[14] On June 17, 2016, U.S. Bank Stadium was deemed substantially complete by contractor Mortenson Construction, five weeks before the ribbon-cutting ceremony and official grand opening on July 22.

The Vikings played their first preseason game at U.S. Bank Stadium on August 28; the home opener of the regular season was in week two against the Green Bay Packers on September 18, a 17–14 victory.

[19] The roof is made up of 60% Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), a fluorine-based clear plastic, and is the largest in North America, spanning 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2) supplied and installed by the firm Vector Foiltec.

ETFE's low R-factor and the roof's slanted design, inspired by Nordic vernacular architecture, allows the stadium to endure heavy snow loads.

Snow accumulates in areas that are more safely and easily accessible, and also moves down the slanted roof into a heated gutter, the water from which drains to the nearby Mississippi River.

[20] The glass operable wall panels allow the stadium to experience some of the outdoor elements while providing protection from the snow, rain, and the cold winter weather.

Conservation groups - including the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Audubon Society - requested a "bird-friendly" design of the stadium's exterior using slightly less transparent bird-safe glass.

The reflective glass, combined with the stadium's location along the Mississippi Flyway migration route, has resulted in a large number of bird deaths, double than any other building in Minneapolis.

[30] The lease was considered one of the least lucrative among NFL teams; it included provisions where the commission owned the stadium, and the Vikings were locked into paying rent until the end of the 2011 season.

Though the Vikings received revenue from the sale of luxury suites during the Minnesota Twins baseball season (a contributing factor to the Twins leaving the Metrodome for Target Field in 2010), the commission controlled the limited parking and its revenue and paid the team 10% of all concession sales while retaining roughly 35% of concessions sold during Vikings games.

From the outset, Zygi Wilf, a billionaire from New Jersey and principal owner of the Vikings since 2005,[34] had stated he was interested in redeveloping the downtown site of the Metrodome no matter where the new facility was built.

[32] Taking into consideration downtown Minneapolis' growing mass transit network, cultural institutions, and growing condo and office markets, Wilf considered underdeveloped areas on Downtown's east side, centered on the Metrodome, to be a key opportunity and began discussing the matter with neighboring landholders, primarily the City of Minneapolis and the Star Tribune.

[32] An unrelated 2008 study explains that the effect of the media, in this case an uncritical Star Tribune, matters a great deal in helping a stadium initiative.

[35] As a result, once negotiations for a different location had been put aside, the Vikings focused on proposing a stadium that would be the centerpiece of a larger urban redevelopment project.

These included demands for a retractable roof, an open view of the surroundings (particularly the downtown skyline), a glass-enclosed Winter Garden alongside the already-existing adjacent Metrodome light-rail stop, leafy urban square with outdoor cafés and dense housing around its edges, aesthetic improvements to roads connecting the stadium to nearby cultural institutions, and adaptive reuse of neighboring historic buildings.

[40] In addition, according to Wilf, taking into account the costs for the surrounding urban developments put forth in the proposal would have brought the estimated total to $2 billion.

[45] Roy Terwilliger, a former Republican state senator from Edina, Ray Waldron, an AFL-CIO leader, and the Dome engineering expert and CEO, Bill Lester and Steve Maki of the MSFC selected architectural firm HKS of Dallas and construction manager Mortenson of Minnesota over the objections of Paul Thatcher and Timothy Rose of Minneapolis-St. Paul, who preferred Ellerbe Beckett and Kraus-Anderson, both of Minnesota.

The team reacted with skepticism to the proposal and did not want to play at nearby 50,000-seat capacity University of Minnesota TCF Bank Stadium during the three years of construction.

[53] On March 1, 2012, Governor Dayton announced an agreement for a new stadium to be built on the site of the Metrodome, pending approval by the state legislature and the Minneapolis city council.

It would utilize part of the footprint of the Metrodome and would only require the Vikings to play at TCF Bank Stadium during the final year of construction.

[65] The State of Minnesota's portion of the cost of the stadium was to be funded by revenue from a proposed new charitable gambling source, which was dubbed electronic pulltabs.

When the stadium funding bill was passed in the legislature and signed by the governor on May 14, 2012, the new revenue from the games was estimated to be $34 million for 2013 and rising each year thereafter.

[66] In March 2013, the Minnesota Office of Management and Budget's updated forecast for fiscal years 2013 to 2017 included another revision in the projected revenue from charitable gambling sources to $1.7 million, a further 90% reduction in the estimate for 2013.

[70] By January 2023, electronic pulltab revenue had increased substantially enough that Governor Tim Walz proposed paying off the outstanding bond debt from the state's contribution to the stadium cost.

Initial design plans were not immediately released to the public, but Viking officials said they hoped the budget would allow the new stadium to include a retractable roof, walls, or windows.

[75] Construction of the facility was originally slated to begin in October 2013, but was delayed until December 3, 2013, as an ongoing investigation of the Wilfs' finances continued to take place after a 21-year lawsuit against them came to a conclusion in late August.

[77] As a result of the investigation, contractor Mortenson Construction and subcontractor Berwald Roofing faced fines of $173,400 for "serious" and "willful" safety violations.

The reports do not provide an explanation of the accidents, but the largest fine, $70,000, and most serious alleged violation faults Berwald for willfully failing to have workers use proper fall protection while working at heights above 6 feet.

[86] In December 2014, Vikings Vice President Lester Bagley presented rendering of the stadium configured for a potential Major League Soccer team, with tarps and curtains covering the upper deck to bring the capacity down to 20,000.

[88] The first soccer match at U.S. Bank Stadium was between AC Milan and Chelsea FC on August 3, 2016, as part of the 2016 International Champions Cup.