164-652: The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome ) was a domed sports stadium located in downtown Minneapolis , Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium , the former home of the National Football League 's (NFL) Minnesota Vikings and Major League Baseball 's (MLB) Minnesota Twins , and Memorial Stadium , the former home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team. The Metrodome
328-564: A "dome" to "bowl" caused all the heavy, wet snow to slide down into the bowl and rupture more roof panels, collapse some precast risers in the SW upper deck, and dislodge more plastic seats "... than a Rolling Stones concert" according to Bob Haney, the Dome's Operations Manager. Crews from Owens-Corning Fiberglas, the dome's original roof installer, were on site by 1:30 pm on March 4. Repair operations began immediately but were interrupted for over
492-516: A blue seat back and bottom as well as Puckett's #34 on the seat where it remained until the final Vikings game of 2013 in the Metrodome when, as local media reported, a fan took the #34 plate off the seat. The original World Series armrests and hardware, as well as the replacement blue seat back and bottom, are now part of a private Kirby Puckett collection in Minnesota. From the time the stadium
656-448: A climate-controlled facility to host the three sports tenants in Minnesota with the largest attendance. For Major League baseball, the Metrodome was regarded as a hitter's park, with a low (7 ft) left-field fence (343 ft) that favored right-handed power hitters , and the higher (23 ft) but closer (327 ft) right-field Baggie that favored left-handed power hitters. It gave up even more home runs before air conditioning
820-683: A dual stadium complex for both football and baseball (potentially housing the Detroit Tigers ) that was later scrapped due to high costs. Davidson was pleased to see a part of his vision for the city of Pontiac accomplished in the building of the 80,000-seat sports complex. Completed in 1975 as the Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium , at a cost of $ 55.7 million, the Silverdome seated 80,311. It contained 102 luxury suites and 7,384 club seats. It sometimes incorporated
984-865: A few have even been designed to have moveable fields as part of the infrastructure. The Caesars Superdome in New Orleans is a true dome structure made of a lamellar multi-ringed frame and has a diameter of 680 feet (210 m). It is the largest fixed domed structure in the world. Even though enclosed, dome stadiums are called stadiums because they are large enough for, and designed for, what are generally considered to be outdoor sports such as athletics, American football , association football , rugby , and baseball . Those designed for what are usually indoor sports like basketball, ice hockey and volleyball are generally called arenas . Exceptions include: Different sports require different playing surfaces of various size and shape. Some stadiums are designed primarily for
1148-405: A few municipally owned stadiums, which are often known by a name that is significant to their area (for example, Boston 's Fenway Park ). In recent years, some government-owned stadiums have also been subject to naming-rights agreements, with some or all of the revenue often going to the team(s) that play there. One consequence of corporate naming has been an increase in stadium name changes, when
1312-403: A football pitch with a running track , although certain compromises must be made. The major drawback is that the stands are necessarily set back a good distance from the pitch, especially at the ends of the pitch. In the case of some smaller stadiums, there are not stands at the ends. When there are stands all the way around, the stadium takes on an oval shape. When one end is open, the stadium has
1476-561: A foul ball, if it landed in fair territory it became a fair ball. Any ball which became caught in the roof over fairground was a ground rule double . That has only happened three times in its history – Dave Kingman for the Oakland Athletics on May 4, 1984, the University of Minnesota Gophers player George Behr and Corey Koskie in 2004 . The speakers, being closer to the playing surface, were hit more frequently, especially
1640-475: A game after seeing a base hit that would normally be a pop single turn into a ground-rule double. Baseball and football players alike complained that it was too hard. This surface was upgraded to AstroTurf in 1987, and in 2004, the sports commission had a newer artificial surface, called FieldTurf , installed. FieldTurf is thought to be a closer approximation to natural grass than Astroturf in its softness, appearance, and feel. A new Sportexe Momentum Turf surface
1804-471: A horseshoe shape. All three configurations (open, oval and horseshoe) are common, especially in the case of American college football stadiums. Rectangular stadiums are more common in Europe, especially for football where many stadiums have four often distinct and very different stands on the four sides of the stadium. These are often all of different sizes and designs and have been erected at different periods in
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#17327651511001968-573: A jet airliner—both close to the threshold of pain . The 1991 World Series is considered one of the best of all time. The blue colored seat back and bottom where Kirby Puckett 's 1991 World Series Game 6 walk-off home run landed in Section 101, Row 5, Seat 27 (renumbered 34 after the home run in honor of Kirby's uniform number), is now in the Twins archives, along with the gold-colored back and bottom that replaced it for several years. The Twins reinstalled
2132-421: A major sports complex was part of a dream of C. Don Davidson, a Pontiac native and star high school athlete. Davidson, upon graduating from Pontiac Central High School in 1947 and completing active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, attended North Carolina State University on a football scholarship. After earning a master's degree in urban planning and architecture, Davidson began his career as an architect and
2296-579: A natural grass surface capable of growing inside the dome was developed and installed by a team from Michigan State University . This grass surface was laid upon wooden pallets atop the artificial turf that was usually used. It was the first time that World Cup games were played indoors. The Silverdome also hosted the 1979 NBA All-Star Game , Super Bowl XVI on January 24, 1982, and the 1988 and 1991 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Midwest Regionals and NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships in 1982 and 1983. On March 29, 1987,
2460-542: A new venue. Supporters of a dome also believed that the Minnesota Twins would benefit from a climate-controlled stadium to insulate the team from harsh Minnesota weather later in their season. The Met would have likely needed to be replaced anyway, as it was not well maintained. Broken railings and seats could be seen in the upper deck by the 1970s; by its final season, they had become a distinct safety hazard. Construction success of other domed stadiums, particularly
2624-707: A pitch envied around Ireland. Other early stadiums from this period in the UK include the Stamford Bridge stadium (opened in 1877 for the London Athletic Club ) and Anfield stadium (1884 as a venue for Everton F.C. ). In the U.S., many professional baseball teams built large stadiums mainly out of wood , with the first such venue being the South End Grounds in Boston , opened in 1871 for
2788-417: A portion of the antiquated roof system to tear. The Pontiac Silverdome's roof issues dated back to the 1980s with a long list of weather related problems. The Pontiac Silverdome's uniqueness was also its downfall. As one of the last air supported football stadiums left, it was not possible to find a qualified company capable of repairing the damaged roof. Paired with the financial woes of the city, which included
2952-466: A possible expansion team for Major League Soccer , and contemplated renovating the Silverdome for this purpose. Ultimately, the lack of events coming into the stadium, combined with the 2013 roof collapse, put any further development plans on indefinite hold. In March 2014, the owners announced that they would be auctioning off the contents of the facility, including seats and fixtures. In December 2014, Cleveland-based photographer Johnny Joo captured
3116-440: A short track and field event followed by music and a fireworks display. Upon its completion the stadium was the first joint purpose-built football stadium in the world. The architect Archibald Leitch brought his experience with the construction of industrial buildings to bear on the design of functional stadiums up and down the country. His work encompassed the first 40 years of the 20th century. One of his most notable designs
3280-522: A single sport while others can accommodate different events, particularly ones with retractable seating . Stadiums built specifically for association football are common in Europe; Gaelic games stadiums, such as Croke Park , are common in Ireland, while stadiums built specifically for baseball or American football are common in the United States. The most common multiple use design combines
