Kingdome

King County Stadium
Exterior of the Kingdome from the north parking lot in 1996
Full name	King County Stadium
Address	201 South King Street
Location	Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Coordinates	47°35′43″N 122°19′53″W / 47.59528°N 122.33139°W / 47.59528; -122.33139
Public transit	King Street Station
Parking	~1,100 spaces
Owner	King County
Operator	King County Department of Stadium Administration
Executive suites	46
Capacity	Baseball: 59,166 Football: 66,000 Basketball: 40,000
Surface	AstroTurf
Scoreboard	Diamond Vision
Construction
Broke ground	November 2, 1972
Opened	March 27, 1976
Closed	January 9, 2000
Demolished	March 26, 2000
Construction cost	$67 million ($345 million in 2022 dollars[1])
Architect	Naramore, Skilling & Praeger
Structural engineer	Skilling, Helle, Christiansen & Robertson, Inc.[2]
General contractor	Donald M. Drake Company (1972–74) Peter Kiewit Sons Construction Company (1974–76)[3]
Tenants
Seattle Seahawks (NFL) (1976–1999) Seattle Sounders (NASL) (1976–1983) Seattle Mariners (MLB) (1977–1999) Seattle SuperSonics (NBA) (1978–1985)

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 (officially the King County Stadium)^{[4][note 1]} was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Industrial District (later SoDo)^[7] neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Owned and operated by King County, it was best known as the home stadium of the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL) and the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB); it was also home to the Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) (from 1978 to 1985) and additionally served as both the home outdoor and indoor venue for the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Kingdome measured 660 feet (200 m) wide from its inside walls.^[8]

The idea of constructing a covered stadium for a major league football or baseball team was first proposed to Seattle officials in 1959. Voters rejected separate measures to approve public funding for such a stadium in 1960 and 1966, but the outcome was different in 1968; King County voters approved the issue of $40 million in municipal bonds to construct the stadium. Construction began in 1972 and the stadium opened in 1976 as the home of the Sounders and Seahawks.^[9] The Mariners moved in the following year, and the SuperSonics moved in the year after that, only to move back to the Seattle Center Coliseum in 1985. The stadium hosted several major sports events, including the Soccer Bowl in August 1976, the Pro Bowl in January 1977, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in July 1979, the NBA All-Star Game in 1987, and the NCAA Final Four in 1984, 1989, and 1995.

During the 1990s, the Seahawks' and Mariners' respective ownership groups began to question the suitability of the Kingdome as a venue for each team, threatening to relocate unless new, publicly funded stadiums were built. An issue was that neither team saw their shared tenancy as profitable; both teams also questioned the integrity of the stadium's roof as highlighted by the collapse of ceiling tiles onto the seating area before a scheduled Mariners game in 1994. As a result, public funding packages for new, purpose-built stadiums for the Mariners and Seahawks were respectively approved in 1995 and 1997.

The Mariners moved to Safeco Field, now known as T-Mobile Park, midway through the 1999 season, and the Seahawks temporarily moved to Husky Stadium after the 1999 season. On March 26, 2000, the Kingdome was demolished by implosion. The Seahawks' new stadium, now known as Lumen Field, was built on the site and opened in 2002. King County finally paid off the bonds used to build and repair the Kingdome in 2015, fifteen years after its demolition.^[10]

Concept and construction

In 1959, Seattle restaurateur David L. Cohn wrote a letter to the Seattle City Council suggesting the city needed a covered stadium for a major professional sports franchise.^[11][12] A domed stadium was thought to be a must because of Seattle's frequent rain. At the time, the city had Husky Stadium and Sick's Stadium for college football and minor league baseball, respectively, but both were deemed inadequate for a major league team.^[11]

Concept drawing of a floating stadium on the Seattle waterfront, 1963

In 1960, King County commissioners placed a $15 million bond issue measure on the ballot to fund construction of a stadium, but voters on November 8 defeated it with only 48 percent approval because of doubt the stadium could be built within that budget, and lack of a guarantee the city would have a team to play in the stadium.^[11][13] By 1966, the National Football League and the American League were both considering granting the city an expansion franchise, and as a result, the King County Council placed another bond issue measure on the ballot for a September vote. While it received 51.5 percent approval, it did not reach the 60 percent required to proceed; the requirement was due to a 1932 initiative that mandated a supermajority for tax levies over 40 mills.^[11][14][15]

