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The doors were opened on U.S. Bank Stadium Friday as the Minnesota Vikings held a get-to-know-you session with their new stadium ahead of their first game in their new stadium.
Mike Zimmer wanted to give his players a chance to get used to the stadium, the atmosphere, the turf, the sun and even the wind if the doors to the outside remain open, so he moved the team’s practice over to the new 1.75-million-square-foot stadium.
US Bank Stadium open for football business in two days pic.twitter.com/ZmYJNWzpWu
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) August 26, 2016
Overall Zimmer thought the guys were pretty impressed with what they experienced.
“I think most of them were excited to get down here,” Zimmer told reporters after practice. “When they were getting off the bus and getting in the locker room, some of them, the young guys.”
It wasn’t just the young guys who were enjoying the new stadium.
“I was telling the guys earlier, it’s so great to come back and be a part of this,” Greenway said Friday. “How cool is this to walk into this stadium and be able to play here?”
There was another purpose to Zimmer’s decision to hold practice at the new stadium. He wanted them to know how it is going to feel to block out the distractions of the new digs.
“I think this team will have a lot of situational things like this where we’ve got to go into a new place, we’ve got to play at a different time, we’ve got to play on two Thursdays, a Sunday night [two Monday nights],” Zimmer added. “So all of these different things are good for the team to understand that the only thing that matters is between these white lines and just because we’re doing something out of the ordinary doesn’t mean we can’t focus.”
The Vikings host San Diego at noon Sunday in their third preseason game.
