Kingdome

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King County Domed Stadium
The Kingdome
Location	201 S. King Street Seattle, WA 98104 (now demolished)
Broke ground	November 2, 1972
Opened	March 27, 1976
Closed	January 9, 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
Tenants	Seattle Seahawks (NFL) (1976-1999) Seattle Sounders (NASL) (1976-1983) Seattle Mariners (AL) (1977-1999) Seattle SuperSonics (NBA) (1978-1985) NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament (1984, 1989, 1995)
Capacity	59,166 (baseball) 66,000 (football)

This 1996 map of the Pioneer Square-Skid Road Historic District shows the location of the Kingdome (at the lower right in the map).

The Kingdome was an indoor sports and entertainment arena owned and operated by King County, Washington. The Kingdome received its nickname from King County,^[1] 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.

[edit] 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.^[2] The incident also motivated plans to replace the stadium.

[edit] Baseball

The Kingdome was not a true multipurpose stadium, but was built as a football stadium that could convert into a baseball stadium. As such, sight lines were very poor for baseball. 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. In right field, most fans in the 300 level were unable to see much of right and center field, areas that were not part of the football playing field.

Through much of the stadium's history, the Mariners drew poor crowds and the Kingdome's atmosphere was very sterile, leading some writers and fans to call it "the Tomb" and "Puget Puke." However, when the team's fortunes began to change in the mid-1990s and they began drawing large crowds, especially in the post-season, the noise created an electric atmosphere and gave the home team a distinct advantage similar to the effect on football games.

Despite its cavernous interior, the Kingdome's field dimensions were relatively small. It had a reputation as a hitter's park, especially in the 1990s when Joey Cora, Ken Griffey, Jr., Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner and other sluggers played there.

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 Wall (after Walla Walla)," featuring a hand-operated scoreboard. In 1990, new owner Jeff Smulyan added some asymmetrical outfield dimensions.

Probably the most noteworthy baseball game in the 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.[1]

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.^[3] After an inspection by engineers, the game was continued the next evening, resulting in a win for the Indians.

[edit] Football

The Kingdome was known as one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL when the Seahawks played there. Opposing teams were known to practice with rock music blaring full blast to prepare for the high decibel levels typical of Seahawk home games.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.^[4]

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 Led Zeppelin on July 17, 1977 on what turned out to be the band's last US tour (this performance is available on VOIO and ROIO), two Rolling Stones concerts on October 14 and 15, 1981, that attracted crowds of 69,132 and 68,028, respectively. The stadium was also the last stop for Guns N' Roses and Metallica on their epic co-headlining tour. U2 also made their last stop in the US on their Pop Mart Tour on December 12, 1997.

The largest crowd to attend a single event in the Kingdome was 74,000, on May 17, 1976, for a Billy Graham Crusade.^[5]

[edit] Replacement

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 and former NFL coach Jimmy Johnson. 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.^{[citation needed]} The Kingdome was imploded before its debt was fully paid.^[6] It is the first and only domed stadium in the United States to ever be demolished.^{[citation needed]}

A video of the Kingdome's implosion can be viewed online.^[7]

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.

[edit] The Kingdome in Popular Culture

In the Real Time Strategy game World in Conflict, the Kingdome is featured in the "Dome" multiplayer map, as well as in the first campaign mission, featuring the same map. The dome is demolished by Soviet artillery fire in the campaign, and more often than not comes to a similarly grisly end in the multiplayer incarnation.

The Kingdome is mentioned in the Foo Fighters song "New Way Home" off the 1997 album The Colour and the Shape.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Kingdome

• The Story behind the implosion of The Seattle Kingdome
• Kingdome: The Controversial Birth of a Seattle Icon (1959-1976)
• Site remembering the 1995 Mariners

Coordinates: 47°35′44″N, 122°19′59″W