In 1967, the American League granted Seattle an expansion franchise that would be known as the Seattle Pilots. The league clearly stated Sick's Stadium was not adequate as a major-league stadium, and stipulated that as a condition of being awarded the franchise, bonds had to be issued to fund construction of a domed stadium that had to be completed by 1970; additionally, the capacity at Sick's Stadium had to be expanded from 11,000 to 30,000 by Opening Day 1969, when the team was scheduled to begin playing. The Pilots were supposed to begin play in 1971 along with the Kansas City Royals. However, when Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri got wind of those plans, he demanded both teams begin play in 1969. The American League had birthed the Royals and Pilots as a result of the Kansas City Athletics moving to Oakland, and Symington would not accept the prospect of Kansas City waiting three years for baseball's return.^[16]

On February 13, 1968, King County voters approved the issue of $40 million in bonds to fund construction of the "King County Multipurpose Domed Stadium" with 62 percent in favor; it was part of the Forward Thrust group of bond propositions that, among other items, had a regional rapid transit system rejected.^[11][17] That year, a committee considered over 100 sites throughout Seattle and King County for the stadium; they unanimously decided the best site would be on the grounds of Seattle Center, site of the 1962 World's Fair. Community members decried the idea, claiming the committee was influenced by special interest groups.^[14][18][19]

The Pilots began play as planned in 1969, but Sick's Stadium proved to be a problematic venue for fans, media, and visiting players alike. The Pilots only drew 677,000 fans that season, not nearly enough to break even. It soon became apparent that the Pilots would not survive long enough to move to their new stadium without new ownership. It was also obvious that the timetable for a new stadium would have to be significantly advanced, as Sick's Stadium was completely unsuitable even for temporary use. However, a petition by stadium opponents brought the dome project to a halt. The Pilots' ownership group ran out of money by the end of the season, and with the stadium plans in limbo, the team was forced to declare bankruptcy. Despite efforts by Seattle-area businessmen to buy the team as well as an attempt to keep the team in Seattle through the court system, the Pilots were sold to Milwaukee businessman Bud Selig, who relocated the team to Milwaukee and renamed it the Milwaukee Brewers a week before the start of the 1970 season.^[14][20]

The stadium under construction circa 1973

The push to build the domed stadium continued despite the lack of a major league sports team to occupy it. In May 1970 voters rejected the proposal to build the stadium at Seattle Center.^[19][21] From 1970 to 1972, the commission studied the feasibility and economic impact of building the stadium on King Street adjacent to Pioneer Square and the International District—a site that ranked at the bottom when the commission originally narrowed the field of possible sites in 1968.^[19] This drew sharp opposition primarily from the International District community, which feared the impact of the stadium on neighborhood businesses located east of the site. The King Street site was approved 8–1 by the county council in late 1971,^[22] and the groundbreaking ceremony in 1972 was held on November 2.^[23] Several protesters attended the ceremony, disrupted the speakers, and at one point threw mud balls at them.^[19][23]

In bidding for construction of the stadium, which had separate offers for the dome and the rest of the stadium, Donald M. Drake Construction Company of Portland, Oregon, was the winning contractor for both with respective bids of $28.9 million and $5.9 million. Peter Kiewit Sons Construction Company was the only other bidder, offering $30.57 million for the stadium and $5.8 million for the roof; the latter came with the caveat of the company using its own design consultant.^[24] To help alleviate tension between the International District community and county officials, Drake emphasized the hiring of minorities, with minorities eventually representing 13 percent of the workers at the site; a community center and a shelter were also built in the neighborhood. However, the stadium's construction encountered numerous issues; in January 1973, six support beams for the roof were toppled as one or two of them buckled, bringing down the others in a domino effect. By January 1974, the stadium reached 50 percent completion; only reaching 60 percent completion in July, it was clear that Drake would not reach the December deadline at that point. It was also apparent that Drake was ill-prepared to work on a project with such scale, with numerous errors, delays, and short-staffing slowing down construction. Efforts to renegotiate the contract failed, and on November 22, Drake stopped work on the Kingdome. The county fired Drake on December 10, bringing in Kiewit to finish construction on the stadium.^[3][25]

Exterior of the Kingdome in 1985.