3444-404: A sports venue, and was the first baseball park to use steel and brick for the majority of its construction. Another influential venue was Boston 's Harvard Stadium , built in 1903 by Harvard University for its American football team and track and field program. It was the world's first stadium to use concrete-and-steel construction. In 1909, concrete-and-steel construction came to baseball with
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#17327651511003608-608: A total height of 13 feet (4.0 m). It was off this Plexiglas wall that Twins player Kirby Puckett jumped to rob Ron Gant of the Atlanta Braves of an extra-base hit during Game 6 of the 1991 World Series (a game that Puckett would win with an 11th-inning walk-off homer ) – in later years, with the Plexiglas removed, it would have been a potential home run ball. The Metrodome was constructed in an area of downtown Minneapolis known as "Industry Square". Development in
3772-442: A week due to high winds. During the high winds event nearly all of the remaining panels in the deflated roof, 100 in all, were badly damaged. The decision was made to replace the entire roof and incorporate some improvements to prevent a similar event from occurring in the future. Repair cost of the roof was just under $ 8 million. The repairs were completed and the dome re-inflated at noon on May 28, 1985. A thunderstorm passed through
3936-473: A winless record there against the New York Jets (0–3). Stadium A stadium ( pl. : stadiums or stadia ) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event. Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event at
4100-478: A wiring issue, eight of the explosive charges failed to detonate, preventing the stadium from imploding as planned. A second attempt was successful the next day. While Adamo could not pinpoint the exact cause of the issues, they did note that trespassers had been seen on the property a couple of days prior to the first attempt. It was noted that on the second attempt, Adamo doubled the amount of explosives used from 300 to 600 lb (136 to 272 kg) of TNT . By
4264-549: Is the Latin form of the Greek word " stadion " ( στάδιον ), a measure of length equalling the length of 600 human feet. As feet are of variable length the exact length of a stadion depends on the exact length adopted for 1 foot at a given place and time. Although in modern terms 1 stadion = 600 ft (180 m), in a given historical context it may actually signify a length up to 15% larger or smaller. The equivalent Roman measure,
4428-733: Is the Nippon Professional Baseball league of Japan, in which many of the teams are themselves named after their parent corporations. Also, many newer European football stadiums, such as the University of Bolton and Emirates Stadiums in England and Signal Iduna Park and Allianz Arena in Germany have been corporately named. This new trend in corporate naming (or renaming) is distinguishable from names of some older venues, such as Crosley Field , Wrigley Field , and
4592-625: Is the Stadium at Olympia in Greece, where the ancient Olympic Games were held from 776 BC. Initially the Games consisted of a single event, a sprint along the length of the stadium. Greek and Roman stadiums have been found in numerous ancient cities, perhaps the most famous being the Stadium of Domitian , in Rome. The excavated and refurbished ancient Panathenaic Stadium hosted attempted revivals of
4756-463: The 1984–85 season at the now-closed and demolished Joe Louis Arena . The accident, and the delay in repairs, partially prompted the Pistons moving three seasons later 4 miles (6 km) north to their new, privately owned, 20,000-seat sports arena, The Palace of Auburn Hills (like Joe Louis Arena, it also has since closed down and demolished). The 1985 repairs were necessitated by a collapse of
4920-499: The 1994 FIFA World Cup , and regional games in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament . After the opening of Ford Field in 2002, the stadium was left without a permanent tenant. The city of Pontiac was unable to find a good use for the stadium, leaving it empty for eight years; the city ran out of money, and was forced to sell due to the rising maintenance costs. After multiple attempts to solicit redevelopment plans,
5084-794: The Allianz Arena in Munich was called the FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich during the tournament. Likewise, the same stadium will be known as the "München Arena" during the European Competitions. Similar rules affect the Imtech Arena and Veltins-Arena . This rule applies even if the stadium sponsor is an official FIFA sponsor—the Johannesburg stadium then commercially known as "Coca-Cola Park", bearing
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome - Misplaced Pages Continue
5248-740: The Carrier Dome ). The Metrodome was similar in design to the former RCA Dome and to BC Place , though BC Place was reconfigured with a retractable roof in 2010. The Metrodome was the inspiration for the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. The stadium was the only facility to have hosted a Super Bowl ( 1992 ), World Series ( 1987 , 1991 ), MLB All-Star Game ( 1985 ), and NCAA Division I Basketball Final Four ( 1992 , 2001 ). The Metrodome had several nicknames such as "The Dome", "The Thunderdome", "The Homer Dome", and "The Technodome". Preparation for
5412-681: The Cherry Bowl and the Motor City Bowl . In 2012, the Silverdome served as the home venue of the Detroit Mechanix of the American Ultimate Disc League and hosted the league championship game that season. The stadium was a regular concert venue and hosted a number of athletic and non-athletic events, including the 1979 NBA All-Star Game , Super Bowl XVI , WrestleMania III , early round games of
5576-501: The Detroit Lions 14–13. The following day, a local company began removal of seats for sale to the public and various charities and nonprofits. Individual chairs went for $ 40 each to charities, $ 60 each to the public and $ 80 each for specific seat requests. The roof was deflated for the final time on January 18. On the morning of February 2, 2014, the steel support cables that stretched from end-to-end of stadium that held together
5740-861: The Detroit Pistons of the NBA (1978–1988), the Detroit Express (for both outdoor and indoor soccer ) of the NASL (1978–1980), the Michigan Panthers of the USFL (1983–1984), college football's Cherry Bowl (1984–1985), the Motor City Bowl (1997–2001), the MHSAA football state finals (1976–2004) and four first-round games during soccer's 1994 FIFA World Cup . For the World Cup matches,
5904-858: The Downtown East neighborhood around Metrodome took many years to materialize. For many years, there were few bars or restaurants nearby where fans could gather, and tailgating was expressly forbidden in most parking areas. The City of Minneapolis was directing the development of the entertainment districts along with Seven Corners in Cedar-Riverside , Hennepin Avenue, and the Warehouse district . The Metrodome existed among several parking areas built upon old rail yards, along with defunct factories and warehouses. The Star Tribune owns several blocks nearby that have remained parking lots. The Metrodome
6068-562: The National Football League or the American Football League . (To a certain extent, this continues in lower football leagues as well, with the venue now known as Charles Schwab Field Omaha being used as the home stadium of the United Football League's Omaha Nighthawks .) Along with today's single use stadiums is the trend for retro-style ballparks closer to downtown areas. Oriole Park at Camden Yards
6232-560: The North American Soccer League in 1984. The Vikings played at the University of Minnesota 's TCF Bank Stadium for the 2014 and 2015 NFL seasons, ahead of the planned opening of U.S. Bank Stadium in 2016. The stadium had a fiberglass fabric roof that was self-supported by air pressure and was the third major sports facility to have this feature (the first two being the Pontiac Silverdome and
6396-475: The Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit , paved the way for voters to approve funding for a new stadium. Downtown Minneapolis was beginning a revitalization program, and the return of professional sports from suburban Bloomington was seen as a major success story; a professional team had not been based in downtown Minneapolis since the Minneapolis Lakers left for Los Angeles in 1960. Construction on
6560-640: The Summer Olympics and the FIFA World Cup (of association football), during which cities often pledge to build new stadiums in order to satisfy the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or FIFA . In recent decades, to help take the burden of the massive expense of building and maintaining a stadium, many American and European sports teams have sold the rights to the name of the facility. This trend, which began in
6724-525: The Sun , mainly noticed from the sky. (Initially, however, the stadium also went by its shortened nickname of PonMet , but that nickname was disliked by Pontiac city commissioners. ) The roof was replaced by a new canvas fabric, reinforced by steel girders after a strong snowstorm on March 4, 1985, caused structural damage to the old roof. Because of the damage, the Detroit Pistons played the remainder of
