As LA just got the Olympics for 2028, I thought I would throw this out there. When Mpls made the 1952 summer bid in 1948 (to which we came in 2nd...), the plan was to make Memorial Stadium into the Olympic Stadium, expand it is 75,000, put a second deck on, and that's that. If you click on the link, you can see the newspaper cover for the Minneapolis Star from Jan 21, 1948, with a picture of the scale model we made to show the committee. The text is the following:
Center of attention on the University of Minnesota campus today is a miniature reproduction of the proposed new Memorial Stadium for football.
The hand-made model of the enlarge sports facilities is now on display in Cooke Hall in front of the stadium. Students, alumni, faculty, and townsfolk are inspecting it daily.
The new stadium calls for two new decks on top of the present concrete arena with an eventual seating capacity of slightly more than 75,000.
All of the additional 25,000 seats (present capacity in concrete is 50,200) will be inside the goal lines. The lack of enough good locations has been the chief criticism of the present stadium.
The wooden miniature was made specifically for the Minneapolis Olympic Committee by Bo Eklund of Stockholm, Sweden.
It was exhibited at the international Olympic meeting last summer to prove to the committee that Minneapolis had the facilities to handle the large crowds that would turn out for the games.
The reproduction reached the University of Minnesota this week and immediately was placed on display.
No plans are in the making now to begin the rebuilding job, but the University of Minnesota has agreed to start work when and if Minneapolis gets the Olympic games. Even if this event doesn't come here, authorities plan to enlarge the stadium's capacity eventually. Estimated cost of two new decks is placed at $750,000.
http://startribune.newspapers.com/search/#ymd=1948-01-21&t=4473
Center of attention on the University of Minnesota campus today is a miniature reproduction of the proposed new Memorial Stadium for football.
The hand-made model of the enlarge sports facilities is now on display in Cooke Hall in front of the stadium. Students, alumni, faculty, and townsfolk are inspecting it daily.
The new stadium calls for two new decks on top of the present concrete arena with an eventual seating capacity of slightly more than 75,000.
All of the additional 25,000 seats (present capacity in concrete is 50,200) will be inside the goal lines. The lack of enough good locations has been the chief criticism of the present stadium.
The wooden miniature was made specifically for the Minneapolis Olympic Committee by Bo Eklund of Stockholm, Sweden.
It was exhibited at the international Olympic meeting last summer to prove to the committee that Minneapolis had the facilities to handle the large crowds that would turn out for the games.
The reproduction reached the University of Minnesota this week and immediately was placed on display.
No plans are in the making now to begin the rebuilding job, but the University of Minnesota has agreed to start work when and if Minneapolis gets the Olympic games. Even if this event doesn't come here, authorities plan to enlarge the stadium's capacity eventually. Estimated cost of two new decks is placed at $750,000.
http://startribune.newspapers.com/search/#ymd=1948-01-21&t=4473