On December 5, 1974, the NFL awarded Seattle an expansion franchise to occupy the new stadium; the team was later named the Seattle Seahawks.^[11][26] Construction lasted another two years, and the stadium held an opening ceremony on March 27, 1976.^[19][27] It hosted its first professional sporting event two weeks later on April 9, an exhibition soccer game between the Seattle Sounders and New York Cosmos of the NASL. It set a record for the largest soccer audience in North America at 58,120.^[28] The stadium was finished at $20 million over budget, with part of the cost overrun covered by a $12.8 million out-of-court settlement in 1980 between the county and Drake's liability insurers.^[29]

Surface

Like virtually all other multi-purpose stadiums, the Kingdome featured AstroTurf artificial turf for its playing surface, with its baseball configuration featuring dirt sliding pits around each base.^[30][31] When it was constructed, artificial turf was considered a must because the roof was likely to inhibit the growth of natural grass, like the Astrodome's roof.^[32]

The AstroTurf surface was first replaced in July 1983 during the MLB All-Star break; Monsanto, the then-owner of AstroTurf, won the turf replacement contract over SuperTurf (then used by the Metrodome) with a bid of $1.2 million.^[33][34] By request of the Mariners and Seahawks, it was replaced again in October and December 1990 at a cost of $2.56 million; the previous surface was sold off thereafter, with 25 rolls of it sold to the Tacoma Dome for $108,200.^[35][36] A strip 40 feet by 4 inches was ripped off left field near second base during a field invasion by celebrating fans after the Mariners won the AL West tiebreaker game in 1995; it was replaced before the first Mariners home game in the ALDS.^[37]

Before the 1990 replacement, the AstroTurf surface was converted from baseball to football configuration via the covering of the infield with turf strips; a one-piece surface was placed over the infield after the conclusion of the Mariners season.^[38] The surface was attached together via both Velcro and Ziploc fasteners.^[39] After the 1990 replacement, separate surfaces were installed for each team; the Seahawks specifically wanted a stiffer variation of AstroTurf. The replacement surfaces were attached together via zippers.^[38]

The underlying base of the surface was asphalt, with the AstroTurf essentially consisting of a carpet on top of a pad with respective thicknesses of one-half inch and five-eights inch.^[32] Lumps, holes, and ridges were also present in the surface along with gaps within its seams.^[40] These factors combined to create a playing surface that was despised by both football and baseball players alike; after the 1998 season, a survey by the NFL Players Association found that 56.7 percent of Seahawks players rated the surface as "poor" or "fair", and was the worst-rated one in the AFC West.^[40][41]

Injuries from playing at the Kingdome and its contemporaries occurred more often compared to stadiums with natural grass.^[42] Of note, Seahawks running backs Sherman Smith and Curt Warner respectively suffered season-ending knee injuries in 1980 and 1984 during games at the Kingdome; additionally, the Kingdome's surface is partly blamed for Ken Griffey Jr.'s subsequent injuries and decline in performance after the Mariners traded him to the Cincinnati Reds at the end of the 1999 season.^[43][44][45]

Football

Baseball

Shortly after the Pilots' departure for Milwaukee, the city of Seattle, King County, and the state of Washington sued the American League, claiming a breach of contract. The league agreed to grant Seattle another franchise in exchange for dropping the lawsuit, and the team that would later be known as the Seattle Mariners was born.^[81]