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome - Misplaced Pages Continue
6888-708: The United States tied 1–1 with Switzerland in the first World Cup game to be played indoors. Swiss coach Roy Hodgson later admitted that his team had not prepared for the extreme temperature and humidity. The Silverdome was also the home to many marching band activities and events, including the Michigan Competing Band Association State Marching Band Championships until 2005, the Bands of America Regional championships from 2003 to 2005, and
7052-644: The University of Detroit under the direction of Bruno Leon. As part of an ongoing, comprehensive study by his architecture class on urban renewal for the city of Pontiac, Davidson met with various city and state authorities including William Clay Ford , owner of the Detroit Lions, to discuss the possibility of a new stadium, made it a college class project to find a suitable site for a new stadium and even started his own weekly newspaper known as The Pontiac Times , to help promote his vision. After much controversy and sparring with Detroit city officials, Pontiac
7216-602: The World Hockey Association (WHA) tried to re-introduce itself, the new WHA Detroit team was slated to play its home games at the Silverdome. Plans were also mooted for a Windsor -based Canadian Football League team which could have used the dome for possible playoff games, but that team also did not materialize. After the Lions relocated, activity in the Silverdome dropped drastically; however, it still staged some events. Annually, Jehovah's Witnesses used
7380-603: The World Wrestling Federation 's WrestleMania III reportedly established the record for attendance of 93,173, the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America. The record stood until February 14, 2010, when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game broke the indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium . The Silverdome hosted an AMA Supercross Championship round from 1976 to 2005. In 2012,
7544-483: The stadium , had a similar length – about 185 m (607 ft) – but instead of being defined in feet was defined using the Roman standard passus to be a distance of 125 passūs (double-paces). The English use of stadium comes from the tiered infrastructure surrounding a Roman track of such length. Most dictionaries provide for both stadiums and stadia as valid English plurals. The oldest known stadium
7708-654: The 1960s stadiums began to be used as live venues for popular music, giving rise to the term " stadium rock ", particularly for forms of hard rock and progressive rock . The origins of stadium rock are sometimes dated to when the Beatles played Shea Stadium in New York in 1965. Also important was the use of large stadiums for American tours by bands in the later 1960s, such as the Rolling Stones , Grand Funk Railroad and Led Zeppelin . The tendency developed in
7872-604: The 1970s, but accelerated greatly in the 1990s, has led to sponsors' names being affixed to both established stadiums and new ones. In some cases, the corporate name replaces (with varying degrees of success) the name by which the venue has been known for many years. But many of the more recently built stadiums, like the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg , Germany, have never been known by a non-corporate name. The sponsorship phenomenon has since spread worldwide. There remain
8036-532: The 1990s. In several cases, an American football stadium has been constructed adjacent to a baseball park , to allow for the sharing of mutual parking lots and other amenities. With the rise of MLS, the construction of soccer-specific stadiums has also increased since the late 1990s to better fit the needs of that sport. In many cases, earlier baseball stadiums were constructed to fit into a particular land area or city block. This resulted in asymmetrical dimensions for many baseball fields. Yankee Stadium , for example,
8200-484: The Bands of America Grand National Championships in 1987 and 1988. Following its reopening, the Silverdome was host to the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Bands of America Pontiac Regional Championship. The Lions moved from the Silverdome to Ford Field after the end of their 2001 season . Despite being the Lions' home for 27 seasons, the day of the last home game, January 6, 2002, was marked by a noticeable absence of nostalgia among
8364-517: The English rock band Led Zeppelin played in front of 76,229 fans at the Silverdome. This was, at the time, a new world record attendance for a solo indoor attraction, beating the 75,962 that The Who attracted there on December 6, 1975. The Detroit Pistons also set numerous NBA attendance records during their time at the Silverdome; Regular Season, 61,983 vs. Boston, January 29, 1988; Playoffs, 41,732, vs. L.A. Lakers, June 16, 1988. The Silverdome
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#17327651511008528-534: The Greeks built structures called "stadium"; Romans built structures called " circus ". Greek stadia were for foot races, whereas the Roman circus was for horse races. Both had similar shapes and bowl-like areas around them for spectators. The Greeks also developed the theatre, with its seating arrangements foreshadowing those of modern stadiums. The Romans copied the theatre, then expanded it to accommodate larger crowds and more elaborate settings. The Romans also developed
8692-485: The Metrodome began on December 20, 1979, and was funded by a limited hotel-motel and liquor tax, local business donations, and payments established within a special tax district near the stadium site. Uncovering the Dome by Amy Klobuchar (now a U.S. Senator ) describes the 10-year effort to build the venue. The stadium was named in memory of former mayor of Minneapolis, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey , who died in 1978. The building's construction
8856-412: The Metrodome was designed to do was "get fans in, let 'em see a game, and let 'em go home." Five times in the stadium's history, heavy snows or other weather conditions have significantly damaged the roof and in four instances caused it to deflate. Four of the five incidents occurred within the stadium's first five years of operation: On November 19, 1981, a rapid accumulation of over a foot of snow caused
9020-644: The Metrodome was the 1982 opener on September 12, when the Vikings defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers , 17–10. Rickey Young scored the first regular-season touchdown in the dome on a 3-yard run in the 2nd quarter. On January 9, 1983, the Vikings defeated the Atlanta Falcons , 30–24, in a 1st-round game that was the first playoff game at the Metrodome. On January 17, 1999, the Falcons defeated
9184-437: The Metrodome would begin. On February 10, 2014, shortly after 9:15 a.m., after more than two months of preliminary work that dated back all the way to the groundbreaking of the new Vikings stadium, demolition of the stadium walls finally began. Just after 1 p.m. on February 17, 2014, one week after demolition of the stadium bowl had begun, demolition crews were working on taking down the concrete ring beam that encircled to top of
9348-401: The Metrodome, when a portion of the ring beam collapsed out of sequence, bringing an immediate halt to the work. No one was hurt and no equipment was damaged by the collapse. After five days of investigation from structural and demolition experts, it was decided that the remaining portion of the concrete ring beam would be destroyed using controlled explosive charges—virtually the same method that
9512-588: The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission adopted a twofold strategy: When snow accumulation was expected, hot air was pumped into the space between the roof's two layers. Workers also climbed on the roof and used steam and high-powered hot-water hoses to melt snow. In addition, before the storm that caused the December 2010 collapse, the inside of the stadium was heated to nearly 80 °F (26.7 °C ). To maintain
9676-521: The Minneapolis entertainment district with the Metrodome and the Airport. The Metrodome was not a true multi-purpose stadium. Rather, it was built as a football stadium that could convert into a baseball stadium. The seating configuration was almost rectangular in shape, with the baseball field tucked into one corner. The seats along the four straight sides directly faced their corresponding seats on
9840-446: The Olympic Games in 1870 and 1875 before hosting the first modern Olympics in 1896 , the 1906 Intercalated Games , and some events of the 2004 Summer Olympics . The excavation and refurbishment of the stadium was part of the legacy of the Greek national benefactor Evangelos Zappas , and it was the first ancient stadium to be used in modern times. Stadiums in ancient Greece and Rome were built for different purposes, and at first only
10004-401: The Olympic Games, the first one being held in 1896 in Athens , Greece. The White City Stadium , built for the 1908 Summer Olympics in London is often cited as the first modern seater stadium, at least in the UK. Designed by the engineer J.J. Webster and completed in 10 months by George Wimpey , on the site of the Franco-British Exhibition , this stadium with a seating capacity of 68,000
