2000 |
demolished =
March 26,
2000 |
owner =
King County |
operator = King County Department of Stadium Administration |
surface =
Astroturf |
construction_cost = $67 million
USD |
architect = Naramore, Skilling, & Praeger |
former_names = |
tenants =
Seattle Seahawks (
NFL) (
1976-
1999)
Seattle Sounders (
NASL) (
1976-
1983)
Seattle Mariners (
MLB) (
1977-
1999)
Seattle SuperSonics (
NBA) (
1978-
1985)
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament (
1984,
1989,
1995) |
seating_capacity = 59,166 (baseball)
66,000 (football) |
}}
The
Kingdome was an indoor sports and entertainment arena owned and operated by
King County, Washington. The Kingdome received its nickname from King County,
[http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/american/kingdo.htm] and was officially known as the
King County Domed Stadium and often called the
Dome. Before its destruction it was located at the west end of
Seattle's
Industrial District, just south of
Pioneer Square. The building was completed in
1976 on reclaimed
tideflat land formerly occupied by the
Burlington Northern Railroad's freight yards. It served as home to the
Seattle Mariners baseball team, the
Seattle Seahawks American football team, and the
Seattle SuperSonics basketball team for several years. The Kingdome was demolished by
implosion on March 26,
2000 and the footprint is now occupied by
Qwest Field.
Roof incident :
The most notorious event in the stadium's history took place on
July 19,
1994, when four 26 pound waterlogged ceiling tiles collapsed in the vacant stadium just hours before a scheduled
Seattle Mariners game. The cause was the stadium's poorly maintained concrete roof, which, by
1993, was leaking badly. A plan to repair the roof involved stripping the original exterior sealant and pressure washing the exterior. This pressure washing resulted in seepage through the concrete roof, ultimately leading to the interior ceiling's collapse. The Mariners were forced to play the last 15 home games of the
1994 strike-shortened season on the road. Meanwhile, the
Seattle Seahawks had to play half of the
1994 NFL season at nearby
Husky Stadium.
Repairing the roof ultimately cost $51 million and two construction workers lost their lives in a crane accident.
["Ten Years After The Kingdome Tiles Fell.", The Seattle Times, July 19, 2004.] The incident also motivated plans to replace the stadium.
Baseball :
One of the most noteworthy baseball games in Kingdome's history took place on
October 8,
1995 when the
Seattle Mariners defeated the
New York Yankees 6-5 in 11 innings in the
rubber game of the
American League Division Series in front of 57,411 raucous fans.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B10080SEA1995.htm One game between the Mariners and the
Cleveland Indians in the Kingdome was suspended in the home half of the seventh inning because of a minor
earthquake, on
May 2,
1996.
After an inspection by engineers, the game was continued the next evening, resulting in a win for the Indians.
Foul territory was quite roomy, pushing fans far from the action. Some seats in the upper deck were as far as 613 feet from the plate. The large number of in-play objects--speakers, roof support wires and streamers--contributed to an "arena baseball" feel. The Kingdome was somewhat improved in
1982 with the addition of a 23-foot wall in right field nicknamed the "Walla Walla," featuring a hand-operated scoreboard. In
1990, new owner
Jeff Smulyan added some asymmetrical outfield dimensions.
Basketball :
Besides the Mariners and Seahawks, the stadium also hosted the
National Basketball Association's
Seattle SuperSonics for a number of years, plus the 1987
NBA All-Star Game. The
NCAA Final Four was held three times at the Kingdome - in
1984, when
Georgetown defeated
Houston, in
1989 when
Michigan beat
Seton Hall in overtime, and in
1995 when
UCLA won their first championship since the retirement of legendary coach
John Wooden, defeating
Arkansas.
Other sports and entertainment :
The Kingdome's first sporting event was a game between the
North American Soccer League's
New York Cosmos and
Seattle Sounders on
April 25,
1976, with 58,218 fans in attendance. The first collegiate football game played in the Kingdome was between
Washington State University and
USC, when
Ricky Bell set the
NCAA single-game rushing yardage record.
[ ] The Kingdome hosted the
NFL Pro Bowl in
1977 , the
Major League Baseball All-Star Game in
1979, and the
NBA All-Star game in 1987. It is the only venue that has hosted these three professional sports all-star games. This distinction is unlikely to be accomplished again due to the advent of purpose-built single-sport stadiums, and because the Pro Bowl venue was fixed in
Honolulu, Hawaii in 1980.
The stadium also hosted the High School football state championships in an event called the
King Bowl. Since the stadium's implosion the state championships moved to the
Tacoma Dome in nearby Tacoma.
Numerous rock concerts were held in the cavernous venue, including two
Rolling Stones concerts on
October 14 and
15,
1981, that attracted crowds of 69,132 and 68,028, respectively.
The largest crowd to attend a single event in the Kingdome was 74,000, on
May 17,
1976, for a
Billy Graham Crusade.
[ ]Replacement :
The Kingdome never hosted the
World Series or the
Super Bowl. In
1997, plans were finalized to construct two new stadiums in Seattle,
Qwest Field and
Safeco Field. These two planned stadiums, homes of the
Seattle Seahawks and
Seattle Mariners respectively, rendered the Kingdome useless and guaranteed its demise.
The Mariners moved to
Safeco Field in
July 1999, and the Seahawks played their final game in the Kingdome in
January 2000, a first-round playoff loss to the
Miami Dolphins, the final NFL victory for Dolphins'
quarterback Dan Marino. The Seahawks would play their home games at
Husky Stadium in 2000 & 2001.
Before thousands of Seattlites, it was destroyed by
implosion on
March 26,
2000 in the first live event ever covered by
ESPN Classic, and set a world record for the largest implosion of a concrete building. The Kingdome was imploded before its debt was fully paid.
["Q&A: Stadium Tax Proposal." The Seattle Times. January 4, 2005.] It is the first and only domed stadium in the United States to ever be demolished.
A video of the Kingdome's implosion can be viewed online.
[Kingdome Implosion - Live Coverage. King5 coverage, courtesy of Youtube.com. Last accessed October 29, 2007.] Qwest Field, the home of the
NFL Seattle Seahawks since 2002, now occupies the site.
Safeco Field, the Mariners' home park, sits just south of Qwest Field.
References :
External links :