Packers not necessarily cheering Metrodome's demise
The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was built in 1982. In February this year, the dome came tumbling down, ending its 32-season run as home of the Minnesota Vikings.
The dome's departure got mixed reactions from some Green Bay Packers interviewed Wednesday.
"No man, I don't miss a damn thing about that place," Packers guard Josh Sitton said. "I've never been a fan of domes, they're loud and turf sucks. I won't miss it at all."
Said quarterback Aaron Rodgers: "We had a lot of great battles there, a lot of good memories. Look forward to that being a road dome game at some point again."
The Vikings are building a new indoor downtown stadium that they expect to open for the 2016 season. In the meantime, they are playing home games at TCF Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus.
The Packers were 15-16 in games at the Metrodome, which isn't bad considering how much the noise inside the dome generated by fans and piped-in sound was an advantage for the Vikings.
"I liked the Metrodome. I thought it was a great environment," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "It definitely leads the away games for taking Advil after it. The crowd noise, real and not so real, I thought really beats you up by the end of the day. But the environment in there was incredible.
"I mean, you think about all the Packer fans that are at the game, it was always exciting to play in the Metrodome. I definitely enjoyed it. I thought it was unique. It was a unique home-field advantage for the Vikings. I'm not going to say I've missed it, but I enjoyed playing there."
The loud Viking horn sound still is blown after every touchdown, despite playing at a new venue.
"It'll still be annoying, I'm sure," Rodgers said. "I'm just wondering how they're going to do it with the motorcycle Viking, if he's still going to be in full effect. Maybe they'll get a parade cart for him to come out on. I don't know if that's safer or not. If the field is pretty icy, he's just going to have to be careful revving that thing up too much."