The Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority will be giving away free tickets to the public for Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony for the new stadium.

The tickets will be given on a first-come, first-served basis from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Gate D at the Metrodome.

The event begins at 10 a.m. and will include remarks from Gov. Mark Dayton, Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, Authority Chairwoman Michele Kelm-Helgen, and representatives from both Mortenson Construction and HKS, the project architect.

The speeches will take place inside a tent, which will accommodate about 600 people. It was unclear Thursday how many tickets will be given to the public for the event, a sports authority spokeswoman said.

After the speeches conclude, the ceremony will move outside near the east lot for the formal groundbreaking.

The ceremony marks the official start of construction on the nearly $1 billion football stadium that will be built at the current Metrodome site.

The new 65,000-seat stadium will have features such as giant louvered doors, giant scoreboards, ribbon boards, Wi-Fi access and HDTVs spread throughout the building.

The Vikings will finish their current season in the Metrodome, with the last home game scheduled for Dec. 29. The stadium is likely to be demolished in January or February.

The team will play the 2014 and 2015 seasons at TCF Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus. The new stadium is supposed to be ready for the 2016 season.

Kim McGuire • 612-673-4469