University of Minnesota Athletics
Steel Set to Rise at TCF Bank Stadium
1/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
The structure of Minnesota’s new football home is set to begin reaching toward the sky.
With foundation work on TCF Bank Stadium nearing completion, construction at the site is scheduled to shift gears in a big way next week. Installation of the structural steel that will become the stadium’s frame is slated to get underway on Monday, Jan. 28, at 7:30 a.m.
Over the next six months, the site will receive 10-15 daily shipments of steel that will become the frame of TCF Bank Stadium. And by the time the stadium’s frame is completed in late July, 8,800 tons of steel will have been delivered to the site.
The steel will be used to shape the upper bowl, suites and press box structures and support the massive state-of-the art scoreboard that will be the fifth largest of any venue in the country and the second biggest in all of college football.
Three cranes will hoist the steel beams into place. The beams will then be connected to anchor bolts in the pile caps, which sit atop pipe piles that run down to bedrock.
More than 85 percent of the construction projects for the stadium have been awarded to Minnesota-based firms. Minnesota-based LeJeune Company, along with American Structural Metals, is the steel fabricator and Amerect, also based in Minnesota, will erect the steel.
With 596 days to go before the Gophers’ inaugural game at TCF Bank Stadium vs. Air Force on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, the project is on schedule and on budget.
Fundraising for the $288.5 million stadium continues, with nearly $75 million (87 percent) towards the donations and sponsorships goal of $86 million having been raised to date.
