MINNEAPOLIS — The Super Bowl will have been played in 25 stadiums when Philadelphia and New England meet in Super Bowl 52 on Sunday. None of them match the new silver standard that is U.S. Bank Stadium.
It's been only seven years since Jerry Jones and the now-named AT&T Stadium burst on the Super Bowl scene. Jerry World remains an impressive venue, but one thing helps separate U.S. Bank Stadium from stadiums that have come before: keeping the intimacy and intimidation along with the size and scope.
"My favorite feature about this stadium is how close the seating is to the field of play," NFL senior director of events Eric Finkelstain said. "It's how loud this stadium gets when there's excitement in here. You can't even hear yourself think. This one is uniquely loud."
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Although the chilly Twin Cities are proud of the "Bold North" hospitality that has attracted the first Super Bowl here in 26 years, there's no doubt U.S. Bank Stadium is what warmed up the NFL most for a return. Gone are the recent memories of snow pouring through the roof of the bygone Metrodome, replaced by a crystal masterpiece that's part spaceship, part cathedral.
Blasting off toward the future, yet always remembering the classics past. That's the true identity of the Vikings' venue, "Minneapolis Miracle" and all. With everything negative that has piled on the NFL in the present, it is more of what the league needs the second half-century of Super Bowls to be.
For the first time in U.S. Bank Stadium's short history, an NFL game will be played without the blaring Vikings horn sound or "Skol" chants. Fans of the Eagles and Patriots will fill in as the intense, noisy crowd.
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Regardless of who wins, Eagles or Patriots, the two-year-old NFL home of the NFC runner-up Vikings will remain a champion. Minneapolis has raised the bar for hosting America's ultimate sporting event, one that only Atlanta and Los Angeles — as hosts in new venues the next two years — are capable of matching.
"They continue to build and push each other to make more modern and unique buildings that are state of the art, adding new features, which makes it exciting for us," Finklestein said.
For now, U.S. Bank Stadium has done what it can do to dominate the Super Bowl. Nothing, now or on Sunday, will take away from that.