The Mariners held their first game in franchise history at the Kingdome on April 6, 1977, against the California Angels. The Angels shut out the Mariners 7–0 in front of a sellout crowd of 57,762.^[82][83] The first pitch was a strike thrown by the Mariners' Diego Seguí to Jerry Remy.^{[82][84][note 2]} In the top of the first inning, Don Baylor registered the first hit at the stadium with a double that scored Remy, who had stolen second and third base after drawing a walk from Seguí.^[82] The Mariners' first batter, Dave Collins, struck out; however, the next batter, José Báez, singled for the franchise's first ever hit.^[82][86] The first home run at the venue was hit in the top of the third inning by Joe Rudi; designated hitter Juan Bernhardt scored the Mariners' first home run in their fifth game at the Kingdome on April 10.^[82][87][88] The Mariners had their first win at the Kingdome and team history two games after the opener (they were also shut out in their second game 2–0), defeating the Angels 7–6 on April 8 via a walk-off double from Larry Milbourne.^[87][89] The venue hosted the All-Star Game on July 17, 1979.^[90]

The Kingdome was somewhat problematic as a baseball venue. Foul territory was quite large, and seats in the upper deck as far as 617 feet (188 m) from home plate.^[91] Part of the problem was that the Kingdome was not a multipurpose stadium in the truest sense. Instead, it was built as a football stadium that could convert into a baseball stadium. For instance, most fans in the outfield seats on the 300 level were unable to see parts of right and center field; these areas were not part of the football playing field.

Hosting the Kansas City Royals in July 1997

For most of the Mariners' first 18 years, their poor play (they did not have a winning season until 1991) combined with the Kingdome's design, led to poor attendance. Some writers and fans called it "the Tomb" (because of its gray concrete and lack of noise) and "Puget Puke."^[91] After their inaugural home opener, the Mariners didn't have another sellout for the next 1,018 home games until their 1990 home opener on April 13.^[81][92] At one point the Mariners covered seats in the upper decks in right and right-center with a tarp in order to make the stadium feel "less empty".^[93] Additionally, the Kingdome's acoustics created problems for stadium announcers, who had to deal with significant echo issues.^[94] However, when the team's fortunes began to change in the mid-1990s and they began drawing larger 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.^[95] The average attendance of 22,064 in 1995 was the lowest in three years with the removal of nine home games for the season, but when put in perspective, it was still higher compared to any of the Mariners' first 14 seasons.^[96]

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.^[97][98]

The large number of in-play objects—speakers, roof support wires and streamers—contributed to an "arena baseball" feel.^[99] The Kingdome was somewhat improved in 1982 with the addition of a 23-foot (7.0 m) wall in right field nicknamed the "Walla Walla" (after the city in southeastern Washington); a nearly $100,000 Daktronics out-of-town scoreboard was later installed on it in 1990.^{[83][100][101]} In 1990 and 1991, the moving of home plate closer to the backstop, the addition of box seats down the third base line and the removal of a few rows of seats in left field reduced foul territory and made the outfield dimensions longer and asymmetrical.^[93][102]

In its early years, the outfield was symmetrical with a uniform wall height: deep in center, and short elsewhere. For the All-Star Game in 1979, center field was 410 feet (120 m), power alleys were 357 feet (109 m), and the foul lines were 316 feet (96 m);^[90] the unpadded wall was green with a top yellow stripe, approximately twelve feet (3.7 m) in height and did not have the power alley distances listed on it.^[103] Down the lines, the distance was also listed in fathoms (52.7 fm), presumably to maintain a nautical theme in line with the team name; however, this practice was ditched after the 1980 season.^[83] Like the Kingdome's contemporaries, the bullpens were located in foul territory adjacent to the baselines and the stands.^[104][105]

The longest game in the Kingdome took place on July 30, 1998, when the Cleveland Indians defeated the Mariners 9–8 in 17 innings via a three-run homer from Manny Ramirez off Bob Wells; Paul Shuey staved off a comeback by the Mariners in the bottom of the inning to end the game the next morning after five hours and 23 minutes.^[106][107]

The most noteworthy baseball game in the Kingdome's history took place on October 8, 1995; in the rubber game of the ALDS, the Mariners defeated the New York Yankees 6–5 in 11 innings in front of 57,411 raucous fans. In the bottom of the 11th, Martinez doubled to left, sending Joey Cora and Griffey home with the winning runs and vaulting the Mariners into the ALCS for the first time in franchise history.^[81]

