Thread: Why the Vikings play indoors

Few people know the real story behind why the Vikings became an indoor team.

A few years after the Vikings team was formed, Minnesota won 11 of the
division championships from 1968 through 1980...all while playing
outdoors. Chicago and Green Bay could not contend with these upstart
Vikings in the frigid Minnesota weather. Embarassed that these two teams
that had been around so long and had great football traditions kept
getting beaten, the NFL asked the Vikings, for the sake of fairness to
play indoors. Since then the NFC Central/North division titles have
been spread around more evenly.

So remind the Packer and Bears fans the next time they give you any crap about the Vikes playing indoors...they have enough trouble beating us in the House of Horrors...do they really want us to go back outdoors?

Awesome point!!

Pardon me, but that sounds like the biggest bunch of hooey ever. It is every bit as cold in Green Bay and Chicago come December and January as it is in Minnesota. The Vikings dominated every team in the NFC Central through the late 60s to late 70s because they had a great team, and the other teams (the Packers in particular) just plain sucked. Weather had nothing to do with it.

I'd bet it was done solely for the fans comfort, especially the high dollar corporate type fans who pay for the most expensive season tickets and corporate suites, and was done to accomodate the Twins in April and September as much as it was for Vikings fans in December. Even with their relatively loyal fan base, I'm sure there were quite a few empty seats at the Met when the weather was really bad. Since they were expanding seating by around 17,000 or so by building the dome, they didn't want all the fair weather (literally and figuratively) fans staying away in droves for "ordinary" (i.e. Packers, Lions, Bears) games in bad weather.

About the only team who might have complained about the Minnesota weather may have been the Los Angeles Rams. They made a habit of losing to the Vikings in the frigid cold in January.

It sounds true to me or at least I like to believe
it's true.

I will agree the Packers sucked through the 70's and 80's. Boy, it was easy to get tickets in those days.

"purplepat" wrote:

Pardon me, but that sounds like the biggest bunch of hooey ever. It is every bit as cold in Green Bay and Chicago come December and January as it is in Minnesota. The Vikings dominated every team in the NFC Central through the late 60s to late 70s because they had a great team, and the other teams (the Packers in particular) just plain sucked. Weather had nothing to do with it.

I'd bet it was done solely for the fans comfort, especially the high dollar corporate type fans who pay for the most expensive season tickets and corporate suites, and was done to accomodate the Twins in April and September as much as it was for Vikings fans in December. Even with their relatively loyal fan base, I'm sure there were quite a few empty seats at the Met when the weather was really bad. Since they were expanding seating by around 17,000 or so by building the dome, they didn't want all the fair weather (literally and figuratively) fans staying away in droves for "ordinary" (i.e. Packers, Lions, Bears) games in bad weather.

About the only team who might have complained about the Minnesota weather may have been the Los Angeles Rams. They made a habit of losing to the Vikings in the frigid cold in January.

It's just a joke dude. Heard it from another Viking fan....just something funny he tells Packer fans who make fun of the Vikings for playing in doors. Sorry I wasn't more clear about that.

Well, I think it's the truth!! And I am going to start using it!

preach on

Yes the dome was built to make the watching the games a more pleasant experience for the fans. I do however feel the Vikings now need a new stadium and before you start to howl about the cost think about how many millions of dollars would be lost to the local ecomony if the Vikings move!

no offense but residing in anacrime, i would love it if the vikes move to LA!!!