Map of Pioneer Square Historic District - cleaned and corrected

The Kingdome (officially the King County Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Industrial District (later SoDo) neighborhood of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, United States. Owned and operated by

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

, it was best known as the home stadium of the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL) and the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

(MLB); it was also home to the Seattle SuperSonics of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA) and additionally served as both the home outdoor and indoor venue for the Seattle Sounders of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league ba ...

(NASL). The Kingdome measured wide from its inside walls. The idea of constructing a covered stadium for a major league football or

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

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 it opened in 1976 as the home of the Sounders and Seahawks. 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 Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of Downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it was o ...

in 1985. The stadium hosted several major sports events, including the Soccer Bowl in August 1976, the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

in January 1977, the

Major League Baseball All-Star Game The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and Nationa ...

in July 1979, the NBA All-Star Game in 1987, and the NCAA Final Four in 1984,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, 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 the fact 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.

Concept and construction

In 1959, Seattle restaurateur David L. Cohn wrote a letter to the

Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-la ...

suggesting the city needed a covered stadium for a major professional sports franchise. 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 Sick's Stadium, also known as Sick's Seattle Stadium and later as Sicks' Stadium, was a baseball park in the northwest United States in Seattle, Washington. It was located in Rainier Valley, on the NE corner of S. McClellan Street and Rainier Ave ...

for

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

football and minor league baseball, respectively, but both were deemed inadequate for a major league team. Proposed floating stadium, 1963

In 1960,

commissioners placed a $15 million

bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemical ...

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. By 1966, the

and the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

were both considering granting the city an

expansion franchise An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

, 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. In 1967, the American League granted Seattle an

expansion Expansion may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''L'Expansion'', a French monthly business magazine * ''Expansion'' (album), by American jazz pianist Dave Burrell, released in 2004 * ''Expansions'' (McCoy Tyner album), 1970 * ''Expansio ...

franchise that would be known as the

Seattle Pilots The Seattle Pilots were an American professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington during the 1969 Major League Baseball season. During their single-season existence, the Pilots played their home games at Sick's Stadium and were a mem ...

. 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 Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years ...

1969, when the team was scheduled to begin playing. The Pilots were supposed to begin play in 1971 along with the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

. However, when

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Stuart Symington of

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

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 Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

, and Symington would not accept the prospect of Kansas City waiting three years for baseball's return. 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 The Forward Thrust ballot initiatives were a series of bond propositions put to the voters of King County, Washington in 1968 and 1970, designed by a group called the Forward Thrust Committee. Seven of the twelve propositions in 1968 were successf ...

group of

propositions that, among other items, had a regional

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...

system rejected. 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 The Century 21 Exposition (also known as the Seattle World's Fair) was a world's fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962, in Seattle, Washington, United States. The Pilots began play as planned in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, 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 Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

. 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 Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

businessman

Bud Selig Allan Huber "Bud" Selig (; born July 30, 1934) is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth Commissioner of Baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served a ...

, who relocated the team to Milwaukee and renamed it the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

a week before the start of the 1970 season. 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. 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. 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, and the groundbreaking ceremony in 1972 was held on November 2. Several protesters attended the ceremony, disrupted the speakers, and at one point threw mud balls at them. 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 Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, 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. 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 Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole c ...

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. On December 5, 1974, the NFL awarded Seattle an expansion franchise to occupy the new stadium; the team was later named the

. Construction lasted another two years, and the stadium held an opening ceremony on March 27, 1976. It hosted its first professional sporting event two weeks later on April 9, an exhibition

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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. 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.

Surface

Like virtually all other multi-purpose stadiums, the Kingdome featured

AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has ...

artificial turf for its playing surface, with its baseball configuration featuring dirt sliding pits around each base. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The surface was attached together via both Velcro and Ziploc fasteners. 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. The underlying base of the surface was

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

, with the AstroTurf essentially consisting of a carpet on top of a pad with respective thicknesses of one-half inch and five-eights inch. Lumps, holes, and ridges were also present in the surface along with gaps within its seams. 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 The National Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, is a labor union representing National Football League (NFL) players. The NFLPA, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C., is led by president J. C. Tretter and executive director De ...