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#173276515110010168-450: The Pontiac area the morning the Dome was to be re-inflated and a partial inflation, or "puff", was performed so that the scheduled inflation could occur in the presence of the many city and area politicians as well as a number of corporate executives. The original-style, Teflon-coated fiberglass material was used to make the repairs – not canvas as described in the article. There were several snow-melting and waterproofing improvements that kept
10332-436: The Silverdome became the home stadium of the city's professional Ultimate Frisbee team, the Detroit Mechanix , of the American Ultimate Disc League . That year, the Silverdome hosted the AUDL championship game, as on August 11, the Philadelphia Spinners defeated the Indianapolis AlleyCats 29–22. After the roof had been collapsed and the stadium abandoned, Red Bull produced a video of BMX rider Tyler Fernengel riding inside
10496-406: The Silverdome for demolition, including completing environmental remediation, universal waste removal and tearing out transite asbestos panels that were used in a majority of the suites around the perimeter of the dome; though not without a few local trespasser visits to explore the place leading up to the demolition. On September 18 and 19, 2017, four power feeds were disconnected, officially starting
10660-453: The Silverdome from the late 1970s to 2004. Due to talk of renovation in 2004, the Witnesses opted to travel to The Dow Event Center in Saginaw , and the SeaGate Convention Centre in Toledo, Ohio for their District Conventions. Between 2003 and 2006, a three-screen drive-in theater operated in the parking lot; this theater reopened in 2010 before closing again on July 13, 2011. The Silverdome hosted Monster Jam on January 7, 2006, and
10824-435: The Silverdome in 2015. Some notable tricks in the video were Fernengel's barspin to double peg to 180° spin on one of the handrails inside the stadium and an impressive "truckdriver" (handlebars spinning 360° while the bike frame spins 360°) out of the luxury boxes onto a ramp that led down to the field. That same year, a drag racing event at the former parking lot marked the beginning of Woodward Dream Cruise . The idea of
10988-413: The Silverdome in a state of abandonment, showing destruction caused by the 2013 roof collapse. Afterwards, in October 2015, it was announced that the Silverdome would be demolished in the Spring of 2016, and the area would be part of an Oakland County mixed-use development . Demolition was then scheduled for December 3, 2017. In June 2016, fire caused by arson destroyed the former press box. Around
11152-466: The Twins except for World Series games. In 1987, the Vikings' home date with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers scheduled for the same day as Game 2 of the World Series was moved to Tampa, and the Vikings' game with the Denver Broncos scheduled for the same day as Game 7 was pushed back to the following Monday night. The Twins' 2009 AL Central division tiebreaker with the Detroit Tigers was played on Tuesday, October 6, 2009. One-game playoffs are normally held
11316-529: The Twins game would start at about 11 am local time (TV announcer Dick Bremer sometimes joked that the broadcast was competing with SpongeBob SquarePants ). Afterward, the conversion took place and the Gophers football game started at about 6 pm. The University of Minnesota was the only school in the Big Ten that shared a football facility with professional sports teams for an extended period of years. In 2007, there were two such schedule conflicts, on September 1 and 22. In 2008, there were no conflicts on
11480-405: The US is bleachers , which is mostly used for seating areas with bench seats as opposed to individual seats, and which often are uncovered; the name refers to the bleaching effect direct, unshaded sunlight has on the benches and patrons in those sections. Many stadiums make luxury suites or boxes available to patrons at high prices. These suites can accommodate ten to thirty people, depending on
11644-410: The University of Minnesota men's baseball team had announced plans to play all of their 2011 games at the Metrodome; however, the roof collapse caused those plans to be abandoned. On February 18, 2011, the Gophers announced that all 12 scheduled Big Ten home games in April and May would be played at Target Field , with three non-conference games moved to on-campus Siebert Field . On July 13, 2011, it
11808-532: The Vikings and Chicago Bears (originally scheduled at the Metrodome on December 20) to be relocated to TCF Bank Stadium. The final two games for the Vikings for the season were on the road , and the Vikings were already eliminated from the playoffs , meaning no additional home games were to be played. The roof collapse also caused schedule complications for the Golden Gophers baseball team. All Big Ten Conference home games were moved to Target Field ,
11972-523: The Vikings in the first NFC championship game played at the Metrodome. On December 29, 2013, the Vikings played their final game at the Metrodome, a 14–13 victory over the Detroit Lions. The team's record at the dome was 162–88 in the regular season and 6–4 in playoff games. They finished with a perfect record at the dome against the Arizona Cardinals (8–0), Baltimore Ravens (1–0), Cincinnati Bengals (4–0), and Houston Texans (1–0), but with
12136-493: The Vikings owners wanted more luxury suites and better concessions. Renovations were rejected twice, with the 2001 price tag at $ 269 million. The Vikings played their first game at the Metrodome in a preseason matchup against the Seattle Seahawks on August 21, 1982. Minnesota won 7–3. The first touchdown in the dome was scored by Joe Senser on an 11-yard pass from Tommy Kramer . The first regular-season game at
12300-482: The afternoon, was postponed to the next day and relocated to Ford Field in Detroit . There were considerations moving the game to the University of Minnesota's nearby TCF Bank Stadium . However, the stadium had limited seating capacity, as well as snow that would have taken several days to clear. A couple of days later, a fourth panel ripped open, allowing more snow to enter the stadium. This forced another game between
12464-460: The ancient Greek Olympic festival was the race that comprised one length of the stadion at Olympia , where the word "stadium" originated. Most of the stadiums with a capacity of at least 10,000 are used for association football . Other popular stadium sports include gridiron football , baseball , cricket , the various codes of rugby , field lacrosse , bandy , and bullfighting . Many large sports venues are also used for concerts. "Stadium"
12628-433: The arrowhead emblem from its now-defunct namesake General Motors division into its own logo. The original silver-like roof was built of Teflon-coated fiberglass panels, and supported by air pressure inside the stadium. Although the roof has always been white in color as viewed with the naked eye, the stadium obtained the name "Silverdome" (which it would officially take on in 1977) due to a silver-like reflection caused by
12792-402: The city eventually sold the stadium at auction in 2009 with no reserve for $ 550,000 (less than 1% of the cost to build the dome) to Andreas Apostolopoulos . The property had fallen into disrepair brought on by the city's financial crises, and the city of Pontiac's inability to afford to spend the necessary capital investments it required. After a significant financial investment by the new owners,
12956-428: The city. Due to strong winds, hoses malfunctioning, and a hazardous slippery layer building up on the roof, workers were not allowed to remove the snow from the roof. As the workers were pulled back, many noticed that the roof's center was sagging down by the weight of the snow. At around 5:00 a.m. CST on December 12, three of the roof's panels tore open. Snow fell through, covering the turf field. The night before
13120-519: The closest views in Major League Baseball. In 2007, the Twins began selling seats in extra rows behind the plate which were previously only used for football. The sight lines were also very good in the right field corner, which faced the infield and was closer to the action than the left field corner. Unlike most domed stadiums, the Metrodome's baseball configuration had asymmetrical outfield dimensions. The Twins stopped selling most of
13284-521: The completion of the AFL–NFL merger , the NFL declared that stadiums with a capacity under 50,000 were not adequate. The Met never held more than 49,700 people for football, and could not be expanded. At the time, the biggest stadium in the area was the University of Minnesota 's Memorial Stadium . However, the Vikings were unwilling to be tenants in a college football stadium even on a temporary basis, and demanded
13448-458: The construction of new facilities. In Europe and Latin America, where there are multiple association football clubs in any given city, and several leagues in each country, no such monopoly power exists, and stadiums are built primarily with private money. Outside professional sports, governments are also involved through the intense competition for the right to host major sporting events, primarily
