Opened on April 3, 1982, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome has been home to the Twins for the past 20 years. It was the third domed facility in baseball and remains the only air-supported structure among the 28 in use.
The Metrodome is the only stadium in the world to play host to the World Series (1987 and 1991), baseball's All-Star Game (1985), the Super Bowl (XXVI, 1992) and the NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament (1992 & 2001).
Construction began on December 20, 1979 and was built by the state of Minnesota at a cost of approximately $68 million.
Located on a 20 acre site in the Industry Square district of downtown Minneapolis, the stadium has an interior volume of 60 million cubic feet and is covered by 10 acres of Teflon coated fiberglass 1/32" thick. It is 195 feet from the highest point of the interior ceiling to the playing field.
It takes 250,000 cubic feet of air pressure per minute to keep the roof inflated.
The Metrodome includes 7,600 retractable seats in rightfield, the largest such section of any stadium in the world. It can be converted from baseball to football use, and vice versa, in four hours.
An additional 900 seats were added prior to the '94 season by moving both dugouts closer to the field and adding three rows closer to field level. Section 113 in the right field corner was also added to increase total capacity for baseball to 45,423.
A retractable curtain displaying the banners from the Twins' championship years was hung in right-center prior to the '96 season.
A Plaza was added along Kirby Puckett Place on the west side of the Metrodome prior to the 1996 season and serves as a gathering spot for Twins fans before each home game. The area offers tents for groups of 100 to 1,000 and features a wide variety of food and beverage items.
The pitcher's mound is powered by an electric motor and can be raised and lowered at the push of a button. The mound weighs 23,000 pounds and is 18 feet in diameter.
In March of 2004, the Metrodome playing field was re-surfaced with Field Turf, a new artificial turf that resembles natural grass.
Field dimensions are 343' down the leftfield line, 385' to the leftfield power alley, 408' to dead centerfield, 367' to the rightfield power alley and 327' down the line in right. The fence in leftfield and centerfield is 7' high and the one in rightfield is 23' high, including 16' of plastic tarp installed in 1983. Leftfield had a 6' plexiglas extension from 1983-93, but it was removed prior to the '94 season.
Ballpark