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 The American Football Conference – Western Division or AFC West is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division comprises the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, ...

. Injuries from playing at the Kingdome and its contemporaries occurred more often compared to stadiums with natural grass. Of note, Seahawks running backs

Sherman Smith Sherman Smith (born November 1, 1954) is a former professional American football running back who played eight seasons for the Seattle Seahawks and San Diego Chargers between 1976 and 1983. He was also the running backs coach for the Seahawks, ...

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. George Kenneth Griffey Jr. (born November 21, 1969), nicknamed "Junior" and "the Kid", is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played 22 years in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent most of his career with the Seattle M ...

's subsequent injuries and decline in performance after the Mariners traded him to the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

at the end of the 1999 season.

Football

Seahawks

The expansion

of the

(NFL) played their first game ever on August 1, 1976, a preseason game against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's Nationa ...

at the Kingdome in which they lost 27–20 before a crowd of 60,825. The Seahawks' first regular season game was against the St. Louis Cardinals at the Kingdome on September 12; they were defeated 30-24 with 58,441 in attendance. At the end of that season, the venue hosted the

, the NFL's all-star game, on January 17, 1977. The Seahawks hosted ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, ...

'' games at the Kingdome twelve times in their history and were 9–3 in those games. The Seahawks and the

/ Los Angeles Raiders played five Monday Night games in the Dome in the 1980s with Seattle holding a 3–2 edge including a 37–0 blowout victory in 1986. The next year, in 1987,

Bo Jackson Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (born November 30, 1962) is an American former professional baseball and American football player. He is the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-Star in both baseball and football. Jackson's el ...

of the Los Angeles Raiders rushed for 221 yards, the most ever on MNF, and scored 2 touchdowns. One of his scores was a 91-yard touchdown and the other was a historic plowing into Seahawks high-profile rookie linebacker Brian "The Boz" Bosworth. The Seahawks regularly sold out games at the Kingdome from its inception and throughout the 1980s; 117 consecutive regular-season home games were sold out between 1979 and 1993. However, after Ken Behring took over ownership of the team from the

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and ...

family in 1988, the team began to decline in performance; after winning the

that year, it suffered a franchise-worst 2–14 record in 1992. Season ticket sales, which had reached 62,000 that year with a waiting list of 30,000, gradually decreased to 46,000 in 1995, with the team averaging 46,218 in attendance over five games at the Kingdome in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

; as a result, the Seahawks began failing to sell out games, resulting in their blackout in the Seattle market. After the blackout of the October 24, 1993 game versus the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, one more game was blacked out that year, with five games blacked out the following year; KING-TV, the main Seahawks television broadcaster at the time via the

NFL on NBC The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

, prevented further blackouts by purchasing all remaining unsold tickets for three games in 1993 and two games in 1994. In the Seahawks' heyday, the Kingdome was known as one of the loudest stadiums in the league. Opposing teams were known to practice with

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...

sounds blaring at full blast to prepare for the painfully high decibel levels typical of Seahawks games. It was where Seahawks fans, who were long called "the 12th Man" and led the Seahawks to retire the number 12 in honor of them in 1984, made their reputation as one of the most ravenous fan bases in the NFL, a reputation that has carried over to what is now Lumen Field. The Kingdome's reputation contributed to the NFL's

vote in favor of enacting a rule penalizing home teams for excessive crowd noise; it was especially loathed by Seahawks fans during preseason games, with fan displeasure throughout the league leading commissioner Pete Rozelle to soften enforcement of the rule before the start of the regular season. Raucous Seahawk fans at the Kingdome were also some of the earliest performers of The Wave. The city of Seattle made numerous bids to host the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

during the Seahawks' tenure at the Kingdome. However, despite five bids over 12 years, the Kingdome was never awarded the opportunity to host a Super Bowl; its closest chance was in 1989 for

Super Bowl XXVI Super Bowl XXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...