13612-525: The day after the regular season ends (in this case, the season ended on Sunday, October 4), but the Vikings were using Metrodome for Monday Night Football on October 5. The Twins were awarded the right to host the tiebreaker because they won the season series against Detroit. As the stadium was designed first and foremost for the Minnesota Vikings, they had the fewest problems. However, the economics of 21st century professional sports meant that
13776-558: The demolition of the Metrodome began the day after the facility hosted its final home game for the Minnesota Vikings on December 29, 2013, and the roof was deflated and demolition began on January 18, 2014. The Metrodome was torn down in sections while construction of U.S. Bank Stadium began. By the early 1970s, the Minnesota Vikings were unhappy with Metropolitan Stadium 's (the Met) relatively small capacity for football. Before
13940-409: The differential air pressure, spectators usually entered and left the seating and concourse areas through revolving doors, since the use of regular doors without an airlock would have caused significant loss of air pressure. The double-walled construction allowed warmed air to circulate beneath the top of the dome, melting accumulated snow. A sophisticated environmental control center in the lower part of
14104-413: The dome inflated until January 2, 2013 – almost 28 years. The largest crowd to gather at the Silverdome was on September 18, 1987, for Mass with Pope John Paul II , with a reported attendance of 93,682 — just shading the reported record of 93,173 set at the Silverdome on March 29, 1987, for WrestleMania III . Another notable audience attendance record had earlier been broken on April 30, 1977, when
14268-424: The double-sized round theatre called amphitheatre , seating crowds in the tens of thousands for gladiatorial combats and beast shows. The Greek stadium and theatre and the Roman circus and amphitheatre are all ancestral to the modern stadium. The first stadiums to be built in the modern era were basic facilities, designed for the single purpose of fitting as many spectators in as possible. With tremendous growth in
14432-440: The end of March 2018, the last free standing wall of the Silverdome was destroyed, leaving a 50 foot (15 m) deep hole where the stadium once stood. 55,000 cubic yards (42,050 m ) of crushed concrete remained on site to be used as landfill material. Demolition officials stated that final filling and grading operations of the former Silverdome site were expected to be completed by the end of November 2018. In September 2019,
14596-468: The eye off the ball. As a result, fielders frequently lost balls in the roof. An example of this is seen in a home run derby put on by a softball entertainment crew before a Twins game. Taken at the field level, the balls generally tended to be lost in the roof. During its early years of operation, the field at the Metrodome was surfaced with SuperTurf . The surface, also known as SporTurf, was very bouncy—so bouncy, in fact, that Billy Martin once protested
14760-452: The facility was brought back to its original glory. The millions of dollars invested by the new owners were needed to bring The Silverdome back to a safe and clean facility. The Pontiac Silverdome reopened in 2010 and hosted many events, including soccer matches, concerts, HBO championship boxing, monster truck shows and many more. The harsh Michigan weather eventually got the best of the aging venue, and in 2013 an excessive amount of snow caused
14924-409: The fans as well as the players. In particular, long-time Lions' defensive end Robert Porcher singled out the stadium's artificial turf as the worst part about playing at the Silverdome, echoing other players present that day. The upper concourse was used for inline skating and provided skaters with a 25-foot wide track measuring 0.4 miles on the inner edge and 0.5 miles on the outer edge. When
15088-601: The final preparation process for demolition. The firm contracted to handle the demolition, the Detroit-based Adamo Group, also imploded the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on November 20 before moving on to the Silverdome. The demolition of the Silverdome was to commence on December 3, 2017, with a partial implosion of the upper deck, followed by an excavation of the building from the inside out. Due to
15252-444: The final truckload of rubble was loaded up and removed from the new stadium construction site. Officials from Mortenson Construction said the entire demolition job required 4,910 truckloads and 16,000 man hours to complete the job. The Metrodome is the only venue to have hosted an MLB All-Star Game (1985) , a Super Bowl ( 1992 ), an NCAA Final Four ( 1992 & 2001 ), and a World Series ( 1987 & 1991 ). The NCAA Final Four
15416-565: The final upper deck bleachers and concrete bleacher-support girders (on the northwest side of the Metrodome) were brought down, taking away any standing remnants of the exterior stadium walls. On April 11, 2014, the final portion of the inner-stadium concrete walls were reduced to rubble, marking the official end of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Demolition of the Metrodome was formally declared complete six days later—a month ahead of schedule—as
15580-534: The firm of Williams & Williams to conduct the auction in November 2009. After reading about the auction in a newspaper, Greek-born Canadian real estate developer Andreas Apostolopoulos , CEO of Toronto-based Triple Properties Inc., submitted a winning bid of US$ 550,000. Real estate fees of 6% raised the price to US$ 583,000. The sale of the Silverdome, completed in 1975 at a cost of $ 55.7 million (approx. $ 225 million in 2012 dollars) and sold in 2009 for $ 583,000,
15744-408: The first and second Busch Stadiums , in that the parks were named by and for the club's owner, which also happened to be the name of the company owned by those clubowners. (The current Busch Stadium received its name via a modern naming rights agreement.) During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, some stadiums were temporarily renamed because FIFA prohibits sponsorship of stadiums. For example,
15908-442: The folded-up football seats behind right field; and some of them due to steel beams in the back rows of the upper deck which are part of the dome's support system. On the plus side, there was relatively little foul territory, which was not typical of most domed stadiums (especially those primarily built for football). Also, with the infield tucked into one corner of the stadium, the seats in the so-called "baseball section" had some of
16072-447: The foul poles had to turn more than 80°, compared to less than 70° with the original Yankee Stadium or 75° at Camden Yards . For that reason, the seats down the left-field line were typically among the last ones sold; the (less expensive) outfield lower deck seating tended to fill up sooner. Nearly 1,400 seats were at least partially obstructed – some of them due to the right-field upper deck being directly above (and somewhat overhanging)
16236-569: The home of the Detroit Lions of the NFL from 1975 to 2001 and was also home to the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1978 to 1988. In addition, the Silverdome also served as the home venue for the Detroit Express of the North American Soccer League and the Michigan Panthers of the United States Football League , as well as two college bowl games :
16400-564: The home stadium of Major League Baseball 's (MLB) Minnesota Twins . A Metrodome tournament was replaced with a three-game series against Gonzaga . Another tournament named the Dairy Queen Classic was relocated to Tucson, Arizona . Other changes included many home game cancellations, and some games being pushed to next year's season. On February 10, 2011, it was announced that the entire Metrodome roof needed to be replaced at an estimated cost of $ 18 million. In November 2010,
16564-419: The inability to pay for police, emergency services and road maintenance, the decision to close the facility for good was made in 2013. The owners later auctioned the stadium's contents in 2014 and for a few years the parking lot was home to tens of thousands of recalled Volkswagen vehicles . In 2017, the Silverdome owner decided to tear down the closed facility. The upper ring of the stadium, which had supported
16728-510: The incident a Fox Sports crew, who were setting up for the football game between the New York Giants and Vikings, noticed water was leaking through the roof. They decided to leave their cameras on; the cameras captured footage of the roof deflation and the snow dropping to the field. The footage was aired on Fox NFL Sunday and quickly went viral. The game between the Vikings and Giants, scheduled to take place on December 12 during
16892-476: The largest among them, are megaprojects that can only be afforded by the largest corporations, wealthiest individuals, or government. Sports fans have a deep emotional attachment to their teams. In North America, with its closed-league " franchise " system, there are fewer teams than cities which would like them. This creates tremendous bargaining power for the owners of teams, whereby owners can threaten to relocate teams to other cities unless governments subsidize
