Kingdome (historic)

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

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.[citation needed] The Kingdome was imploded before its debt was fully paid. It is the first and only domed stadium in the United States to ever be demolished.

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.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

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