, which was awarded to the

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome) was a domed sports stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League' ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

. In its 1982 bid for

Super Bowl XIX Super Bowl XIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

, the

voted to give

tax exemption Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...

s to the NFL if the league selected the Kingdome to host the game. The Seahawks played their final game at the Kingdome on January 9, 2000, suffering a first-round playoff loss to the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

in their first playoff appearance since the 1988 season. The Dolphins scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to win 20–17; it marked the first home playoff loss for the Seahawks as well as the first road playoff win in 28 years for the Dolphins. It was the last NFL victory for

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

Dan Marino Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. (born September 15, 1961) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. After a successful college career at Pittsburgh and b ...

and head coach Jimmy Johnson, and it was also the last event the Kingdome ever hosted before its implosion. The Seahawks had an overall record of in the Kingdome, and were 2–1 in the postseason.

Amateur

College

The first football (and

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

by extension) game played in the Kingdome occurred just after it opened in 1976, when the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac ...

varsity team won 10–7 against a team of Husky alumni on May 1 before 20,470 fans. The Huskies looked into temporarily renting the Kingdome for the 1987 season when the north grandstand of Husky Stadium collapsed during construction on February 25; however, the Kingdome was ultimately not needed as the grandstand was completed in time for the team's first home game against the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

on September 5. The Kingdome also hosted a game between the

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic program co ...

and

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...

on October 9, 1976. With 37,268 in attendance, USC running back Ricky Bell rushed for 346 yards and set the

Pac-8 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

single-game rushing record; the Trojans won by nine points, In 1994, under then-new athletic director Rick Dickson, the Cougars flirted with the idea of hosting an additional home game at the Kingdome starting in 1997; however, the plan never came to fruition. In the late 1970s, the Kingdome hosted both instances of a

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divisi ...

all-star game called the Challenge Bowl; the bowl, sponsored by the Olympia Brewing Company, pitted an all-star team of Pac-10 players against a similar team from another conference. The Pac-10 went undefeated with a 27–20 victory (as the Pac-8) over the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

on January 15, 1978, and a 36–23 victory over the Big Eight on January 13, 1979. During the same period, the University of Puget Sound Loggers and Pacific Lutheran University Lutes also faced off at the Kingdome twice; the Loggers won both contests, defeating the Lutes 23–21 on September 17, 1977, with 13,167 in attendance, and then defeating them again 27–14 on September 23, 1978, before a crowd of 8,329. The 1977 game set a series attendance record at the time.

Other levels

The stadium also hosted the annual WIAA

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

state championships in an event called the Kingbowl from 1977 through 1994; the title games were moved to the Tacoma Dome in nearby Tacoma in 1995. The Seattle and Tacoma Police Departments played a yearly game named the Bacon Bowl to raise money for charity from 1980 to 2005; the Kingdome hosted it from the beginning until 1982, then had a one-off in 1985 during a nine-year span in which the Tacoma Dome hosted the rest of the games. The Kingdome hosted the game again from 1992 to 1994 before it returned to the Tacoma Dome; the game came back for one final time in 1999 before the stadium was demolished.

Baseball

Shortly after the Pilots' departure for Milwaukee, the city of Seattle, King County, and the state of Washington sued the

, claiming a

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

. The league agreed to grant Seattle another franchise in exchange for dropping the lawsuit, and the team that would later be known as the

was born. The Mariners held their first game in franchise history at the Kingdome on April 6, 1977, as the visiting California Angels shut out the Mariners 7–0 in front of a sellout crowd of 57,762. The first pitch was a strike thrown by the Mariners' Diego Seguí to

Jerry Remy Gerald Peter Remy (November 8, 1952 – October 30, 2021) was an American professional baseball player and sports broadcaster. Remy played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman for ten seasons—three with the California Angels (197 ...

. In the top of the first inning,

Don Baylor Don Edward Baylor (June 28, 1949 – August 7, 2017) was an American professional baseball player and manager. During his 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), Baylor was a power hitter known for standing very close to home plate (" crowdin ...

