King County Domed Stadium

The Kingdome
Location	201 S. King Street Seattle, WA 98104
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
Capacity	59,166 (baseball) 66,000 (football)
Tenants
Seattle Seahawks (NFL) (1976-2000) 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)

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 by King County, Washington and located in Seattle, Washington. It was built in 1972–1976 and operated from 1976 until its demolition in 2000. The Kingdome received its nickname from King County,¹ and was officially known as the King County Domed Stadium and often called the Dome (though on national television broadcasts it was referred to as the Seattle Kingdome). 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.

Baseball

The inside of the Kingdome during a Mariners game, ca 1996

The Kingdome was somewhat problematic as a baseball venue. It was not a true multipurpose stadium, but was a football stadium that could convert into a baseball stadium (much like Dolphin Stadium and the Metrodome). Foul territory was quite roomy, pushing fans far from the action as the bullpens were just over the foul lines. Seats in the upper deck were as far as 600 feet (180 m) from the plate.² In right field, most fans in the 300 level were unable to see parts of right and center field, areas that were not part of the football playing field.

Through much of the stadium's history, the Mariners' poor play (they didn't have a winning season until 1991) resulted in poor attendance. Combined with the Kingdome's design, this resulted in a very sterile atmosphere, leading some writers and fans to call it "the Tomb" and "Puget Puke"² (at one point the Mariners covered seats in the upper decks in right and right-center in order to make the stadium feel "less empty"). 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 Ken Griffey, Jr., Edgar Martínez, Jay Buhner, Alex Rodriguez 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 (7.0 m) wall in right field nicknamed the "Walla Wall" (after Walla Walla, Washington)," 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 (oddly enough it was during a pitching change just as Orel Hershiser was walking off the mound following a HR by Edgar Martínez) 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.

Baseball Firsts, Lasts, and Historic Moments

• First Game: April 6, 1977 California Angels 7 Seattle Mariners 0 in the first game in Mariners history (Starting Pitchers were Frank Tanana for the Angels and Diego Segui for the Mariners, both were the pitchers of record in this game.)
• First Pitch: Thrown by Diego Segui a strike to Jerry Remy who would walk, steal second, and score the first run in stadium history.
• First Hit: Don Baylor of the Angels, double to RF.
• First HR: Joe Rudi Angels homered to LF with 1 on and 1 out in the 3rd Inning of the first game.
• First Winning Pitcher: Frank Tanana, CG SO on April 6, 1977
• First Mariners Batter: Dave Collins, struckout looking
• First Mariners Hit: Jose Baez a 1st inning single to RF on April 6, 1977 (2nd batter of inning was erased on DP)
• First Mariners Run: Dave Collins scored on an RBI double to LF by Dan Meyer on April 8, 1977.
• First Mariners HR: Juan Bernhardt a solo shot to left with 2 outs in the 5th inning of a game on April 10, 1977
• First Mariners Winning Pitcher: Bill Laxton pitched 2/3s of the 9th inning on a game on April 8 and picked up the win when the M's scored in the bottom of the 9th.
• Last Game: June 27, 1999 Seattle Mariners 5 Texas Rangers 2 (Starting pitchers were Aaron Sele for the Rangers and Freddy Garcia for the M's. Both were the pitchers of record in this game)
• Last Pitch Thrown: Jose Mesa
• Last Batter: Rusty Greer flew out to LF to end the game
• Last Mariners Batter: Ken Griffey, Jr. struck out swinging in the 8th Inning
• Last Hit: David Bell of the Mariners singled to LF in the 8th Inning
• Last HR: Ken Griffey, Jr. a first inning blast with 2 on and 0 outs.
• Last Winning Pitcher: Freddy Garcia of the Mariners went 5 innings giving up 2 runs
• Last Run: David Bell of the M's scored on a Brian Hunter infield single in the 4th Inning
• No Hitters Thrown in the Kingdome: Randy Johnson of the Mariners on June 2, 1990 threw a 2-0 No-hitter vs the Detroit Tigers, Chris Bosio of the Mariners threw a 7-0 No-hitter against the Boston Red Sox on April 22, 1993.
• Cycles: Jack Brohamer of the Chicago White Sox on September 24, 1977, Jay Buhner of the M's on June 23, 1993 vs Oakland (Buhner's 3B came in extra innings and he would score the GW run afterwards)
• Historic Moments: 1979 MLB All-Star Game was played here, Gaylord Perry of the M's won his 300th game here on May 6 1982 vs NY, Ken Griffey, Jr. hits his first MLB HR on the very first pitch he sees in the Kingdome (a solo shot off of Eric King of the Chicago White Sox in the bottom of the 1st inning on April 10, 1989), Ken Griffey, Jr. tied the MLB record for consecutive games with a HR (8) on July 28, 1993 on a HR into the upperdeck in RF off of Willie Banks of the Minnesota Twins in the 7th inning.

