Construction crews, police force prepare for Club Nomadic

Prior Lake American

Though it doesn’t look like much now, in a few short months the pop-up traveling Club Nomadic is expected to attract thousands to the Prior Lake area, featuring live music by widely known performers.

There’s a lot to be done before then.

The three-story pop-up nightclub will appear in town for the four days surrounding the Super Bowl, Feb. 1-4. It can hold up to 9,000 people.

“It takes a village to run this,” Director of Brand Marketing for Mystic Lake Hotel Casino Johnny Mackin said.

A village meaning approximately 250 to 300 employees, just on the hospitality side — including bartenders, waiters, food services and more. Mystic Lake Hotel Casino has hired 100 people already from a casting call held onsite.

That number doesn’t include security, which will be about 100 people. An additional 60 police officers will be added to the security on scene.

“It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Mackin said. “We don’t know when and if that big game will be back in town.”

The Prior Lake City Council approved an agreement with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Nov. 6 to fund the hiring of an extra 60 officers, mostly contracted temporarily from nearby departments.

The Prior Lake Police Department only has 26 officers, with only about five to 10 working on Club Nomadic activities.

“Other agencies will provide us with some law enforcement officers that will work for us for those four days,” Prior Lake Police Chief Mark Elliott said. “Based on what their capacity is, they’ll provide us with the number of officers they feel they can.”

The department has found about 45 so far. However, available police are hard to come by as Club Nomadic is far from the only event taking place around the Super Bowl.

“We want everybody to have fun and not have to worry about any problems, so we want to do our best to take care of those problems,” Elliott said.

The interior of Club Nomadic will be finished in December, with furniture and other amenities installed in January. The club will be done one to two weeks before the Super Bowl.

The arrival of the club was announced in September and construction started shortly after.

Construction crews have been working seven days a week and 10-12 hour days to get it done.

Two acts have already been announced, with two still pending. The Chainsmokers will perform Thursday, Feb. 1 while country duo Florida Georgia Line will perform on Saturday, Feb. 3.

Doors will open around 8 p.m., with a DJ starting the evening. The headliner act will perform and then another DJ will end the night. General admission is on the main floor near the stage and tickets are $200 per person.

VIP admission, which is on the higher levels and comes with premium open bar and gourmet food will fetch $1,500 per person.

Once the Super Bowl weekend is over, the club will come down.