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. The Mariners' first batter,

Dave Collins David S. Collins (born October 20, 1952) is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball from to . Collins is one of three players to have made it to the major leagues who played for the Rapid City Post 22 American Legion baseball program i ...

, struck out; however, the next batter, José Báez, singled for the franchise's first ever hit. The first home run at the venue was hit in the top of the third inning by

Joe Rudi Joseph Oden Rudi (born September 7, 1946) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left fielder between and , most prominently as an integral member of the Oakland Athletics dynasty that won thr ...

; designated hitter

Juan Bernhardt Juan Ramón Bernhardt Coradin (born August 31, 1953 in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic) is a retired professional baseball player whose career spanned 13 seasons. Bernhardt spent parts of four seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with ...

scored the Mariners' first home run in their fifth game at the Kingdome on April 10. The Mariners had their first win at the Kingdome two games after the opener (they were also shut out in their second game), defeating the Angels 7–6 on April 8 via a walk-off double from

Larry Milbourne Lawrence William Milbourne (born February 14, 1951) is an American former professional baseball utility infielder whose career spanned 15 seasons, 11 of which were spent in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Houston Astros (1974–76), Seattle ...

. The venue hosted the All-Star Game on July 17, 1979. The Kingdome was somewhat problematic as a baseball venue. Foul territory was quite large, and seats in the upper deck as far as from home plate. 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. 10 inside kindome

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." After their inaugural home opener, the Mariners didn't have another sellout for the next 1,018 home games until their

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

home opener on April 13. 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". Additionally, the Kingdome's acoustics created problems for stadium announcers, who had to deal with significant echo issues. 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. 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. 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

, Edgar Martínez,

Jay Buhner Jay Campbell Buhner (born August 13, 1964), nicknamed "Bone", is an American former professional baseball right fielder. At and , he was among the most recognizable players of his day, noted for his shaved head, thick goatee, and patch of pine t ...

, 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 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

with the addition of a wall in right field nicknamed the "Walla Walla" (after the city in southeastern Washington); a nearly $100,000

Daktronics Daktronics is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video displays, scoreboards, digital billboards, dynamic message signs, sound systems, and related products. Founded in 1968 by ...

out-of-town scoreboard was later installed on it in 1990. In

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. 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 , power alleys were , and the foul lines were ; the unpadded wall was green with a top yellow stripe, approximately in height and did not have the power alley distances listed on it. Down the lines, the distance was also listed in

fathom A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. ...

s (52.7 fm), presumably to maintain a nautical theme in line with the team name; however, this practice was ditched after the 1980 season. Like the Kingdome's contemporaries, the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

s were located in foul territory adjacent to the baselines and the stands. The longest game in the Kingdome took place on July 30, 1998, when the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

defeated the Mariners 9–8 in 17 innings via a three-run homer from

Manny Ramirez Manuel Arístides Ramírez Onelcida (born May 30, 1972) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for parts of 19 seasons. He played with the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, ...

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. The most noteworthy baseball game in the Kingdome's history took place on October 8, 1995; in the rubber game of the

ALDS In Major League Baseball, the American League Division Series (ALDS) determines which two teams from the American League will advance to the American League Championship Series. The Division Series consists of two best-of-five series, featuring e ...

, the Mariners defeated the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

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 José Manuel Cora Amaro (born May 14, 1965) is a former Major League Baseball player with an 11-year career in MLB spanning the years 1987 and 1989–1998 and current third base coach for the New York Mets. He played for the San Diego Padres o ...

and Griffey home with the winning runs and vaulting the Mariners into the

ALCS The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...

for the first time in franchise history. On May 2, 1996, a game at the Kingdome between the Mariners and the

was suspended in the bottom of the seventh inning because of a minor

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

. The earthquake, estimated at a magnitude of 5.3 to 5.4, occurred during a pitching change as Indians'

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

Orel Hershiser was walking off the mound following a home run by Edgar Martínez. After an inspection by engineers, the game was continued the next evening, resulting in a 6-4 win for the Indians. 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. 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. 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. The Mariners played 1,755 games at the Kingdome, compiling an overall home record of during their 22½-season tenure there.