Kingdome Records

• Mariners Regular Season Record in the Kingdome: 851-903 .485 in 1754 Regular Season Games
• Mariners Postseason Record in the Kingdome 4-5 .444 in 9 Postseason Games
• All Time Kingdome HR Leader: Ken Griffey, Jr.
• Single Season HR Leader: Ken Griffey, Jr., 27 in 1997

Football

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Due to its concrete contruction and the Seahawks' raucous fans, the Kingdome was known as one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL. Opposing teams were known to practice with rock music blaring full blast to prepare for the high decibel levels typical of Seahawk home games.

The Kingdome's final NFL game was played on January 9, 2000, a first-round playoff loss to the Miami Dolphins. [2] The Dolphins scored a fourth quarter touchdown to win 20-17; it was the last NFL victory for Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino.

Basketball

Besides the Mariners and Seahawks, the stadium also hosted the National Basketball Association's Seattle SuperSonics for a number of years. The 1978–79 season was the first year the SuperSonics played in the Kingdome on a full time basis with the addition of portable stadium seating added onto the floor of the arena as well as additional scoreboards and a new basketball court. Fred Brown and Gus Williams lead the team that year to their first and only world championship. At the time it was known in the NBA for being the noisiest arena for basketball as well as the largest crowds with stadium vendor Bill the Beerman taking the duties as cheerleader. In the 1979–80 season, the SuperSonics set an NBA record average attendance of 21,725 fans per game (since broken).⁴ The SuperSonics also set NBA records for single-game playoff attendance in 1978 and 1980 with crowds of 39,457 and 40,172 respectively (also since broken). The Kingdome record attendance for a regular season game was in 1991, with 38,067.⁵ The SuperSonics hosted the 1987 NBA All-Star Game there.

Logistics would be a problem during the playoffs, as the Mariners (the Kingdome's primary tenants) objected to letting the Sonics play there in the spring. Most of the games would be played at Seattle Center Coliseum. A few of the games had to be played at Hec Edmundson Pavilion at the University of Washington.

Around 1990 Sonics owner Barry Ackerley made the decision to leave the Kingdome and to build a new basketball arena. Plans were underway to build a new arena south of the Kingdome (where Safeco Field stands today) to be called Ackerley Arena, but after financing fell through, the team went back to the Coliseum, which was later rebuilt as KeyArena. They would continue to play there until the team moved to Oklahoma City.

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.

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.⁶ The incident also motivated plans to replace the stadium.

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.⁷

The Kingdome hosted the NFL Pro Bowl in 1977, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 1979, and the 1987 NBA All-Star Game. 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 venue, despite significant echo and sound delay problems attributable to the structure's cavernous size. These include 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 in early October 1992. 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 featuring Johnny Cash.⁸

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 by Controlled Demolition, Inc. in the first live event ever covered by ESPN Classic⁹, and set a world record for largest structure implosion by volume.¹⁰ The Kingdome was imploded before its debt was fully paid.¹¹ It was the first domed stadium in the United States to ever be demolished.¹²

A video of the Kingdome's implosion can be viewed online.¹³

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.

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.

In the video games Gran Turismo 2, 3 and 4 for Playstation 2, the Seattle circuit features the Kingdome and Safeco Field (in construction) near the end of the lap.

See also

• Thin-shell structure
• List of thin shell structures

References

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 / 47.59556, -122.33306