On May 2, 1996, a game at the Kingdome between the Mariners and the Cleveland Indians was suspended in the bottom of the seventh inning because of a minor earthquake. The earthquake, estimated at a magnitude of 5.3 to 5.4, occurred during a pitching change as Indians' pitcher Orel Hershiser was walking off the mound following a home run by Edgar Martínez.^[108][109] After an inspection by engineers, the game was continued the next evening, resulting in a 6–4 win for the Indians.^[110]

Seguí, who retired from professional baseball after the 1977 season, was invited by the Mariners to throw the ceremonial last pitch after the final Mariners game at the Kingdome in 1999. However, while they were able to make the tickets and reservations for Seguí, a payment mix-up prevented him from boarding the flight out of Kansas City International Airport on the day of the game; the incident made him irate such that he refused to visit Seattle again until 2012, when he was invited as part of the Mariners' 35th anniversary celebration.^[111] Despite the disappointment from Seguí's son, then-Mariners first baseman David Segui, the ceremony went on as planned; David's son, then-seven-year-old Cory Segui, threw the last pitch to Bob Stinson, who was the Mariners' catcher in their first game.^[112]

In 1989, Griffey Jr. hit a home run in his first-ever plate appearance at the Kingdome on April 10. On June 27, 1999, Griffey Jr. hit the last home run ever at the Kingdome against the Texas Rangers.^[113] The Mariners played 1,755 games at the Kingdome, compiling an overall home record of 852–903 (.485) during their 22½-season tenure there.^[114]

Basketball

SuperSonics

In 1980, the Seattle SuperSonics total attendance exceeded that of all other sports or shows held in the Kingdome.

Besides the Mariners and Seahawks, the stadium also hosted the Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for seven seasons. The SuperSonics, having previously played at the Seattle Center Coliseum, announced on July 29, 1977, that they intended to move into the Kingdome for the 1978–79 season after the expiration of their contract with the city of Seattle, the owner of the Coliseum; the team pushed for a move to the Kingdome after the city balked at a $30 million plan to expand the Coliseum to 20,000 seats the previous year.^[115] On August 22, the King County Council voted 7–2 to approve a 17-year lease with the SuperSonics, with the agreement signed the following day.^[116] The following week, the council unanimously voted on August 29 to spend $1.5 million on improvements to the Kingdome in preparation for the team; the team would pay the same amount over the first seven years as part of the agreement.^[117] Additional terms of the agreement had the SuperSonics pay the county 10 percent of ticket sale proceeds (not including admissions taxes) and $2,539 in personnel costs per game; the county additionally kept all game concession and parking revenue.^[115] On the same day as the agreement signing, longtime Kingdome critic Frank Ruano filed a referendum petition in an attempt to halt the move, but he announced on September 17 that he would withdraw support from the petition for lack of support.^[116][118]

While the SuperSonics had played a few games at the Kingdome over the previous two seasons, their full-time tenancy required the addition of 5,000 portable stadium seats added onto the floor of the arena as well as additional scoreboards and a new basketball court.^[119][120] The center circle of the court was positioned over first base, with the court itself laid parallel and adjacent to the right-field seats; the portable seats were positioned across the court with one end hovering over home plate.^[121]

The first SuperSonics game in the Kingdome under the agreement was an exhibition game versus the Portland Trail Blazers on September 22, 1978.^[122] A few weeks later, a crowd of 15,219 watched as the SuperSonics defeated the Chicago Bulls, 104–86, on October 14 in their first regular-season game as a tenant.^[123] Captain Fred Brown and leading scorer Gus Williams helped lead the team to their first and only championship that season, defeating the Washington Bullets in the Finals and avenging their Finals loss to them the previous season.^[124] At the time, the Kingdome was known in the NBA for being the noisiest arena for basketball and for having the largest crowds, with stadium vendor Bill Scott (a.k.a. Bill the Beerman) taking the duties as cheerleader.^[125][126]

