In recent weeks, the Minnesota Vikings have continued to announce more news about upcoming plans for their new training facility in Eagan. Last Tuesday, the facility had its groundbreaking ceremony, which was attended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell as well as team and city officials.
The Vikings purchased the land back in January and submitted over 200 pages worth of detailed plans to the city in March. Redevelopment is anticipated to occur on the 200-acre parcel, and have multiple phases of construction that will take place over the next 10 to 15 years. The first phase of construction will be the team’s corporate headquarters, an indoor training facility, and possibly another training complex with several fields and a stadium. This phase is currently slated to open in March 2018, after the Vikings host the Super Bowl at the newly constructed U.S. Bank Stadium.
Around the time of the groundbreaking, it was also announced that Twin Cities Orthopedics has become a corporate partner, and will obtain the training center’s naming rights. The agreement runs for the next 20 year, and the facility will be known as the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center.
According to ESPN, the team’s operations will be dispersed across three buildings over the next two years. Two structures in Eden Prairie, and one a block south of U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis, will be utilized by the Vikings until construction on the facility is complete.
With the amount of land purchased, the team looks to keep adding and expanding over the next decade. Phase two of the project will probably begin in 2019 and will include a 100-plus room hotel, conference center, offices, shops, and apartments. Future phases of construction could potentially be constructed into as far as 2025. The land was bought by the team owner Zygi Wilf so the Vikings will have a permanent home base with plenty of room for growing pains for at least the next decade.