Deflations
Five times in the stadium's history, heavy snows or other weather conditions have damaged the roof and caused it to deflate. On November 19, 1981, a rapid accumulation of over a foot of snow caused the roof to collapse, requiring it to be re-inflated. It deflated the following winter on December 30, 1982, again because of a tear caused by heavy snow. This was four days before the Vikings played the Dallas Cowboys in the last regular season game of the 1982 NFL season. That same winter, on April 14, 1983, the Metrodome roof deflated because of a tear caused by heavy snow and the scheduled Twins' game with the California Angels was postponed. It was the only postponement in Metrodome history until 2007. On April 26, 1986, the Metrodome roof suffered a slight tear because of high winds, causing a nine-minute delay in the bottom of the seventh inning vs the Angels.
On December 12th, 2010, at about 5:00 a.m., the roof collapsed as a result of more than seventeen inches of snow the previous day, sustaining three tears in the process. The Vikings and the New York Giants had been scheduled to play a football game that afternoon. The game had already been postponed to Monday night due to the Giants' flight being stranded in Kansas City as a result of the Midwestern snowstorm. Due to the extent of damage to the roof, the NFL relocated the game to Ford Field in Detroit. Ticket-holders who could journey to Detroit were promised seats on the fifty yard line, while free tickets for the game would be given away at Ford Field on Monday morning.