17056-667: The lead of Aerosmith and including Mötley Crüe , Quiet Riot , W.A.S.P. and Ratt . Since the 1980s, rock, pop and folk stars, including the Grateful Dead , Madonna , Michael Jackson , Beyoncé , Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift , have undertaken large-scale stadium based concert tours . Pontiac Silverdome The Pontiac Silverdome (also known as the Silverdome ) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan . It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When
17220-492: The loudest venues in which to view a game, due in part to the fact that sound was recycled throughout the stadium because of the fabric domed roof. Stadium loudness is a sports marketing issue, as the noise lends the home team a home advantage against the visiting team. Until its demolition, the Metrodome was the loudest domed NFL stadium; most notably, during the 1987 World Series and 1991 World Series , peak decibel levels were measured at 125 and 118 respectively compared to
17384-412: The lower deck between home plate and the dugouts, where most game action occurs. Seats in these areas were popularly known as "the baseball section." However, even the closest front-row seats were at least 5 or 6 feet (1.5 or 1.8 m) above the field. The way that many seats were situated forced some fans to crane their necks to see the area between the pitcher's mound and home plate . Some fans near
17548-418: The mid-1970s as the increased power of amplification and sound systems allowed the use of larger and larger venues. Smoke, fireworks and sophisticated lighting shows became staples of arena rock performances. Key acts from this era included Journey , REO Speedwagon , Boston , Foreigner , Styx , Kiss , Peter Frampton and Queen . In the 1980s arena rock became dominated by glam metal bands, following
17712-481: The name of one of FIFA's major sponsors , was known by its historic name of Ellis Park Stadium during the 2010 FIFA World Cup . Corporate names are also temporarily replaced during the Olympics. Modern stadiums bring several negative environmental issues with their construction. They require thousands of tons of materials to build, they greatly increase traffic in the area around the stadium, as well as maintaining
17876-401: The namesake corporation changes its name, or if it is the naming agreement simply expires. Phoenix's Chase Field , for example, was previously known as Bank One Ballpark, but was renamed to reflect the takeover of the latter corporation. San Francisco's historic Candlestick Park was renamed as 3Com Park for several years, but the name was dropped when the sponsorship agreement expired, and it
18040-475: The old stadiums they replace. In North America, where baseball and American football are the two most popular outdoor spectator sports, a number of football/baseball multi-use stadiums were built, especially during the 1960s, and some of them were successful. Since the requirements for baseball and football are significantly different, the trend has been toward the construction of single-purpose stadiums, beginning with Kansas City in 1972–1973 and accelerating in
18204-654: The opening of Shibe Park in Philadelphia and, a few months later, Forbes Field in Pittsburgh . The latter was the world's first three-tiered sporting venue. The opening of these parks marked the start of the "jewel box" era of park construction. The largest stadium crowd ever was 199,854 people watching the final match of the 1950 World Cup at Rio de Janeiro 's Maracanã on 16 July 1950. Domed stadiums are distinguished from conventional stadiums by their enclosing roofs. Many of these are not actually domes in
18368-421: The opposite side, while the seats in the corners were four quarter-circles. While this was more than suitable for the Vikings and Gophers, with few exceptions this resulted in poor sightlines for baseball. For instance, the seats directly along the left-field line faced the center field and right field fences. Unlike other major league parks, there were no seats down to field level. Only 8,000 seats were located in
18532-407: The original 1975 roof around noon EST on March 4, 1985. Heavy, wet snow accumulated on the southwest corner of the dome and depressed the fabric panels low enough so that the fabric came in contact with a steel lighting catwalk that was positioned just below the inner lip of the roof's ring beam. The hole caused a loss of air pressure and the Dome deflated slowly – there were no injuries. The shift from
18696-460: The playoffs with a home series, the baseball game took priority and the Gopher football game had to be moved to a time suitable to allow the grounds crew to convert the playing field and the stands to the football configuration. The last month of Major League Baseball's regular season often included one or two Saturdays in which the Twins and Gophers used Metrodome on the same day. On those occasions,
18860-556: The popularity of organised sport in the late Victorian era , especially association football in the United Kingdom and baseball in the United States, the first such structures were built. One such early stadium was the Lansdowne Road Stadium , the brainchild of Henry Dunlop , who organised the first All Ireland Athletics Championships. Banned from locating sporting events at Trinity College, Dunlop built
19024-828: The public. An "all-seater" stadium has seats for all spectators. Other stadiums are designed so that all or some spectators stand to view the event. The term "all-seater" is not common in the U.S., as very few American stadiums have sizeable standing-only sections. Poor stadium design has contributed to disasters, such as the Hillsborough disaster and the Heysel Stadium disaster . Since these, all Premier League , UEFA European Championship and FIFA World Cup qualifying matches require all spectators to be seated. Seating areas may be known as terraces , tiers , or decks . Originally set out for standing room only, they are now usually equipped with seating. Another term used in
19188-508: The pure architectural sense, some being better described as vaults , some having truss -supported roofs and others having more exotic designs such as a tensegrity structure . But, in the context of sports stadiums, the term "dome" has become standard for all covered stadiums, particularly because the first such enclosed stadium, the Houston Astrodome , was built with an actual dome-shaped roof. Some stadiums have partial roofs, and
19352-401: The regular-season schedule. Due to the minimum time needed to convert the field, a baseball game that ran long in clock time had to be suspended, and concluded the next day. The only time this happened was on October 2, 2004, when a game between the Twins and Indians reached the end of the 11th inning after 2:30 pm in a tie and resumed the next day. The Vikings had rights to the Dome over
19516-414: The roof structure, was imploded on December 4, 2017, after a failed attempt the previous day. Following the implosion, the remains of the stadium were brought down in sections with hydraulic excavators, and the last free standing section was felled by late March 2018. In September 2019, it was announced that Amazon would develop the site. The Silverdome hosted the Detroit Lions of the NFL (1975–2001),
19680-425: The roof the largest expanse ever done in that manner. The outside Teflon membrane was 1 ⁄ 32 of an inch thick and the inner liner of woven fiberglass was 1 ⁄ 64 of an inch thick. The entire roof weighed roughly 580,000 pounds (260,000 kg). It reached 195 ft (59 m), or about 16 stories, at its highest point. To prevent roof tears like those that occurred in its first years of service,
19844-500: The roof to collapse, requiring it to be re-inflated. It deflated the following winter on December 30, 1982, because of a tear caused by a crane used in snow removal. This was four days before the Vikings played the Dallas Cowboys in the last regular-season game of the 1982 NFL season . In the spring following that same winter, on April 14, 1983, the Metrodome roof deflated because of a tear caused by late-season heavy snow, and
20008-405: The roof were severed, as construction crews set off a simultaneous set of 42 explosive charges that detached the cables from the concrete structure. The general public was not informed about this phase of the demolition process, prompting about a half-dozen phone calls to police from people who wondered what was going on. This was viewed as the final step before the destruction of the concrete bowl of
20172-427: The same time, the parking lot began being used as storage for hundreds of Volkswagen diesel cars as a result of Volkswagen's 2015 emissions scandal . The dome owner and the city were in conflict over the condition of the dome and the cars in the lot. In 2017, the Silverdome was condemned and cleared for demolition. Workers had been on the site for the past few months before main power feeds were disconnected preparing
