Portal:American football/Selected picture
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The Louisiana Superdome (styled also as the Superdome and known colloquially as The Dome) is a multi-purpose dome-covered stadium and arena situated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States that is best known, as regards American football, for comprising a FieldTurf playing field and for having served, since its 1975 erection, as the home field of the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL) and of the Tulane University Green Wave collegiate side; for having served as the host stadium for the Super Bowl, the NFL’s championship game, on six occasions—after the 1977 season, for Super Bowl XII, the first such contest to be held in a domed stadium; after the 1980 season, for Super Bowl XV; after the 1985 season, for Super Bowl XX; after the 1989 season, for Super Bowl XXIV; after the 1996 season, for Super Bowl XXXI; and, after the 2001 season, for Super Bowl XXXVI, the first such contest to be held in the month of February in view of the season's having been extended for one week upon the terrorist attacks of 11 September—more than any other single venue, and, in view of Tulane Stadium’s having hosted Super Bowls IV, VI, and IX, on two-thirds of those occasions when the game has been contested in New Orleans, and for the Pro Bowl, the league's all-star game, after the 1975 season; for having, in 1984, served as the home field of the New Orleans Breakers franchise of the United States Football League; for having served, since 1975, as the host stadium for the Sugar Bowl, a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I bowl game contested annually since 1935 and a constituent of the Bowl Championship Series since the 1998 NCAA season, and since 2001 as the home stadium for the New Orleans Bowl, contested annaully since 2001 between the champion of the Sun Belt Conference and a team from the Mountain West Conference, or, more recently, Conference USA; and for having served, since 1978, as the host for the Bayou Classic, played annually betwixt the Grambling State University Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars, each a member of the Division I-AA Southwestern Athletic Conference, which game is the only one contested by two historically black colleges to be transmitted in the United States via broadcast television.
Construction on the stadium began in 1971 at the urging of Louisiana governor John J. McKeithen, ostensibly in view of his having, in 1967, attended a Major League Baseball game played at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, and, having cost $134 million, was completed in November 1975; the stadium, though, was opened prior to its being wholly finished, and hosted its first NFL game on September 28, when the Cincinnati Bengals— ultimately, seeded fourth, losers of a divisional playoff game to the Oakland Raiders—behind quarterback Ken Anderson, who completed 77.2 per cent of the 22 passes he attempted and totalled three passing touchdowns, defeated the Saints, 21-0. The stadium, situated on 52 acres of land and with a dome diameter of 680 feet (210 meters) and a height of 253 feet (82.3 meters), seated only 52,637 upon its opening but ultimately attained a seating capacity of 72,003 for American football games.
Upon its being used as a shelter of last resort during the pendency of Hurricane Katrina and its being damaged by the storm itself, the Superdome was unavailable for use during the 2005 NFL season—when the Saints held four home games at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas; three at the Tiger Stadium located on the Baton Rouge campus of Louisiana State University; and one, titularly, at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New York—and 2005 NCAA season—during which the Green Wave played home games at each of six stadia across Louisiana and Alabama. The Bayou Classic was relocated to Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, whilst each of the bowl games traditionally played at the Superdome—the New Orleans Bowl and Sugar Bowl—were also moved, respectively to Cajun Field in Lafeyette and the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. The stadium, having been repaired and partially rebuilt in 2005 and 2006 at a cost of $186 million, of which $115 million was paid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, reopened for the play of American football on September 25, 2006, when the Saints contested the team's third game of the 2006 season, in which the side ultimately earned a 23-3 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