Basketball

SuperSonics

Besides the Mariners and Seahawks, the stadium also hosted the Seattle SuperSonics of the

(NBA) for seven seasons. The SuperSonics, having previously played at the

, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The first SuperSonics game in the Kingdome under the agreement was an exhibition game versus the Portland Trail Blazers on September 22, 1978. 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. 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. 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 ( 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). 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 The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 196 ...

with an attendance record of 40,172 (also since broken). The Kingdome regular season, single-game attendance record of 38,067 was set on November 22, 1991, when the SuperSonics faced the Chicago Bulls. 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. 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. 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. 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 The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...

for a few games when both the Kingdome and the Coliseum were unavailable. 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. 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. The SuperSonics faced the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

at the Kingdome on April 7, 1985, in their final game as a regular tenant, losing 110–125 with 5,672 in attendance. 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 The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

at the Kingdome that day. 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. 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. However, SuperSonics owner

Barry Ackerley Barry Allan Ackerley (April 15, 1934 – March 21, 2011) was an American businessman. He was the former chairman and CEO of the Ackerley Group media company. He was also the owner of the Seattle SuperSonics basketball franchise from 1983 to 2001 ...

, 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. Ackerley proposed to build a new arena south of the Kingdome (where T-Mobile Park stands today), but the plan was initially rejected by King County because of objections from the Seahawks and Mariners over inadequate parking. The plan was eventually approved by the

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. The SuperSonics played at KeyArena until they were controversially relocated to

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

by owner Clay Bennett after the 2007–08 season. The SuperSonics played 303 games at the Kingdome in total, including 14 playoff games; they held an overall record of and a playoff record of at the stadium. Of those games, 20 of them had attendances of 30,000 or more.

College

The first men's college basketball game at the Kingdome was held on January 9, 1984, when the

defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 63–61, in the second overtime in front of 7,466 fans. The Huskies held their only other basketball game at the Kingdome more than a decade later, defeating the Old Dominion Monarchs 71–61 on December 22,

, with 4,187 in attendance. The only women's basketball game at the Kingdome was held on December 6, 1979, when the Seattle Chieftains were crushed by the Soviet national team, 45–135, before 7,239 spectators.

Final Four

The NCAA Final Four of men's

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

was held three times at the Kingdome, with the stadium hosting the 1984,

, and 1995 editions. The 1984 championship game saw the

Georgetown Hoyas The Georgetown Hoyas are the collegiate athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. Georgetown's athletics department fields 23 men's and women's varsity level teams and competes at the National ...

defeat the Houston Cougars, 84–75. Meanwhile, the 1989 championship game had the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

beat the

Seton Hall Pirates The Seton Hall Pirates are the intercollegiate athletic sports teams representing Seton Hall University, located in South Orange, New Jersey. The Pirates compete as a member of the NCAA Division I level (non-football sub-level), primarily compe ...

, 80–79, in overtime because of a controversial last-second foul call against the Pirates. Finally, with the 1995 championship game, the UCLA Bruins defeated the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (o ...

, 89–78, to win their first championship since the retirement of coach

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as hea ...

twenty years earlier in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. The Kingdome was not the first venue in Seattle to host the Final Four; Hec Edmundson Pavilion had previously hosted it in 1949 and 1952. However, the Kingdome is credited with helping shape the Final Four into an event with a stature comparable to that of the Super Bowl because of its large capacity. It was the only such capable venue on the West Coast of the United States; the last time a non-Seattle West Coast site hosted the game was when the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena hosted it in 1972. The 1995 edition was the last time that Seattle hosted a Final Four, and it will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future since the Kingdome's successors were not designed with a controlled environment in mind; it also remains the last time that the Final Four was held on the West Coast. The Final Four was not held again in the Western United States until 2017, when University of Phoenix Stadium in

Glendale, Arizona Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located approximately northwest of Downtown Phoenix. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 248,325. History In the late 1800s the area that is now Glendale was all dese ...

