If the Vikings can convince the city of Minneapolis to build more surface parking after they're already footing the bill to build 2 ramps to subsidized car storage for 1,800 fans plus multi-million dollar skyways connecting to the stadium, I'd be surprised. I'm actually a big fan of reconnecting Cedar-Riverside/West Bank to DTE by decking over 35W and reconnecting the grid... but not to put surface parking lots in place to satiate some 850 tailgating cars 8x a year. (and yes, even if those 850 cars have an average of 10 fans join the party, those people could easily meet up in a park or bar as they do meet the parked car in a lot). It would be a giant waste of money to deck over for surface parking.
The same goes for the U. For now, we have surface parking galore (for an urban football stadium), but that won't last as the U continues to build more research and other buildings. They'll replace the parking spots with ramps, and maybe they can be clever about allowing tailgating on the top levels. And yes, maybe Maturi and the U admin could have fought harder with the city to loosen tailgaiting rules/regs for private lot owners by recognizing that a great gameday experience on non-U owned lots isn't competing with their own, it complements the entire atmosphere. But we're getting something else going on - a veritable sh!tstorm of development in Dinkytown and Stadium Village. People, restaurants, bars, shops, LRT with a pedestrian mall. All of which have the ability to create (naturally) an urban gameday atmosphere with many people eating/drinking in bars pregame. Maybe if there is less surface parking more people will pay to park in yards/driveways in Dinkytown and create a dispersed, shared tailgate atmosphere. Maybe the U will catch on and use McNamara Plaza or the Mall to do a Grove type experience. Whatever. The reality is that what the Vikings are asking for (especially after getting $500M from the state/city) is outrageous and expecting the U to do the same is just as ludicrous.
on this forum on that feeling the U did not do enough in the infancy of TCF Bank Stadium to create a better gameday atmosphere. That window of opportunity has seemingly closed in my opinion and now would have to be initiated by the business / property owners around campus who would have to advocate for private parking tailgating approval from the city of Mpls. I doubt that there is much collective interest on that front as the financial gain to a small business would be negligible given all the nuances of setting up parking lot for tailgating 7-8 times a years. Now with the Vikings moving in for 2 years that may change but I have my doubts.