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Esme's Blog: Is The Dome Done?

The goal of being a TV reporter is to try and take the viewer to where you are, to let them see what you see, to tell a story. But sometimes the scope of what you see is more than you can convey. And sometimes your personal feelings are impossible to ignore.

At a personal level, seeing the Metrodome from the inside in a state of collapse is shocking. I couldn't help but think of all the fun times and great moments I had experienced there with friends and family. And I couldn't help but feel that perhaps the Dome is done.

I was stunned to find out that the Dome still has the original roof on it. That roof went up in 1979 and was given a 20-year life expectancy. An inspection this summer by Birdair, the same company that is doing the repairs, said the roof was in great shape. What is revealing about the collapse is that it was not the snow that did it. It was apparently the wind and ice.

A side panel on the edge of the Dome blew out, causing a loss of air pressure, resulting in a deflation and then a funneling effect of all the snow into a few central spots. Then, of course, came the large tear.

While Metrodome officials are doing the best that they can, the fact that they said repeatedly in the hours after the collapse that the Dome had been intentionally deflated is troubling. They later said they had misspoken. Metrodome officials are proposing a patch job of the roof. Birdair will decide which panels need to be replaced.

Is a patch job of a 30-year-old roof by the company that said the roof was in great shape earlier this year really the answer? A new roof will cost $15 million. And it's not clear if insurance will pay for that. The Vikings' Lester Bagley said "he has significant concerns" about the Dome's safety. And while critics may call that statement opportunistic the question remains, will the Dome withstand another inevitable storm? Is it really worth repairing? Or is the Dome really done?

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