Minnesota Metrodome Roof Collapses After Snow Storm

The inflatable roof of the Metrodome, where the Minnesota Vikings pro football team plays, collapsed on Dec. 12, following a snow storm that dumped 17 inches on Minneapolis.

Bill Lester, executive director of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, said the damage was being assessed and the agency would issue a statement later. He had no details yet on what had happened.

A Minneapolis police spokesman did not immediately respond to a phone message. It wasn’t clear whether anyone was injured in the collapse, which happened overnight.

The Vikings’ Sunday National Football League game against the New York Giants had already been pushed to Monday after the storm kept the Giants from getting to Minneapolis.

The city got 17.1 inches of snow during the storm that started Friday night and ended around 10 p.m. Saturday, said James McQuirter, a National Weather Service meteorologist. He said the storm was one of the five largest to hit the Twin Cities. Some surrounding communities got more than 21 inches of snow, he said.

The Metrodome roof has failed three times before. It deflated in 1981, 1982 and 1983, each time due to tears caused by heavy snow. The April 14, 1983, collapse forced the postponement of the Twins’ baseball game with California, which had been the only postponement. A slight tear also delayed a Twins game briefly in 1986.