National Football League

Old Metrodome men's room troughs proving golden at auction

Published May. 23, 2014 2:35 p.m. ET

foxsports

MINNEAPOLIS -- The white bubble-shaped roof and the blue plastic chairs were both distinguishing features of the now demolished Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Before the Dome was torn down to make way for a new Vikings stadium, the Teflon roof and old chairs were sold at auction.

Now there's another iconic Metrodome memento fetching money in online auctions: the men's room troughs.

That's right. The long, metal troughs used throughout the stadium in the men's restrooms are being sold online through a company called K-BID. When the auction closed on Thursday evening, four of the six troughs up for auction had bids of more than $300, with the highest bid reaching $375 in a 49-bid battle. The best bargain? Just $260 for one of the troughs.

That's no small change for an old toilet used by thousands and thousands of Vikings, Twins and Gophers fans over the last several decades.

A man by the name of Josh -- he preferred not to use his last name -- works for a local demolition contractor involved with the Metrodome. He came across the troughs and figured he'd try selling a few of them online. He was surprised by the response this auction received.

"We were honestly just hoping to get at least scrap value out of them," Josh told FOXSportsNorth.com. "After word got out, they went far beyond that."

The description on the auction site says the troughs would "work great for livestock feeders or beverage coolers." If that's the intention of whoever won these in the auction, a few thorough washings would definitely be in order first.

Josh said that comment was made tongue-in-cheek, but it certainly helped drive up interest in this unique auction.

"I think the comment on there, people were pretty shocked by it, which was pretty funny, because it was more of a joke, in a sense," he said. "But it definitely helped spread the word."

There are likely quite a few man caves across the state of Minnesota that already have a blue plastic seat or two from the Metrodome. Now for a few lucky -- or unlucky -- people, they can add a trough to their collection.

"Our main focus on it is taking stuff to the landfill is obviously the worst-case scenario, and recycling it is a better scenario," Josh said. "Salvaging something for re-use is obviously the best option you can have."

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