn't be surprised to hear that someone held a door open or something to depressurize the place.

I moved from Minneapolis to Denver 3 weeks ago, and was surprised to learn that part of Denver International Airport has the same type of roof. If it's a foolish choice for a stadium in a state that can get 17 inches of snow at a time (actually 20+ for this storm in MN) is it a smarter choice for a busy airport in Colorado? Granted I've been here for less than a month, but my understanding is that snowfall here can be significant.

Incidentally, I would not call 24 inches of snow, with more accumulating in the valleys, a little bit of harmless snow. Crews attempting to clear the roof were called off about 12 hours before the collapse when the winds picked up and it was too dangerous for them to continue working. If you read the local news http://www.startribune.com
you will find that this is the 4th time the Dome deflated, once before due to snowfall. Facts, people. Remarkably, not a recent invention.

Comparing the Dome roof to the bridge collapse is foolish, as is attempting to tie either incident to a political party. High winds blew a roof off of a building at Chicago's Navy Pier, was that the fault of the damned dirty dems? Or did the evil Repubs hire someone to sabotage that structure?

Actually, DIA doesn't have the same type of roof. It's not inflatable, but is held in place with tension cables. In the 10+ years DIA has been there, it's gotten considerably more snow than what collapsed the roof of the Metrodome, and there haven't been any problems.

Fifty-Two-Eighty, thanks for the correction. That will teach me to listen to what the news people tell me.

Or they could stop being wimps and just play outside like the 12 Lords of Kobol intended.

@9 FTW

Here I was missing the north and getting tired of the dang rednecks in Tallahassee, but this was a timely reminder why I moved to Florida. Thanks, collapsing football roof!

It's like a giant, inverse condom breaking. Trojan should use this in an ad, i.e."this won't happen if you use our product".

@42: This is football, not pyramid. But yes, real teams play on turf, out in the elements. If the Vikings or Lions win against the Packers or the Bears, it's almost ALWAYS at home. Why? Because those softies aren't used to real football.
LOL VIKINGS.