It won’t be the first ever ship decorating an NFL stadium. But this one will be fully available to fans and its sail will actually be a LED screen. Private financing should be secured entirely by fans.

It’s 49-meter long and 14m wide (160x45 feet). These  dimensions will make the latest feature of US Bank Stadium an important piece of the landscape. Especially with the planned viking ship being accessible to all fans, presenting a historical exhibition and having a massive LED screen as its sail (2,000 square feet or 186 square meters).

In all fairness we should point out that there will only be some 40% of the ship and the remainder will be just its outline integrated into the pavement. Nevertheless, the multimedia project should attract visitors all year round.

Many of them will likely be among those financing it. The project is entirely private and funds are raised through the sale of engraved pavers. Some 6,000 were already sold and there’s still room for twice as many. With each priced at $160-360, the installation should already be secure at this point.

The ship will be opened along with the stadium in 2016. Worth noting, it won’t be the first ship owned by the Vikings. There’s already a wooden one standing in the team’s training centre. It won’t also be the first ship hosted by an NFL stadium, because there’s already one at Raymond James Stadium.

StadiumDB comment: Call me a skeptic, call it rushed judgement, but can I express doubts about the idea? The ship, which won’t even be a ship, seems like a great way to mount a huge advertising board in exposed public space and make it generate revenue 365 days a year. Oh, and also make people pay for it and be happy about doing so. Does this make it bad? No way, but it doesn’t sound honest at all. That said, I’ll be happy to revoke my disbelief if the ship won’t be just an advertising space on non-matchdays. / Michał Karaś