a complete failure
Written: Jan 17 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The perfect venue for monster truck shows.
Cons: How much time do you have?
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| erik_kosberg's Full Review: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome |
The Hump Dome is a failure on so many levels that it’s hard to to know where to start. It’s an aesthetic disaster on the inside and the outside. It was designed as a dual-use stadium for football and baseball. Aspiring to be all things to all people, it ends up pleasing no one.
How does it offend thee? Let me count the ways. In the age when stadium financing “requires” a great deal of revenue from executive suites, the Hump has far too few of them. Aesthetically, it reminds one of a beached whale rotting in the sun. The endless combination of concrete and steel inside gives it the acoustics of a lawnmower factory, yet big name concerts are held in it on a regular basis (oh yeah, those guitar chords sound so much better the second time around in the echo). The seats are too small, the sight lines are mediocre at best, there’s Astroturf rather than real grass, and the bathrooms are way too small for the number of beer drinkers who can pack in here at once.
There’s already talk of building a new stadium even though voters in Minneapolis and Saint Paul have wisely both given the idea of using tax dollars for such a project a big thumbs down. We’re stuck with this lemon for the foreseeable future. Back when Kirby Puckett was still playing, there was always a good reason to go to the dome, the chance to watch a class act and future Hall of Famer in action. Now that Puckett’s not on the field anymore if you want to see good baseball in the Twin Cities, don’t head for the dome in downtown Minneapolis. Head over to St. Paul’s 5,000 seat Midway Stadium for a Saints game. The St. Paul Saints are a minor league team in the Northern League and their games in Midway Stadium are a zillion times more fun to watch than the Twins at The Hump.
Some rather decent major league stadiums have been built in recent years (for example, Oriole Park at Camden Yards) and some classic stadiums are still in use (The House That Ruth Built). It’s not impossible to design a good baseball stadium but, let’s face it, we’ve all got our strengths and weaknesses. The designers of the Hump Dome have probably moved on to other projects where their skills can be used appropriately, designing abattoirs and wastewater treatment plants.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
erik_kosberg
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Location: Minneapolis, MN
Reviews written: 118
Trusted by: 262 members
About Me:
A science experiment with inconclusive results
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