Sapporo Dome

The Sapporo Dome is a stadium in Sapporo, Japan primarily used for baseball and football. It is the home field of the baseball team Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and the football club Consadole Sapporo.

History

Sapporo Dome opened in 2001 and has a maximum capacity of 42,831 people. This stadium hosted 3 games during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Germany vs Saudi Arabia, Argentina vs England and Italy vs Ecuador, all three matches were in the first round.

The Dome hosted the opening ceremonies to the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships on February 22 and hosted the closing ceremonies of the championships on March 4. It also made history as being the first venue where both indoor and nighttime skiing events took place for the the first time on a world championship or Winter Olympic Games level with competitions in the cross country skiing sprints (men’s and women’s individual, and men’s and women’s team) and the cross country portion of the 7.5 km sprint event in the nordic combined. In order to generate snow, the stadium used its turf conversion hovering system to facilitate the snow making process for the skiing competitions. The opening ceremony featured Maki Ohguro, a local artist from Sapporo, Japanese drum demonstrations and other performances paying tributes to local customs and traditions. For the championships, seating capacity was reduced to 30,000.

The Dome is interesting in that it switches between two entirely different surfaces. Baseball games are played on an artificial turf field, while football games are held on a grass pitch that slides into and out of the stadium as needed. Some other stadiums that feature sliding pitches include the Gelredome in the Netherlands, Veltins-Arena in Germany and University of Phoenix Stadium in the United States; however, unlike these three facilities, the Sapporo Dome has a fixed roof.

Details

* Name: Sapporo Dome (“Hiroba”)
* Capacity: 42,831
* Home Teams: Consadole Sapporo, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
* Completed: March 2001
* Location: Sapporo City, Hokkaido, Japan
* Building Area: 53,800 m² Total Floor Area:(Open Arena) 97,503 m²
* Roof Diameter: 245 m Stand Inclination: Max. 30° angle

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

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wikipedia entry
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters website
Official Nippon Professional Baseball website
Football Ringtones
Bet with Paddy Power

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