, hosted it for the Phoenix area.

Other

On February 18, 1979, the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of ...

held an

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

at the Kingdome with close to 23,000 in attendance, of which around 3,500 were under 12 years old. As a result of the

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict so ...

of the 1980 Summer Olympics by the United States, the U.S. Olympic team faced off against a squad of NBA players in a six-game exhibition tournament called the "Gold Medal Series" that June. On June 20, the NBA All-Stars defeated the U.S. Olympic team, 78–76, before a crowd of 10,902; it was the only victory by the NBA squad in the tournament. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) held their 3A and 4A

high school basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

state tournament five times at the Kingdome between 1993 and 1999. The boys' and girls' games were held simultaneously until the championship, at which point they took turns playing on a single court.

Soccer

Sounders

The Seattle Sounders of the

(NASL) were the first tenant to move into the Kingdome upon its opening, having played at Memorial Stadium for their first two seasons. As a result, they held the honor of hosting the first sporting event at the Kingdome with an

versus the New York Cosmos on April 9, 1976; the Cosmos defeated them 3–1 with 58,128 fans in attendance. Highlighting the secondary treatment of the Sounders, about 5,000 seats were not yet installed when the game occurred. Just weeks later, they hosted their first regular-season game in the Kingdome on April 26, defeating the Portland Timbers 1–0 via a Geoff Hurst

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

in the second overtime before 24,983 spectators. The largest crowd to attend a Sounders match, regular or postseason, occurred on August 25, 1977, when 56,256 spectators watched as they defeated the Los Angeles Aztecs 1–0 in the second game of the Pacific Conference Final to advance to their first Soccer Bowl. The Sounders' regular-season attendance record was set on August 9, 1980, when the Cosmos defeated them 1–0 in front of 49,606 fans. Overall, the team drew an average attendance of 20,183 from 1975 to 1982, peaking in the 1980 season with an average attendance of 24,247. Along with traditional soccer, the Sounders participated in NASL indoor soccer for the 1980–81 and 1981–82 seasons. However, the 1983 outdoor season proved to be a dire one for the Sounders; with the team's front office heavily cutting costly foreign players from the roster, the team suffered their worst season ever performance-wise, resulting in a record low average attendance of 8,181. That season additionally saw the smallest crowd to attend a Sounders game, with only 4,270 spectators on hand to witness their 3–1 victory over the

Tulsa Roughnecks Tulsa Roughnecks may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams: *Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984), the original top-flight team that played in the North American Soccer League from 1978 to 1984. *Tulsa Roughnecks (1993–2000), the team ...

on July 27. With the cuts not enough to keep the team afloat, the owners ultimately elected to fold it that year on September 6; their final home game was a 3–2 victory over the San Diego Sockers on August 25 with 7,331 fans in attendance.

College

The Kingdome hosted the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship Finals twice in consecutive years. The final on December 17, 1984, featured the

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

, coached by Dr. I. M. Ibrahim, and defending national champion Indiana Hoosiers, headed by coach Jerry Yeagley; 7,926 spectators watched as the Tigers won 2–1 in regulation to bring home their first national championship in soccer and deny the Hoosiers a third straight title. A year later, on December 14, 1985, a crowd of 5,986 watched as the UCLA Bruins defeated the American Eagles 1–0 after eight overtime periods to win their first national soccer championship; Bruin coach

Sigi Schmid Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid (; March 20, 1953 – December 25, 2018) was a German-American soccer coach who had the most wins in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS). Born in Tübingen, West Germany, he moved to the United States with his fa ...

went on to coach the

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

(MLS), a phoenix club of the NASL Sounders, from its inaugural season in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

to 2016.

