The Purple People Eating Minnesota Vikings had a surprise in their Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The air supported structure has two layers of Tedlar coated fiberglass that require 250,000 cfm to stay inflated. With 17″ of snow on Saturday, the roof fabric tore, allowing a small leak and some deflation. As the deflation occurs, or course, the roof lowers, more snow moves into the low spot (and into the interior) and the hole gets bigger. This led to a full collapse of the roof. The short video below shows the collapse.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2K53bkzX2I

The roof had deflated 5 times previously due to snow loads causing tears.  The Vikings had been pushing for a new $700M stadium, but with Minnesota facing a $6.2B deficit, it’s unlikely the state will rush in to solve the problem. It will be interesting to watch the resolution of this issue. In this new economy, will stadium developers continue to count on huge public subsidies? Or will we be moving back to a more market brand of capitalism?