20336-586: The scheduled Twins game with the California Angels was postponed. On April 26, 1986, the Metrodome roof suffered a slight tear because of high winds, causing a nine-minute delay in the bottom of the seventh inning versus the Angels; however, the roof did not deflate. A severe snowstorm arrived in Minneapolis in the late evening of December 10. The snowstorm lasted to the following night on December 11, with 17 in (43 cm) of snow accumulated across
20500-525: The seats in sections 203–212 of the upper level in 1996. This area was usually curtained off during the regular season. However, the stadium could easily be expanded to full capacity for the postseason, or when popular opponents came to town during the regular season. As part of the deal with Metrodome, the Minnesota Twins had post-season priority over the Gophers in scheduling. If the Twins were in
20664-487: The speakers in foul ground near the infield, which were typically hit several times a season, which posed an extra challenge to infielders trying to catch them. However, beginning with the 2005 season, the ground rules for Twins games were changed such that any batted ball that struck a speaker in the foul territory would automatically be called a foul ball, regardless of whether or not it was caught. The dome's roof color made it close to impossible to catch balls without taking
20828-546: The stadium as a big-event venue by investing millions of dollars". The Silverdome re-opened on April 17, 2010, with a monster truck event. A.C. Milan and Panathinaikos F.C. played an exhibition game on August 6, 2010. On January 29, 2011, professional boxer Timothy Bradley defended his WBO light welterweight title in a unification fight against WBC champion Devon Alexander . The fight aired live on HBO World Championship Boxing , with an attendance of about 7,000. The owners indicated that they were pursuing
20992-538: The stadium in 1872. "I laid down a cinder running path of a quarter-mile, laid down the present Lansdowne Tennis Club ground with my own theodolite, started a Lansdowne archery club, a Lansdowne cricket club, and last, but not least, the Lansdowne Rugby Football Club – colours red, black and yellow." Some 300 cartloads of soil from a trench beneath the railway were used to raise the ground, allowing Dunlop to use his engineering expertise to create
21156-458: The stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, the first use of the architectural technique in a major athletic facility. With a seating capacity of 82,600+, it was the largest stadium in the National Football League (NFL) until FedExField in Landover , Maryland , a suburb of Washington, D.C. expanded its capacity to over 85,000 in 2000. It was primarily
21320-436: The stadium was staffed to monitor the weather and make adjustments in air distribution to maintain the roof. Because it was unusually low to the playing field, the air-inflated dome occasionally figured into game action during baseball games. Major League Baseball had specific ground rules for the Metrodome. Any ball which struck the Dome roof, or objects hanging from it, remained in play; if it landed in foul territory it became
21484-401: The stadium's history. The vastly differing character of European football stadiums has led to the growing hobby of ground hopping where spectators make a journey to visit the stadium for itself rather than for the event held there. In recent years the trend of building completely new oval stadiums in Europe has led to traditionalists criticising the designs as bland and lacking in the character of
21648-522: The stadium. In early 2008, United Assurance Company Ltd. made the highest purchase offer to date, with a bid of $ 18 million to convert the Silverdome into a Hollywood-style entertainment complex, following an earlier bid of $ 12 million by an attorney. However, the city announced in October 2009 that the property would go to auction with no minimum bid, and that zoning regulations would be relaxed for any buyer in order to spark development. The city engaged
21812-536: The stadium. The increased traffic around modern stadiums has led to create exposure zones says the Health Effect Institute, exposing 30–40% of people living around the stadium to potential health issues. Many stadiums are attempting to counteract these issues by implementing solar panels, and high efficiency lighting, to reduce their own carbon footprint. Although concerts, such as classical music, had been presented in them for decades, beginning in
21976-612: The team then known as the Boston Beaneaters (now the Atlanta Braves ). Many of these parks caught fire, and those that did not proved inadequate for a growing game. All of the 19th-century wooden parks were replaced, some after a few years, and none survive today. Goodison Park was the first purpose-built association football stadium in the world. Walton -based building firm Kelly brothers were instructed to erect two uncovered stands that could each accommodate 4,000 spectators. A third covered stand accommodating 3,000 spectators
22140-562: The venue. Luxury suites at events such as the Super Bowl can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Due to the number of people congregating in stadiums and the frequency of events, many notable accidents have occurred in the past, some causing injury and death. For example, the Hillsborough disaster was a human crush at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield , England on 15 April 1989. The resulting 97 deaths and 765 injuries makes this
22304-461: The worst disaster in British sporting history. Much effort has been spent to avoid the recurrence of such events, both in design and legislation. Especially where there is a perceived risk of terrorism or violence attention remains high to prevent human death and keep stadiums as places where families can enjoy a public event together. In Europe and South America, during the twentieth century, it
22468-414: The wrecking ball demolition method that was originally chosen (though the order in which the sections would be brought down were changed as a result of the ring beam implosion), to bring down what was left of the Metrodome. Despite this unexpected setback, Mortenson Construction said that the demolition of the Metrodome and construction of U.S. Bank Stadium were both still on schedule. On March 15, 2014,
22632-472: Was Old Trafford in Manchester. The ground was originally designed with a capacity of 100,000 spectators and featured seating in the south stand under cover, while the remaining three stands were left as terraces and uncovered. It was the first stadium to feature continuous seating along the contours of the stadium. These early venues, originally designed to host football matches, were adopted for use by
22796-564: Was a venue for the 1994 FIFA World Cup . In an exhibition game between Germany and England in June 1993, English coach Graham Taylor criticized the indoor venue's lack of weather as removing an unpredictability factor from soccer. The lack of air conditioning contributed to extreme heat and humidity, an advantage to the Germans playing for Italian clubs. The 62,126 attendance was the highest in any US soccer match since 1984. On June 18, 1994,
22960-476: Was also requested. Everton officials were impressed with the builder's workmanship and agreed two further contracts: exterior hoardings were constructed at a cost of £150 and 12 turnstiles were installed at a cost of £7 each. The stadium was officially opened on 24 August 1892 by Lord Kinnaird and Frederick Wall of the Football Association. No football was played; instead the 12,000 crowd watched
23124-428: Was announced that the roof was repaired and had been inflated that morning. However, other construction and repairs were still in progress. The remaining construction and repairs were done by August 1, 2011. With the approval of the new Vikings stadium at the Metrodome site by the Minnesota legislature, the fate of the Metrodome was sealed. The Vikings played their final game at the Metrodome on December 29, 2013, beating
23288-613: Was another two years before the new name of Monster Cable Products ' Monster Park was applied. Local opposition to the corporate naming of that particular stadium led San Francisco's city council to permanently restore the Candlestick Park name once the Monster contract expired. More recently, in Ireland, there has been huge opposition to the renaming of Dublin 's historic Lansdowne Road as the Aviva Stadium . Lansdowne
23452-585: Was built on a triangular city block in The Bronx , New York City. This resulted in a large left field dimension but a small right field dimension. Before more modern football stadiums were built in the United States, many baseball parks, including Fenway Park , the Polo Grounds , Wrigley Field , Comiskey Park , Tiger Stadium , Griffith Stadium , Milwaukee County Stadium , Shibe Park , Forbes Field , Yankee Stadium , and Sportsman's Park were used by
23616-477: Was built to when it was demolished, the economics of sports marketing changed. Teams began charging higher prices for tickets and demanding more amenities, such as bigger clubhouses and locker rooms , more luxury suites, and more concession revenue. Team owners, the media, and fans pressured the State of Minnesota to provide newer, better facilities to host its teams. The Metrodome served its primary purpose: to provide
