The Pontiac Silverdome
is a domed stadium in Pontiac, Michigan, a satellite city of Detroit. It hosted the Detroit Lions of the NFL from 1975-2001, the Detroit Pistons of the NBA from 1978-1988, the Michigan Panthers of the USFL from 1983-1984, the college football Cherry Bowl in 1984 and 1985 and Motor City Bowl from 1997 until 2001, the MHSAA football state finals from 1976-2004, and four first-round games during the 1994 World Cup.
For the World Cup games, a natural grass surface capable of growing inside the dome was developed and installed by a team from Michigan State University. This grass surface was laid upon wooden pallets atop the artificial turf that is usually used. It was the first time that World Cup games were played indoors.
The Silverdome also hosted the 1979 NBA All-Star Game, Super Bowl XVI on January 28, 1982, and the 1988 and 1991 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Midwest Regionals. In 1987, Pope John Paul II celebrated mass there. Elvis Presley also performed a concert there in 1975, and had vowed to play there every other year. Unfortunately, the 1977 show never happened due to his untimely death. On March 29 1987, the World Wrestling Federation's WrestleMania III established the largest indoor attendance record for a sporting event, with a crowd of 93,173 in attendance. [1] [2] [3] [4]
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PONTIAC SILVERDOME TICKETS
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History
Conception
The decision to build a domed stadium in Pontiac took place after a late-season football game at
Tiger Stadium resulted in a half-dozen pairs of shoes being lost beneath the muddy surface and not recovered until the next spring. Completed in 1975 (as the
Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium
, or
PonMet Stadium
for short) at a cost of
$55.7 million, the Silverdome seated 80,311. It contained 102 luxury suites and 7,384 club seats.
Original silver roof
The original silver roof was built of Teflon-coated fiberglass panels, and supported by air pressure inside the stadium (anyone who has attended an event at the Silverdome is familiar with the ear-popping "wind tunnel" effect at the entrances). The roof was replaced by a new canvas fabric reinforced by steel girders after a freak spring snowstorm on
March 4,
1985 caused structural damage to the old roof. Because of the damage, the Detroit Pistons played the remainder of the
1984-85 season at
Cobo Arena. The Pistons won the last game they ever played in the Silverdome, which was Game 5 of the
1988 NBA Finals, where they took a 3-2 lead over the
Los Angeles Lakers before losing in seven games.
Noise
Being one of the largest stadiums in the NFL and also a domed stadium, the Silverdome was known for the extremely loud noise that the fans were capable of producing when the stands were filled.
Notable audience attendance numbers
The largest crowd to ever gather at the Silverdome for an event was 93,682 for a visit and Mass by
Pope John Paul II in 1987. The second largest crowd was on March 29, 1987 for
WrestleMania III, with a reported attendance of 93,173. Another notable audience attendance record had earlier been broken on
April 30,
1977, when
English rock band Led Zeppelin played in front of 76,229 fans at the Silverdome. This was at the time a new world record attendance for a solo indoor attraction, beating the 75,962 that
The Who attracted there in December 1975.
Marching band activities and events
The Silverdome was also the home to many marching band activities and events, including the
Michigan Competing Band Association State Marching Band Championships until 2005, the
Bands of America Regional championships from 2003 to 2005, and the
Bands of America Grand National Championships in 1987 and 1988.
Usage after Lions' move to Ford Field
The Lions moved to
Ford Field at the beginning of the
2002 season. When the
WHA tried to re-introduce itself, the
new WHA Detroit team was slated to play their home games at the Silverdome. Plans were also mooted for a
Windsor-based
Canadian Football League team which could have used the dome for possible playoff games, but that team also did not materialize.
After the Lions relocated, activity in the Silverdome dropped drastically. However some usage was still present. Annually,
Jehovah's Witnesses used the Silverdome from the late
'70s to 2004. Due to talk of renovation in 2004, the Witnesses opted to travel to The
Dow Event Center in
Saginaw, and the
SeaGate Convention Centre in
Toledo, Ohio for their District Conventions.
The Silverdome was the brief home to the
Drive-in movies. Opening in 2003 with two screens, a third screen was later added. The Silverdome Drive In ran in the summers of 2003 - 2005. The Drive In opened for a short stint in 2006, but as of 2008 it is closed.
The Silverdome was used for
Monster Jam on
January 7,
2006. It was also used as a practice facility for the
AFC Champions
Pittsburgh Steelers for
Super Bowl XL, with the NFL adding
FieldTurf, which was later donated to a local high school. There was also a celebrity
flag football game that Saturday which served as the last football event ever at the Silverdome.
Many attempts to sell the Silverdome have failed, however it was reported on
July 10,
2008 that the
Pontiac City Council had voted 4-2 to approve the $20 million sale of the arena to help solve the city's financial issues.
[5] [6]
See also
- Metro Detroit
- Sports in metropolitan Detroit
- Tourism in metropolitan Detroit
References
- Interview: Randy Savage
- The main events: ladies and gentlemen, may we present the 25 most memorable matches in the last 25 years
- Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s
- The Rise & Fall of ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling
- Second attempt to deal Silverdome falls through
- Council approves sale of Silverdome