In the 1979–80 season, the SuperSonics set an NBA record average attendance of 21,725 fans per game (since broken).^[127][128] The SuperSonics set the NBA single-game playoff attendance record at 39,457 during Game 4 of the 1978 NBA Finals; they set it again on April 15, 1980, during a conference semifinal game against the Milwaukee Bucks with an attendance record of 40,172 (also since broken).^{[128][129][130]} The Kingdome regular season, single-game attendance record of 38,067 was set on November 22, 1991, when the SuperSonics faced the Chicago Bulls.^[131]

While leaving a SuperSonics game on February 16, 1983, a 21-year-old man from Olympia fell off a ramp and plunged 47 feet to his death; this was despite the installation of signs warning about the chest-level barriers the previous year.^[132]

Logistics would be a problem throughout the team's tenure at the Kingdome because the Seahawks and Mariners had scheduling priority over them, especially during the playoffs when the Mariners were playing there at the same time in the spring.^[133] As part of the 1977 agreement, King County agreed to pay the SuperSonics $15,000 for each game (up to five) that was moved elsewhere because of booking issues.^[115] Even then, the scheduling priority meant that the SuperSonics would only play home playoff games at the Kingdome while the Mariners were on the road, with most of the games played at the Coliseum; the team even had to use Hec Edmundson Pavilion at the University of Washington for a few games when both the Kingdome and the Coliseum were unavailable.^[134]

Along with the scheduling issues, as with other multipurpose stadiums used by the NBA the Kingdome proved itself to be a less-than-ideal venue for basketball.^{[133][135][136]} Although the Kingdome's capacity allowed the SuperSonics to set attendance records, the vast space it afforded meant that it did not have the intimate environment of a dedicated arena; furthermore, fans were displeased about the poor sight lines and cold temperatures in the Kingdome. All these factors, plus dwindling attendance due to poor team performance towards the end of their tenancy at the Kingdome, led SuperSonics general manager Zollie Volchok to sign a 10-year contract with the city of Seattle in 1983, agreeing to have the team move back to the Coliseum after the 1984–85 season in exchange for upgrades there.^[133]

The SuperSonics faced the Phoenix Suns at the Kingdome on April 7, 1985, in their final game as a regular tenant, losing 110–125 with 5,672 in attendance.^[137] However, exemplifying the scheduling issues, it was not their final home game of the season; the SuperSonics were forced to play at the Tacoma Dome on April 11 because the Mariners hosted the Oakland Athletics at the Kingdome that day.^[133] By that point, the SuperSonics had an average attendance of 7,399, failing to surpass 10,000 seats sold in 29 of 37 games held at the Kingdome in their final season there.^[138]

Despite calling the Coliseum home again, the SuperSonics still played occasionally at the Kingdome over the next few years when large crowds were anticipated; as such, the SuperSonics hosted the 1987 NBA All-Star Game there, having previously hosted the 1974 game at the Coliseum before the Kingdome opened.^{[139][140][141]} However, SuperSonics owner Barry Ackerley, who had bought the team from Sam Schulman in October 1983 after the Coliseum deal was signed, started seeking a new arena for them in 1989; team president Bob Whitsitt claimed that the Coliseum was outdated and leaking.^{[133][142][143]} Ackerley proposed to build a new arena south of the Kingdome (where T-Mobile Park stands today^[144]), but the plan was initially rejected by King County because of objections from the Seahawks and Mariners over inadequate parking.^[145] The plan was eventually approved by the Seattle City Council 7–1 on May 30, 1990, but it was ultimately scrapped the following year on June 26 because of issues in financing it; as a compromise measure, the Coliseum was rebuilt as KeyArena during the 1994–95 season, with the SuperSonics playing home games at the Tacoma Dome instead of the closer Kingdome in the meantime.^{[146][147][148]} The SuperSonics played at KeyArena until they were controversially relocated to Oklahoma City by owner Clay Bennett after the 2007–08 season.^[149]

The SuperSonics played 303 games at the Kingdome in total, including 14 playoff games; they held an overall record of 208–95 (.686) and a playoff record of 8–6 (.571) at the stadium. Of those games, 20 of them had attendances of 30,000 or more.^[138]

