A SNOWSTORM WAS SLATED TO HIT THE TWIN CITIES THE NIGHT BEFORE THE VIKINGS TOOK ON THE NEW YORK GIANTS AT THE METRODOME IN MINNEAPOLIS
As any Minnesotan can attest, snowstorms come and go often in the winter months. They hit, the plows go out and clear the roads and people return to a normal way of life until the next cycle. No one was concerned about the impending snowstorm on December 11, 2010, and the Vikings players went to sleep in their hotel rooms in preparation for the next day's game. Since the Metrodome was an indoor facility, there was little concern about the snow's impact on kickoff. As former Viking Jared Allen said,
"Guys coming into the hotel from their houses, [weather could be] a concern, but never did you think that the game would be canceled because of a blizzard, I mean, you're in a dome, right? So weather's never even in the forecast for the game plan."
It was just another typical night -- until it wasn't.
THE BREAKDOWN, LITERALLY
Just after 5 a.m. on gameday, the Metrodome's roof collapsed under the immense weight of snow and ice built up on its billowy surface.
Pete Eisenschenk worked on the stadium operations team and was plenty familiar with the Metrodome's air-supported roof that featured an exterior layer of Teflon-coated fiberglass material and inner layer of fabric that served as the bowl's ceiling.
What made the roof vulnerable, Eisenschenk explained, was if it fell victim to even a small hole or rip, which could tear the unique material "like a bed sheet."
"We knew a storm was on its way, so I prepped the building and we went into what's called 'snow mode,' and that's where we heat the building up and then divert the warm air between the fabrics of the building to melt snow as it comes down. We make the roof more taut or increase the [air] pressure in the building and increase the heat, and that's about all we can do initially. I guess with that particular storm, that day we were prepping for a Vikings game, so we had a small ground crew on painting the field. Other than that, we did not have a lot of people here. We were preparing for the next day and having more people on hand then, not knowing we were going to get hit as hard as we did. We removed snow with firehoses up there, and because travel was so difficult, people were trickling in very slowly, which put us behind. After a period of time, the center portion of the roof actually got pushed down or in, which rendered our firehoses useless because we couldn't push uphill anymore. Normally, we could just rinse it off the roof, and with it pushing down like that, we were not able to remove it, so later in the day, we pulled everybody from the roof because we were unable to remove snow anymore. We just upped the pressure, upped the temperature and hoped for the best." - Pete Eisenschenk, Metrodome Operations
AP footage shows the interior of the Metrodome during the roof collapse
Eisenschenk: "I heard a slide on the opposite side of the roof, on the west side of the building, and that was followed by an immense explosion. All I could see was black sky. I was on that forklift and by the time I got to the ramp itself, the [roof] was down. I wasn't looking back. I was just in a hurry to get out of there.
ON TO PLAN B
Thanks to some strategic and quick thinking by the operations team, the Vikings were able to move their home game to Ford Field in Detroit. Even with the sudden changes to the plan, they were still able to coordinate an overnight delivery of paint by a company based in Cleveland, Ohio, and a crew to paint the Norseman and VIKINGS on Ford Field's turf. The paint dried the day of the game.
You can read an entire oral history of the roof collapse, game in Detroit, and season conclusion here.
THE AFTERMATH
Consensus grew that the Metrodome — the world's only venue to host a Super Bowl, World Series, MLB All-Star Game and NCAA Men's Final Four — had served its intention and was past its prime. The Metrodome was demolished in 2013.
It was time to move on and build a new stadium in its former footprint. In 2016, U.S. Bank Stadium opened in downtown Minneapolis and serves as the current home of the Minnesota Vikings.
While the new building stands in its place, no one has ever forgotten the events of the Metrodome roof collapse and what happened after that.
Often in conversations, Minnesotans recount where they were the night the Metrodome roof collapsed. VEN & NFL Network knew there was potential to retell this story and capitalize on the tale that is widely told to fans and non-fans alike. To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the roof collapse, the Vikings Entertainment Network partnered with the NFL to document the day's events from start to finish. The video included never-before-seen footage from inside the stadium during the time of collapse, and exclusive interviews with the grounds crew inside the stadium that day. Viking front office executives also recounted the organization's quick change of plans and the aftermath that eventually led to the construction of U.S. Bank Stadium. Many of the people featured in the story had never publicly talked about the roof collapse until now.
Here is the full video:
VIDEO IMPACT AND RESULTS
Once the video was published on YouTube and promoted on team social channels, it rapidly took off an at unprecedented pace. One of the main components of the video's success is its wide appeal to audiences beyond just the typical Vikings fan. The roof collapse was a national news story that was widely reported on. It now had people remembering and wanting to relive that time, which helped create an easy and click-friendly piece of content.
The results on YouTube were remarkable:
The results of the video were staggering. On YouTube alone, the video received 3.9M views, which as seen above, is 3.9M more than the average views on this channel. It generated over 367k watched hours, gained 6.9k subscribers to the Vikings YouTube channel, and generated $40k in revenue, respectively. Not only was this a viral success, it was the first of its kind for the Vikings Entertainment Network video content.
Additional social media metrics:
Facebook: 6,196 interactions, 0.15% engagement rate, 535,432 content impressions
Twitter: 2,450 interactions, 0.09% engagement, 744,948 content impressions
Highlights: Drove over 20k clicks to two separate pieces of content
9,418 to vikings.com longform article
12,480 to the YouTube video
100,343 video views of the teaser on Twitter