MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Mercedes-Benz Stadium is not alone.
The newest stadium in Atlanta has its fair share of issues: a roof that cannot open on its own, leaks, audio issues and foot traffic congestion.
Despite the $1.6 billion that went into its construction, there's still work that needs to be done as the city gets ready to host Super Bowl LIII in February of 2019.
Officials still have one year. Yet in Minneapolis, U.S. Bank Stadium is just days away from hosting the biggest game in the nation. Coincidentally, it has gone through similar issues as the Benz.
The $1.1 billion stadium, which is home to the Minnesota Vikings, has roof issues, has leaked and is suffering from poor audio. Those are just some of the issues that local media in Minneapolis have been stressing as Super Bowl LII approaches.
Sound familiar?
Michael Vekich is the chair of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority. In an exclusive interview with 11Alive, he revealed that the uniqueness of the structure led to some of the issues. They had to bite the bullet and attempt to rectify them as the game approached.
"I think from my perspective as chair of the authority as well as a business person, the uniqueness is obviously the big attraction," Vekich said. "So any time you have something so architecturally different and unique, you will certainly have some things that need adjusting. And that’s some of the things you should expect."
Mercedes-Benz Stadium is an architectural marvel. But because of that, there has been a delay in the eight-panel roof working at the push of a button. It still requires dozens of workers manually moving the petals for a couple of hours to open and close the roof. It has been delayed several times, but the hope is ultimately having it open in minutes at the push of a button.
U.S. Bank Stadium's zinc panels were built to withstand winds up to 90 miles per hour on the interestingly shaped structure. From one angle, the stadium looks like a ship. At another, a mountain range.
But panels of the roof began sliding off in 2016, soon after construction was complete, from summer storms and winter weather, according to the StarTribune. The local newspaper reported that it had to do with the angles of the roof and lack of sunlight in some areas, causing the insulation not to dry.
The winds did not get close to 90 miles per hour. There were reports of leaks inside, as a result, causing puddles in some of the public areas. Crews were working as recently as the final months of 2017 to repair the panels, but it is not complete.
"I think we have found that any of those as it results to the outer skin of the building, there needed to be some replacing and fastening. Ninety-nine percent of that work has been done. Some of the work on the roof is complete and within codes there," he said. "As it relates to the outside, we did not see anything interior-wise except you may have a leak at some place from time to time. But I think those are the normal things that when you build something new."
Another issue at U.S. Bank Stadium has been audio at concerts. The sound has been poor, reverberating off the large sheets of glass that do not absorb any of the sound.
With Justin Timberlake getting ready to perform the Pepsi Halftime Show at the Super Bowl, the pressure is on to get the audio perfect. The talent and NFL bring in their own audio experts, but the stadium has had to do its part to mitigate some of the issues.
"We brought in some experts that just deal with sound and how you deal with mixing on the board," Vekich said, mentioning the addition of new speakers and changes in the acoustic setup to improve the sound.
"I’ve been listening to it myself as I walk around the stadium. It sounds really, really nice," he said.
He added that the changes have not added any major cost, but he did not go into detail.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium has only hosted one concert, Garth Brooks, but there were many complaints afterwards about echoes and indiscernible sound. Stadium officials said breakers were tripped that affected the sound in the upper decks.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium CEO Steve Cannon told 11Alive in October of 2017 that they believe the issues will be corrected in time for the next concert in May.
"We are still calibrating, we are still getting this building dialed-in," Cannon said. "The sound dynamics of this building will be great and our goal is not only for this to be a world-class sports venue, but a world-class concert venue."
In this day and age where the expectations for stadiums demand a multi-use facility that must be an architectural marvel, there are new problems that stadium officials did not necessarily expect.
U.S. Bank Stadium and Mercedes-Benz Stadium have learned that. And they're attempting to fix the issues, albeit it's taking some time. On Tuesday, the AMB Group announced they will be adding more doors to the stadium to ease foot traffic congestion. They continue to calibrate the roof and hope to have it complete by the Falcons' 2018 season.
Nothing will ever be perfect, and there will be future stadiums that deal with similar issues as the next construction project tries to outdo the last.
While Atlanta's stadium is unique, the issues it is facing are not.
"There are expectations and you work around them. But there has been nothing major with the structure or the foundation. It’s just been some of the adjustments we’ve had to make," Vekich said. "There was obviously some additional capital improvements that we made. Some of the things we did on the outside of the building that had to be done, just in the normal course. We worked through that process."
