By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE and PAUL LEVY,
Star Tribune staff writers
Last update: December 17, 2010 - 6:37 AM
The final home game of the Minnesota Vikings' 50th season promises parka-wrapped fans sitting in general admission seats, stomping their feet to ward off the single-digit chill, without even a beer to ease the pain.
With the release of a ticket plan Thursday to handle the switch from the blizzard-damaged Metrodome to the University of Minnesota's stadium, the team virtually ensured that it will be playing Monday's game in Minnesota, as it preferred. It also will mean the Vikings will play their first outdoor home game in 29 years.
But the plan also means that some fans with tickets inevitably will be left outside the gates of the U's TCF Bank Stadium or unhappy about the arrangements, as the Vikings acknowledge. Squeezing 64,000 ticket holders into 51,000 seats at the U isn't going to happen, and seating will be first-come, first-served, with lines forming three hours before game time.
The Vikings also reached an agreement with the U not to serve alcohol. The university bans alcohol at its football games. .............(more)
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