MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Vikings' new stadium is now more than halfway to completion, with work beginning this month on the clear plastic roof that figures to be one of the stadium's signature elements. The project, which will now cost over $1 billion and involve more than 1,100 workers this summer, is slated to be finished just over a year from now.

And the end result, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf said on Wednesday, will be a stadium that is "rivaled by none."

"We're on schedule," Wilf said at the Vikings Children's Fund Golf Tournament on Wednesday. "It's going to be a great venue for our fans -- fans here, and fans nationwide, will come back to watch the games because of the experience they'll have. The fantasy football experience in our (Club Purple lounge), the lines of view, all the things you'd want from a stadium -- it's going to be great."

Wilf rarely speaks publicly, and had not made extensive comments on the stadium in months. His remarks on Wednesday, though, echoed the excitement his brother, Vikings president Mark Wilf, has expressed about the enclosed stadium, which is scheduled to host Super Bowl 52 in 2018.

When asked about naming rights for the stadium, Zygi Wilf said nothing had been finalized, reiterating the Vikings are looking for a partner among Minnesota's 17 Fortune 500 companies. If the Vikings make an announcement on naming rights, Wilf said, it could come this summer.

The Vikings' new home is also scheduled to host the NCAA men's basketball Final Four in 2019, and Minneapolis will find out this fall if it has been selected to host the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship.

"We maintained the closeness of the experience in the stadium. Everyone who is in the stadium is going to really feel part of the field. It's similar to the feeling we had in the Metrodome, but certainly a lot more beside the view. The whole gameday experience -- the high technology, the wi-fi, the look, the feel -- everything the fans will really enjoy."

At a luncheon hosted by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal on Wednesday, Wilf also confirmed the Vikings are evaluating options for improving their practice facilities, either by expanding their current site in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, or building a new facility. The Business Journal had previously reported the Vikings were looking at a move to Chanhassen, which sits just west of Eden Prairie.