New bird risk identified from Minnesota Vikings stadium

Building a new stadium with a huge glass exterior apparently poses a big risk for our flying friends, as the Minnesota Vikings are learning with their new stadium.

This stadium-building thing can be for the birds.

The Minnesota Vikings new domed stadium has already been flagged by animal rights activists for the danger its extensive glass exterior could pose for flying birds.

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Now there are objections to a skyway that will connect to the stadium, according to Pro Football Talk.

Meanwhile, the people putting the project together are getting frustrated, as well.

“It’s hard for us to come here every month and just hear this list of millions more dollars being spent on this project,” Elise Morton said at Friday’s meeting of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority.

There is a fight brewing over calls for the use of bird-safe glass.

Last month, stadium officials turned down a call for special glass that would have added $60 million and six months to the construction budget.

That could force the Vikings to play a third season at the outdoor TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota.

Authority chairwoman Michele Kelm-Helgen said last month that changing the order to get the special etched—or “fritted”—glass could add 23 weeks to the project and add considerable cost.

“If you look at Mortenson (Construction), their subcontractors, all of our consultants and staff that are working on this project—and you’re extending the whole project from two to six months—you’re looking at costs that would be anywhere from $25 (million) to $60 million and potentially higher,” Kelm-Helgen said last month, via The Associated Press.

Bird advocates have said the added cost for the glass would be more like $1 million.

Stadium officials say that doesn’t account for lost revenue, such as lost rent for the Vikings or potential legal action from contractors seeking compensation for extra costs such as lost business due to schedule changes.

“I’m not sure I believe that,” said Lisa Venable for Minnesota Citizens for the Protection of Migratory Birds.

She wants to see proof.

The bird issue has been pecking at stadium planners for months as bird enthusiasts have targeted the $1.1 billion stadium as a potential kill zone in a busy migratory corridor along the Mississippi River.

The concerns are that birds will get confused and fly into the glass.

The Vikings and the stadium authority have fought the idea of fritted glass, saying it would take away from the airy, glassy feel they are seeking for the enclosed stadium. Instead, they are working with 3M on a product that could be added to the glass that would steer birds away from it.

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