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Metrodome roof to be raised

Metrodome

The roof of the Metrodome is set to be raised for the first time since December’s snowy collapse, as $22.7 million in repairs are nearing completion.

The home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball team and the former home of the Minnesota Twins has been closed since Dec. 12, when heavy snow and ice caused the collapsed of the inflated-air roof. It caused hundreds of college and high-school baseball games this past spring to be postponed or rescheduled; the facility is heavily used by MIAC schools and the University of Minnesota.The Golden Gophers managed to reschedule most of their games for Target Field (with one game played at decrepit Siebert Field).

The new roof will be inflated before all the work is completed; what’s left are repairs that can be done on an inflated roof. The ETA for completion of repairs is Aug. 1 — plenty of time for the Minnesota Vikings to begin their exhibition season.

Coach John Anderson probably can’t wait for the Metrodome to reopen for college baseball. By our count, the Gophers drew just 9,676 fans at Target Field over 12 games (including two doubleheaders). Take away a crowd of 4,571 for an April 2 doubleheader, and the final figure would have been even sadder. By way of contrast, LSU led college baseball averaging 10,556 fans per game, which means more fans walked through the turnstiles at Alex Box Stadium than did all attendees of University of Minnesota baseball games at an excellent MLB facility.

RELATED STORIES: Metrodome repairs to begin today; Gophers shift Big Ten season to Target Field; Metrodome out for the count; Gophers working on backup plan; Metrodome roof won’t be fixed until March; Dome roof could be repaired for Gophers season; Will Metrodome be ready for baseball season?; Metrodome roof collapses in dramatic fashion; Pohlads pledge $2 million toward new U of Minnesota ballpark; U of Minnesota announces ballpark plan — kinda

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