Soccer

Other events

Upon its opening, the Kingdome served as one of the main convention centers in Seattle alongside the Seattle Center Coliseum.^[186] During preliminary studies for the then-proposed Washington State Convention Center (now the Seattle Convention Center) in the early 1980s, a proposal to build it on the stadium's northern parking lot was floated, but it was never seriously considered and ultimately rejected by the convention center board in favor of building it in the Downtown area.^[187][188]

The largest crowd to attend a single event in the Kingdome came early, during an eight-day Billy Graham crusade in 1976. The Friday night edition on May 14 drew 74,000 and featured singer Johnny Cash; 5,000 were turned away.^{[19][165][189][190]} The stadium was also part of Seattle's bid to host the 1988 Republican National Convention, but it ultimately failed because of a scheduling conflict with the Mariners.^[191]

Country singer CW McCall performed 8 shows during the 4-day Custom Van, Truck, 4-Wheel Drive and Motorcycle Show, March 17–20, 1977. ^[192]

The Kingdome hosted a round of the AMA Supercross Championship from 1978 to 1999.^[193][194]

Final years

By the 1990s, multi-purpose stadiums fell out of favor with the public, and the Kingdome's suitability as an NFL and MLB venue came into doubt as a result. Neither the Seahawks' nor the Mariners' respective ownership groups saw the shared stadium arrangement as economically feasible because the Kingdome was unable to meet the needs of both tenants; they also noted the lack of revenue-generating luxury suites prominent in newer stadiums.^[11][218] After several years of threats to relocate the Mariners because of poor attendance and revenue, then-owner Jeff Smulyan put the team up for sale on December 6, 1991; he subsequently received approval by MLB to sell the team to an ownership group led by Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi on June 10, 1992.^[219] Almost immediately, the new ownership group began campaigning with local and state governments to secure public funding for a new baseball-only stadium. In March 1994, King County Executive Gary Locke appointed a task force to study the need for a baseball-only stadium.^[220]

Replacement

The Kingdome imploding in March 2000

On September 19, 1995, King County voters defeated a ballot measure that would have funded the construction of a new baseball-only stadium for the Mariners. However, the following month, the Mariners made it to the MLB postseason for the first time and, on October 8, defeated the New York Yankees in the decisive fifth game of the 1995 ALDS on the heels of a walk-off game-winning double hit by Edgar Martínez. The Mariners' postseason run demonstrated that there was a fan base in Seattle that wanted the team to stay in town, and as a result, the Washington State Legislature approved a separate funding package for a new stadium on October 14.^{[218][81][224]}

In January 1996, Seahawks owner Ken Behring announced he was moving the team to Los Angeles and the team would play at Anaheim Stadium, which had recently been vacated as a football venue when the Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis. His rationale for the decision included unfounded safety concerns surrounding the seismic stability of the Kingdome. Behring went so far as to relocate team headquarters to Anaheim, California, but his plans were defeated when lawyers found out that the Seahawks could not break their lease on the Kingdome until 2005. As a result, Behring tried to sell the team. He found a potential buyer in Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who stipulated that a new publicly funded stadium had to be built as a condition of his purchase of the team.^[225] Allen funded a special election held on June 17, 1997, that featured a measure that would allocate public funding for a new stadium for the Seahawks on the Kingdome site. The measure passed, Allen officially purchased the team, and the Kingdome's fate was sealed.^[226][227]

Despite the intention of the Mariners to start playing at their new home at the beginning of the 1999 season, construction delays meant that installation of its retractable roof would not occur on time, leading to another sale threat by the team's owners.^[228] However, the team eventually agreed to play at the Kingdome from the start of the season until after the All-Star Game, with construction on the new home starting on March 8, 1997.^[229][230] Two years later, a sold-out crowd of 56,530 watched as the Mariners defeated the Texas Rangers 5–2 in their final game at the Kingdome on June 27, 1999; they played their first game at their new home, Safeco Field, nearly three weeks later on July 15.^{[218][231][232]}

