@KFAN1003 It would appear that seats are falling off at #USBankStadium tonight. #1stWorldProblems pic.twitter.com/JSyOgVpBiC
— Veronica Rodriguez (@MexiVrod) August 4, 2016
It’s only been one night and already U.S. Bank Stadium is falling apart.
Ok, so we’re exaggerating (especially considering most people had good things to say about it). But there have been a few mentions from people who attended the stadium’s inaugural event Wednesday night that the seating was not exactly worthy of a billion-dollar venue.
As the tweet above shows, one of the upper-tier seats broke off during the soccer game between Chelsea and A.C. Milan, with the ticket-holder shown running down a staircase with the seat in hand.
There were a few comments made on Reddit as well about the quality of the seating, with one saying: “I remember thinking the seats seemed pretty insecure when I went to the open house too. Wonder what that’s about.”
A Redditor called McRawffles responded: “Yeah, my buddy had the same thought. I figured they knew what they were doing and the seats were just squeaking/moving because they had to yet to set in, but he thought that they weren’t particularly well made (not that many stadium seats are).”
Some mentioned it on Twitter too:
https://twitter.com/ShepMitchell/status/761234783242301442
My source @PeterZethraus said the seats were flimsy @usbankstadium … But damn! https://t.co/lxx4UciRzS
— bourbonseller (@BourbonSeller1) August 4, 2016
BringMeTheNews reached out to the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority for comment, but has not yet received a response.
The seats at U.S. Bank Stadium
U.S. Bank Stadium has departed from the norm when it comes to seating, eschewing the usual “bolt it into the concrete” style seen in many other stadiums in favor of a more flexible option.
Instead, around 58,000 of the seats are attached to a rail system that allows them to slide left and right to create more space, or add more capacity, according to Vikings.com.
This system will mean the 65,000-seater stadium can increase its capacity by around 10,000 when it hosts the Super Bowl in 2018.
The remaining 6,000 seats are fully retractable, creating extra space to host a number of events, including music concerts.
You can watch a video of how the seats were installed here.
