Kibbie Dome

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Kibbie ASUI Activity Center
Kibbie Dome, Cowan Spectrum (basketball)
Location S Rayburn St
Moscow, ID 83844
Broke ground 1969
Opened 1975
Owner University of Idaho
Operator University of Idaho
Surface Astroturf
Tenants
University of Idaho Vandals
(Football, basketball, tennis, indoor track & field)
Seats
16,000 (football)
7,000 (basketball)

The Kibbie ASUI Activity Center, more commonly known as the Kibbie Dome, is an enclosed structure with a barrel-arched roof at the University of Idaho in Moscow, the home of the Idaho Vandals. Completed in 1975, it is used for competition in four intercollegiate sports: football, basketball, tennis, and indoor track & field. Beginning in 2001, the Kibbie Dome has been referred to as the Cowan Spectrum for basketball games. The elevation of the playing field is at 2620 feet (798 m) above sea level.

Contents

[edit] Construction

The stadium was built in stages and took several years to complete. Construction started soon after a fire destroyed the condemned wooden Neale Stadium in late November 1969, the Vandal football team's former home on which the Kibbie Dome now stands. The new concrete grandstands and press box were ready for use in the fall of 1971, astroturf was installed in 1972. The arched roof and end walls were completed in 1975. The stadium was named that year for William H. Kibbie, a construction executive from Salt Lake City and the primary benefactor of the project; he contributed $300,000 to initiate the funding drive. Bill Kibbie (1918-88), originally of Bellevue, Idaho, was a UI student for only a few weeks in 1936 before he had to leave the university, due to family hardship. "ASUI" is the acronym for the Associated Students of the University of Idaho.

When the university announced it would enclose its football stadium, the fledgling Trus Joist Company of Boise bid on and got the project. While steel and aluminum were the products of the day for domes and large unsupported buildings, Trus Joist saw the UI stadium as a chance to demonstrate the strength, durability, and economy of their engineered wood products. From the final design to the end of construction, the enclosure project took just 10 months and $1 million to complete. In 1976, the Kibbie Dome roof won the “Structural Engineering Achievement Award” from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The roof spans 400 feet (122 m) from sideline-to- sideline, and its maximum height is 150 feet (45 m) above the field level. (Holt Arena, on the campus of Idaho State University in Pocatello, has an opposite geometry: its arched roof spans the length of the football field, rather than its width, resulting in a very low roof at the end lines and goal posts.)

Soon after completion, problems arose with the roof's exterior. The 4.5 acre (1.8 hectare) outer surface was applied as a sprayed foam, and was found to be unsuitable for the annual temperature range of northern Idaho. The significant expansion and contraction caused fractures; leaks were occurring and wood rot was a potential problem by 1980. After an extended period of finger-pointing and threatened legal action, an out-of-court settlement was reached. A new superstructure with a composite roof was built over the original. Completed in the early 1980s, it solved the problem.


[edit] Football

The Kibbie Dome officially seats just 16,000 for football, making it the smallest venue in Division I-A (although a record crowd of 17,600 was recorded for a game with Boise State in November 1989). The football field runs east-west, with the press box on the south side.

When Dennis Erickson returned as head football coach in 2006, there has been talk of adding a second deck to the stadium to increase the football seating to 25,000, and building a new basketball arena. With Erickson's departure for Arizona State University, it is not sure if these plans will go forward.

When not used for football, the astroturf field can be rolled up in about an hour, revealing 93,000 square feet (2.13 acres, 0.86 hectares) of polyurethane tartan surface which is used for indoor track and field and tennis. The five-lane track is 290 meters (317 yds) in length, and there are 9 tennis courts. Basketball and volleyball courts are also lined on the tartan.

[edit] Basketball

The stadium has also served as the home of the Vandal basketball teams, providing increased seating capacity over the venerable Memorial Gym (built in 1928), a block east. The basketball court is positioned at midfield on the south sideline, in front of the press box and the south grandstand. The main court was originally smooth tartan rubber, poured directly onto the concrete floor, resulting in very hard and unforgiving surface. It was replaced with a conventional hardwood floor in the mid 1980s, placed over the top of the old floor, assembled from small sections. During basketball games, the Kibbie Dome is now referred to as the Cowan Spectrum, named for Bob and Jan Cowan, who financed the current layout. Since February 2001, the basketball configuration has consisted of the central section of the south stands, and temporary seating on the north, east, and west sides, separated from the rest of the stadium by black curtains to give the court a more intimate "stadium-within-a-stadium" feel, with a reduced seating capacity of 7000. Temporary Daktronics scoreboards are placed over the north and south stands during games.

During the early 1980s, with Don Monson as head coach (father of UI alum and former Minnesota head basketball coach Dan Monson), the Kibbie Dome was considered one of the 20 toughest home courts in college basketball by Sports Illustrated, often exceeding over 12,000 in attendance. The venue hosted three Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournaments (by winning the regular season title), in 1981, 1982, and 1993. (The Vandals departed the Big Sky for the Big West Conference in 1996, then moved to the WAC in 2005.)

[edit] Additions

The Kibbie Dome has undergone a couple of significant additions. In August 1982, just seven years after the building was completed, the East End Addition was completed, providing the entire athletic department with locker rooms, offices, a weight room, athletic training facility, and equipment room. In 2004 the facilities were again enhanced with the addition of the 8000 square foot Vandal Athletic Center, home to the Norm and Becky Iverson Speed and Strength Center; the renovation of the men’s and women’s basketball, football, and volleyball locker rooms, and the addition of a state-of-the-art hydrotherapy pool (ARC).

[edit] Adjacent Practice Fields

August 2005 saw the completion of the SprinTurf installation on the former grass practice field east of the Kibbie Dome. The days of "off-limits" are gone, as UI students now have state-of-the-art playing fields available for year-round use. The $1.2 million SprinTurf project included lighting and fencing. A field that previously had just 300 usable hours annually as an "intercollegiate athletics only" field is now available for up to 2000 hours per year. The project was funded through the Kibbie Dome turf replacement fund.

The two 75-yard fields are adequate for team practice for football (and soccer) as well as for intramural competition, but short enough to have two fields in the space available. Each field is a full half-field (with end zone & goal post) plus an additional 15 yards beyond the 50-yard line. An unmarked 10 yard median separates the two fields; the total length, with end zones, is 160 yards. The fields run north-south. The former grass fields were lined as a regulation football field running north-south, with a half field at the north end running east-west. An added benefit of the synthetic surface is an estimated $50,000 annual savings in field maintenance.

[edit] Nearby facilities

On the west side of the Kibbie Dome is the Dan O'Brien outdoor track & field stadium. To the south is the university's 18-hole golf course. To the east is the Memorial Gymnasium, the swim center, and the P.E. building (Women's Gym), and six outdoor tennis courts.

[edit] External links

Football Stadiums of the Western Athletic Conference
Aggie Memorial Stadium (New Mexico State) • Joe Aillet Stadium (Louisiana Tech) • Aloha Stadium (Hawaii) • Bronco Stadium (Boise State) • Bulldog Stadium (Fresno State) • Mackay Stadium (Nevada) • Kibbie Dome (Idaho) • Romney Stadium (Utah State) • Spartan Stadium (San José State)
Current basketball arenas in the Western Athletic Conference
Cowan Spectrum (Idaho) • Event Center (San José State men) • Lawlor Events Center (Nevada) • Pan American Center (New Mexico State) • Save Mart Center (Fresno State) • Smith Spectrum (Utah State) • Stan Sheriff Center (Hawaii) • Taco Bell Arena (Boise State) • Thomas Assembly Center (Louisiana Tech)
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