Downtown East's Winter Workout Is Inside the Stadium Next Door

The door is easy to miss. To get into U.S. Bank Stadium for Winter Warm-Up, you walk into the Factory Motor Parts Parking Garage at 740 S Fourth St, go up to the skyway and cross into the building. That gets you to a main concourse set up for inline and roller skating. The upper concourse becomes a running track, and a pedestrian ramp at Section 325 works as an indoor hill. For anyone living within a few blocks of the stadium, this may be the closest indoor track they have all winter.

Timing is what makes it useful. Winter Warm-Up runs on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Almost everything else on the stadium's winter schedule happens on weekends. So the same building that closes streets and fills ramps on a Sunday is open for a quiet indoor run on a Tuesday.

Fifteen nights, all on Tuesdays and Thursdays

The stadium lists 15 Winter Warm-Up sessions for this season, each running from 5 to 9 p.m. Seven are in December: Dec. 1, 3, 8, 10, 15, 17 and 22. The other eight are in January: Jan. 5, 7, 12, 14, 19, 21, 26 and 28, 2027. There are no sessions between Dec. 22 and Jan. 5, so the holiday stretch is off.

The skating concourse is split into two blocks. Open skating runs from 5 to 8 p.m., and the last hour, 8 to 9 p.m., is for speed skating. If you want a slower evening skate, plan to be off the main concourse by 8. Runners get the upper concourse for the full session. Water fountains and filling stations are near Section 101, and restrooms are near Section 103.

The event page says some dates may be unavailable because of the stadium calendar, so check the Winter Warm-Up page before you lace up.

What to pack, and what to leave at home

Winter Warm-Up runs on more rules than an evening at the gym. They are easiest to handle before you leave home:

• Buy tickets online, and buy the right one. Tickets are sold online only, and each night has a capacity limit. You choose either the skating concourse or the running concourse, and a ticket bought for the wrong one won't be refunded.
• Everyone age 3 and older needs a ticket. Once you scan in and leave, you can't come back in. A Waiver and Release Form for minors is posted on the stadium site.
• Bring your own skates and helmet. The stadium doesn't rent equipment. Skaters bring their own safety gear, including helmets, and only inline skates and roller skates are allowed on the skating concourse. Rollerskis and other wheeled footwear are not.
• Leave the phone in your pocket while you skate. No texting, calls, photos or video on the skating course, and no headphones, earbuds or speakers.
• Runners need proper footwear. Strollers aren't allowed on either course.
• Water must be sealed or the bottle empty. Only factory-sealed water bottles or sports drinks, or completely empty bottles, are allowed. Bags of any size are fine, and all are inspected at entry.
• Bring a card. The stadium is fully cashless.

The phone ban is the rule people forget most easily, and passing etiquette comes right after it. Skaters are asked to pass on the left and call out "Passing on your left!" The inside skate line is not a place to stand or stop.

The weekends belong to the crowds

The weekend schedule is very different. Over the next 14 weeks, nearly all the big stadium days land on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and the only weekday exception is the Thursday that opens the semifinals. Here is how the season lines up, starting with the high school football semifinals next week.

Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest stretch on the list. The Prep Bowl fills the day after Thanksgiving with four championship games, the last starting at 7 p.m. Three more games follow on Saturday, and the Vikings host Atlanta at noon on Sunday. That makes three straight days of stadium crowds, from Friday morning through Sunday afternoon, right when many households have guests in town.

December game times move later as the month goes on. The Nov. 29 game kicks off at noon, Dec. 6 at 3:25 p.m. and Dec. 20 at 7:20 p.m., so each game day busies the neighborhood a few hours later than the one before. The Vikings schedule notes that flexible scheduling can still move dates and times, which also explains why the Commanders and Bears games are still listed as TBA. The stadium has tied two Ultimate Touchdown Tour dates to the day before home games, Dec. 5 and Dec. 19, and lists the Week 16 and Week 18 tour dates as TBA for the same scheduling reason.

Getting around on game days

Game days change how you get around Downtown East, mostly at the light rail station. Both the Blue and Green lines stop at U.S. Bank Stadium Station. For the Nov. 9 game, Metro Transit told riders to switch between the two lines at Government Plaza Station from 4 to 11:30 p.m., because streets around the stadium station were closed. If your usual trip includes a transfer at the stadium, check Metro Transit's Rider Alerts before each game day. Instructions are posted game by game.

Parking ramps follow a set schedule on game days. Vikings guidance says parking facilities open six hours before kickoff, no earlier than 7 a.m., and close three hours after the game or at midnight, whichever comes first. It names the 511 Surface Lot and Ramp, the 1010 Ramp, the Downtown East Ramp, the HCMC Ramp and the Stadium Parking Garage as premium, permit-only parking. For a noon kickoff like Nov. 29, those ramps can open as early as 7 a.m. For the 7:20 p.m. game on Dec. 20, the Vikings guidance means the ramps can stay open until midnight. The stadium doesn't manage public parking itself. It points visitors to the Factory Motor Parts Garage, which connects by skyway, and notes that capacity and hours change from event to event. That garage is also the Winter Warm-Up entrance, so on a weeknight session it is the easy way in.

The nearby restaurants also run on the stadium schedule. Crooked Pint Ale House, at 501 Washington Ave S, says on its location page that it opens at 9 a.m. for Sunday noon Vikings home games. It also asks large groups to be present together on game and event days and may use a special event-day menu. That 9 a.m. opening applies to the Nov. 29 game. Day Block Brewing Company, at 1105 S Washington Ave, describes itself as near U.S. Bank Stadium and a casual place to gather before events. Its site lists happy hour, weekend breakfast, live music and a dog-friendly patio, with pizza, Wagyu burgers and wings on the menu. Chloe, at 700 Third St S, posts lunch, brunch and dinner hours and ran a fall 2026 Restaurant Week menu in October. If you are heading home from a Thursday session, all three are short walks from the stadium.

January belongs to the weeknights

After the Dec. 20 game, the schedule above has only three items before mid-February: the Vikings' Week 16 game against the Commanders, the Week 18 game against the Bears, both still TBA, and the Winter Warm-Up sessions. Eight of the 15 sessions fall in January, two a week from Jan. 5 to Jan. 28.

Weekend events return in mid-February. Upper Deck Golf brings tee times from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 12 and 13. Monster Jam follows the next weekend, with shows at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 21. Its Pit Party runs from noon to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Sunday. The stadium has already announced a Zach Bryan concert for April 28, 2027, so the spring calendar is starting to fill too.

The last Winter Warm-Up session is Thursday, Jan. 28. Monster Jam takes over the stadium 23 days later, on Feb. 20.

Living a few blocks from U.S. Bank Stadium means planning your week around its schedule, and the Roost Real Estate team keeps track of these patterns across Downtown East. If you're thinking about how stadium days fit into your own plans in the neighborhood, Request a Private Consultation and we'll go through the calendar with you.