Meanwhile, the Seahawks temporarily relocated to Husky Stadium for two seasons following the 1999 season.^[231] To make way for construction of their new stadium, the Kingdome was stripped down and prepared for demolition. During the process, a security incident occurred on February 21, 2000, when a skateboarder disguised himself as a construction worker, climbed up onto the roof, and skated on it with two friends filming him on the nearby Alaskan Way Viaduct; demolition crews were unimpressed by the incident and implemented tighter security measures in response.^[233][234] On the morning of March 26, 2000 at 8:30 AM, the Kingdome was demolished by Controlled Demolition, Inc. via implosion, just one day short of 24 years after the stadium's opening; it set a record recognized by Guinness World Records for the largest building, by volume, ever by implosion.^[235] The Kingdome was the first large, domed stadium to be demolished in the United States; its demolition was also the first live event covered by ESPN Classic.^[236][237] The new stadium, Seahawks Stadium, eventually opened on July 20, 2002, in time for the beginning of the NFL season that year.^[226]

The Kingdome was demolished before the debt issued to finance its construction was fully paid, and as of September 2010, residents of King County were still responsible for more than $80 million in debt on the demolished stadium.^[238][239] The debt was retired on March 2015, nine months ahead of the original bond maturity and 15 years after the stadium's demolition. The 2% of the 15.6% hotel/motel tax earmarked for the Kingdome debt no longer needed went instead to the county's 4Culture program for arts, heritage, and preservation.^[10]

Seating capacity

In popular culture

Because of its versatility and its prominent position in the Seattle skyline for close to a quarter-century, the Kingdome was featured in numerous forms of media during and after its existence. On television, it served as the backdrop for a rescue in the 1978 TV movie "Most Deadly Passage" of NBC's Emergency! series, which featured the work of Seattle Medic One paramedics.^[245] It was also mentioned in 1992 with the airing of "Crushed", the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of ABC sitcom Full House; in the episode, guest star Tommy Page boasted to Jesse Katsopolis about playing there.^[246] The Kingdome was mentioned again in 1998 during the sixth season of NBC sitcom Frasier, which was set in Seattle. In the sixth episode, "Secret Admirer", Martin describes Daphne's frustrating driving that repeatedly takes them right into various traffic delays, ending with them encountering traffic from the Kingdome.^[247] Furthermore, the Kingdome's demolition was featured on The History Channel's Modern Marvels series with their "Concrete" episode that first aired on May 31, 2000.^[248]

The Kingdome was not limited to just television mentions; numerous songs mentioned it in their lyrics. Rock band Foo Fighters mentioned it in the refrain of "New Way Home", which was featured on their 1997 album, The Colour and the Shape.^[249] Rapper Macklemore also mentioned the Kingdome in "My Oh My", a 2011 song that paid tribute to Dave Niehaus, the longtime play-by-play announcer of the Mariners who had recently died; in it, he talks about growing up in Seattle and going to the Kingdome. The song mentions the Double in the Mariners–Yankees 1995 ALDS, and its accompanying music video also contains footage of the Kingdome's demolition.^{[250][251][252]}

With the rise of 3D computer graphics, video games started to depict the Kingdome as well. The Gran Turismo series of racing games on the PlayStation line of consoles featured the Kingdome in the Seattle Circuit race track, a street circuit based on the roads of Seattle.^[253] Seattle Circuit is featured in Gran Turismo 2, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, Gran Turismo 4, Tourist Trophy, and Gran Turismo PSP. Despite the Kingdome's demolition occurring before the game was released, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec still featured it in the track.^[254] The Kingdome also made an appearance in the 2007 RTS game World in Conflict, in which it was destroyed by Soviet artillery during a Soviet invasion of Seattle in an alternate timeline.^[255]

See also

• Delta Dome
• Thin-shell structure
• List of thin shell structures

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kingdome.

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived October 22, 1999)
• The Story behind the implosion of The Seattle Kingdome
• Kingdome: The Controversial Birth of a Seattle Icon (1959–1976)
• Video of Kingdome implosion via KING-TV