23780-671: Was chosen over several other sites including the Michigan Fairgrounds, Walled Lake and the Detroit Riverfront as the best place for construction of what would become known as the Pontiac Silverdome. Already having a stadium concept as part of his master plan for the city, Davidson was interviewed and ultimately hired as chief project designer for the stadium project by the architectural firm of O'Dell, Hewlett & Luckenbach. Initial designs included
23944-686: Was common for violent bands of supporters to fight inside or close to association football stadiums. In the United Kingdom they are known as hooligans . Structural features that increase safety include separate entry and exit accesses for each spectator area, especially separating accesses for home and visitor supporters, dividing walls, glass parapets, vibration attenuation and sprinkler systems. Security features that have been adopted include armed surveillance, Identity document checks, video surveillance , metal detectors and security searches to enforce rules that forbid spectators to carry dangerous or potentially dangerous items. Modern stadiums, especially
24108-426: Was designed by Bangladeshi-American architect Fazlur Rahman Khan , of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill . The Metrodome itself cost $ 68 million to build—significantly under budget—totaling around $ 124 million with infrastructure and other costs associated with the project added. It was a somewhat utilitarian facility, though not quite as spartan as Metropolitan Stadium. One stadium official once said that all
24272-586: Was held at the Metrodome in 1992 and 2001 . The Metrodome also served as one of the four regional venues for the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship in 1986 , 1989 , 1996 , 2000 , 2003 , 2006 , and 2009 . The dome also held first- and second-round games in the NCAA basketball tournament in addition to regionals and the Final Four, most recently in 2009 . The Metrodome was recognized as one of
24436-450: Was installed during the summer of 2010. When the conversion between football and baseball took place, the pitcher's mound was raised and lowered by an electric motor. The mound weighed 23,000 pounds (10,000 kg) and was 18 feet (5.5 m) in diameter. With the field repair, the sliding pits and pitcher's mound used by the Twins and Gophers were removed. Any future baseball games would see baserunners slide on "grass". The home plate area
24600-464: Was installed in 1983. Before 1983, the Dome had been nicknamed "the Sweat Box". The Metrodome was climate controlled, and protected the baseball schedule during the entire time it was the venue for the Minnesota Twins. Major League Baseball schedulers had the luxury of being able to count on dates played at Metrodome. Doubleheader games only occurred when purposely scheduled. The last time that happened
24764-403: Was kept, as it was not "in-play" for football configuration. The original home plate installed at the dome was memorably dug up after the Twins' final game and has been installed at Target Field . A new field was installed in the summer of 2011 due to the damage from the December 2010 roof collapse. From 1985 to 1994, the left-field wall included a 6-foot (1.8 m) clear Plexiglas screen for
24928-638: Was not connected to the Minneapolis Skyway System , although that had been proposed in 1989 to be completed in time to host Super Bowl XXVI . The Star Tribune properties and the Minneapolis Armory had not been developed and stood between the Metrodome and the rest of Downtown Minneapolis. Only in recent years did redevelopment begin moving Southeast to reach the Metrodome. More restaurants, hotels, and condominiums have been built nearby. The METRO Blue Line light rail connected
25092-424: Was opened by King Edward VII on 27 April 1908. Upon completion, the stadium had a running track 24 ft wide (7.3 m) and three laps to the mile (536 m); outside there was a 35-foot-wide (11 m), 660-yard (600 m) cycle track. The infield included a swimming and diving pool. The London Highbury Stadium , built in 1913, was the first stadium in the UK to feature a two-tiered seating arrangement when it
25256-433: Was recognized for several government and city projects throughout the south including Florida's Jacksonville International Airport . He returned to Pontiac in 1965 and was shocked to see the deterioration of the city and its lack of a future plan. Davidson embarked upon what would eventually become an obsession for him to see his beloved city succeed. In 1965–66, he was hired as a professor of architecture and urban planning at
25420-531: Was redesigned in the Art Deco style in 1936. During these decades, parallel stadium developments were taking place in the U.S. The Baker Bowl , a baseball park in Philadelphia that opened in its original form in 1887 but was completely rebuilt in 1895, broke new ground in stadium construction in two major ways. The stadium's second incarnation featured the world's first cantilevered second deck (tier) in
25584-529: Was redeveloped as the Aviva, opening in May 2010. On the other hand, Los Angeles' Great Western Forum , one of the earliest examples of corporate renaming, retained its name for many years, even after the namesake bank no longer existed, the corporate name being dropped only after the building later changed ownership. This practice has typically been less common in countries outside the United States. A notable exception
25748-563: Was reportedly the first floodlit stadium. Floodlighting in association football dates as far back as 1878, when there were floodlit experimental matches at Bramall Lane, Sheffield during the dark winter afternoons. With no national grid , lights were powered by batteries and dynamoes , and were unreliable. Since the development of electrical grids, lighting has been an important element in stadium design, allowing games to be played after sundown, and in covered, or partly covered stadiums that allow less natural light, but provide more shelter for
25912-431: Was supplied by 20 fans of 90 hp (67 kW) each. The roof was made of two layers: the outer layers were Teflon -coated fiberglass and the inner was a proprietary acoustical fabric. By design, the dead air space between the layers insulated the roof; in winter, warm air was blown into space between layers to help melt snow that had accumulated on top. At the time it was built, the 10 acres (4.0 ha) of fabric made
26076-525: Was the first such ballpark for Major League Baseball to be built, using early-20th-century styling with 21st-century amenities. There is a solar-powered stadium in Taiwan that produces as much energy as it needs to function. Stadium designers often study acoustics to increase noise caused by fans' voices, aiming to create a lively atmosphere. Until the advent of floodlights , most games played on large areas had to rely on natural lighting. Bramall Lane
26240-540: Was the home of the Vikings from 1982 to 2013 , the Twins from 1982 to 2009 , the National Basketball Association 's (NBA) Minnesota Timberwolves in their 1989–90 inaugural season , the Golden Gophers football team from 1982 to 2008, and the occasional home of the Golden Gophers baseball team from 1985 to 2010 and their full-time home in 2012. It was also the home of the Minnesota Strikers of
26404-449: Was used as a practice facility for the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers for Super Bowl XL , with the NFL adding FieldTurf , which was later donated to a local high school. After the Lions' departure, the city of Pontiac began to experience several years of serious financial problems. Due to the continued high maintenance costs of the structure, it made several unsuccessful attempts to sell
26568-479: Was used to bring down the Metrodome's steel support cables for the roof. This second controlled explosion was a continued deviation from the original plan to not use explosives to destroy the stadium, as it was determined that this was the safest way to bring down the remaining ring beam structure. On February 23, 2014, the remaining ring beam and corners of the Metrodome were brought down with 84 explosive charges of dynamite. This enabled demolition crews to continue with
26732-523: Was viewed by many as a symbol of the collapse of real estate prices in the Detroit metropolitan area though many local leaders and residents claimed the sale was brought about due to the incompetence of city management and their not having a vision or future plans for the stadium and surrounding area. In the March 11, 2010, edition of the Detroit Free Press , Apostolopoulos vowed "to revive
26896-768: Was when the Twins scheduled a day-night doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals on August 31, 2007. The doubleheader was necessitated after an August 2 game vs. Kansas City was postponed one day after the I-35W Bridge collapse in downtown Minneapolis. The Metrodome's air-supported roof was designed by the inventor of air-supported structures, David H. Geiger , through his New York-based Geiger Berger Associates, and manufactured and installed by Birdair Structures . An air-supported structure supported by positive air pressure, it required 250,000 ft/min (120 m/s) of air to keep it inflated. The air pressure
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