Vikings hope new team HQ gives them an edge with free agents, NFL draft - ESPN (blog)

EAGAN, Minn. -- Out with the old, in with the state-of-the-art, world-class, brand-spanking-new team headquarters for the reigning NFC North champs.

Eighteen months of construction and 450,000 work hours later, the Minnesota Vikings moved into their new digs after the NFL combine and unveiled the massive 227,000-square-foot facility Friday.

At the Twin Cities Orthopedic Performance Center, players, coaches and support staff will have access to amenities not available at every NFL facility. Everything is housed under one colossal roof, from a training room with dual cryotherapy chambers (enough to fit four players at once, three if Linval Joseph is among the group) to a not-so-average cold/hot tub and underwater treadmill setup to a locker room so posh and spacious -- complete with fireplaces and plush leather couches -- that players might never have reason to leave.

Take a look at the Vikings' new, state-of-the-art team headquarters, from their war room to their weight room. Photos »

Everything will happen here, year-round, including training camp, beginning at the end of July. Before players return in April to get underway with offseason workouts, the first people who'll experience this facility will be those players the Vikings hope to land on the open market.

While facilities don't play nearly the role in the NFL they do in the recruiting world of college football, Minnesota hopes these quarters will show free agents (maybe Kirk Cousins if he decides to swing by for a visit?) how this franchise can help them prepare and play their best.

"To have potential UFAs, to have these potential draft kids that we bring in on a top 30, to have college free agents and then walk them through this building is going to be such a huge competitive advantage," general manager Rick Spielman said.

Owners Zygi and Mark Wilf are entirely responsible for the privately financed TCO Performance Center. The Vikings spared no expense when it came to building their dream facility. A lengthy list of highlights includes:

• A 6,500-square-foot outdoor stadium (where training camp, high school football games, concerts and other events will be held)

• Four outdoor grass fields (the Vikings take their landscaping seriously, having brought in 360,000 square feet of Kentucky bluegrass that was grown in Colorado and driven 14 hours on a refrigerated truck to Minnesota)

• An indoor practice facility that will allow special-teams units to practice punting and kicking off without fear of the ball hitting one of the massive ceiling fans

• All-new equipment in the 6,100-square-foot weight room (except for some chains and bands), above which sits a "cardio mezzanine"

• A virtual-reality simulator

• Movie theater-style auditorium

• Gatorade Fuel Bar (your custom order at Jamba Juice does not compare)

• Memorabilia, art and photos proudly displaying Hall of Famers and Vikings of yesteryear

• A digital draft board comprising 40 55-inch television monitors that allows the Vikings to make player comparisons in an instant. One click on a name brings up a player's profile, complete with measureables, video of workouts and highlights, and lets coaches and scouts make instant adjustments on how they grade prospects

Spielman recalled his years using magnets and a whiteboard to select players on draft night. This year is bound to be quite different.

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"It just tells you how committed the Wilf family is to bringing a championship to Minnesota," Spielman said. "I just hope I don't push the wrong damn button."

The Vikings are happy to flaunt the new digs to the rest of the league after years spent in a facility that lacked space and top-of-the-line comforts.

For the past eight years, Kyle Rudolph spent the winter months of the offseason training in Southern California. While the weather in Minnesota hasn't changed, the amenities available for rehab and training have, leading the tight end to stay put until his teammates join him in Eagan in April.

When free agents begin coming in after Wednesday, the Vikings hope their newest gem will give them an edge with potential signees.

"You'll have an opportunity to bring free agents here and show them this gorgeous building that's easily the best in football right now," Rudolph said.

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