Other professional games

A game of the 1976 U.S.A. Bicentennial Cup Tournament was held at the Kingdome on May 28, with

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

defeating Team America 2–0 before 20,245 spectators. The Kingdome also hosted the NASL's championship game, the Soccer Bowl, between the

Minnesota Kicks The Minnesota Kicks were a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League (NASL). Initiall ...

and the

Toronto Metros-Croatia Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

on August 28, 1976; the Metros-Croatia defeated the Kicks 3–0 before a crowd of 25,765, setting an NASL championship attendance record at the time. A CONCACAF Championship qualifier for the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

was hosted at the Kingdome on October 20, 1976; the game, which saw the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

defeat

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

2–0 before a crowd of 17,675, was the first instance of a World Cup qualifier that was held indoors. A doubleheader featuring both the U.S. Olympic and national squads was held at the Kingdome on February 3, 1979. The U.S. Olympic team defeated the Canadian Olympic team 2–0 in the first game, while the Soviet national team defeated the U.S. national team 3–1 in the second game; 13,317 spectators were present for both games. The Kingdome was additionally considered in Seattle's bid to be a host city for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

, but it was rejected in favor of Husky Stadium because of concerns over its indoor environment and its turf; the bid ultimately failed in part because of apprehension from the

Other events

Upon its opening, the Kingdome served as one of the main

convention center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

s in Seattle alongside the Seattle Center Coliseum. 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. The largest crowd to attend a single event in the Kingdome came early, during an eight-day Billy Graham

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

in 1976. The Friday night edition on May 14 drew 74,000 and featured singer

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his c ...

; 5,000 were turned away. The stadium was also part of Seattle's bid to host the

1988 Republican National Convention The 1988 Republican National Convention was held in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, from August 15 to August 18, 1988. It was the second time that a major party held its convention in one of the five states known as the Deep So ...

, but it ultimately failed because of a scheduling conflict with the Mariners. Country singer CW McCall performed 8 shows during the 4-day Custom Van, Truck, 4-Wheel Drive and Motorcycle Show, March 17-20, 1977. The Kingdome hosted a round of the AMA Supercross Championship from 1978 to 1999.

Concerts

Numerous rock concerts were held in the venue, despite significant echo and sound delay problems attributable to the structure's cavernous size.

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 suite The luxury box (or skybox) and club seating constitute the most exclusive class of seating in arenas and stadiums, and generate much higher revenues than regular seating. Club ticketholders often receive exclusive access to an indoor part of th ...

s prominent in newer stadiums. 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. 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.

1994 ceiling collapse

The Kingdome's roof had been problematic from the beginning because of a design flaw. With the stadium's limited budget compared to its contemporaries, its architects had the roof's acoustic ceiling tiles serve a dual purpose as forms to pour concrete over for the roof sections. They were firmly placed via six metal clips on their edges, but the effectiveness of the clips was weakened as moisture from the polyurethane insulation accumulated in the tiles because it lacked proper

water vapor (99.9839 °C) , - , Boiling point , , - , specific gas constant , 461.5 J/( kg·K) , - , Heat of vaporization , 2.27 MJ/kg , - , Heat capacity , 1.864 kJ/(kg·K) Water vapor, water vapour or aqueous vapor is the gaseous p ...

management. As a result, leaks were discovered in the roof three months before the stadium opened, and several attempts at repairs made the situation worse or were quickly undone. In 1993, the county decided to strip off the outer roof coating and replace it with a special coating. Sandblasting failed to strip the old roof material off, and the contractor changed its method to pressure washing. This pressure-washing resulted in water seepage through the roof, and on July 19, 1994, four , waterlogged acoustic ceiling tiles fell into the seating area. The tiles fell while the Mariners were on the field preparing for a scheduled game against the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

, a half-hour before the gates were to open for fans to enter the stadium. As a result, the Kingdome was closed for repairs. The Mariners were forced to play the last 20 games of the 1994 season on the road after the players' union vetoed playing the "home" games at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma,

BC Place Stadium BC Place is a multi-purpose stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located at the north side of False Creek, it is owned and operated by the BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), a crown corporation of the province. The venue is currently ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, or a neutral site because the union's believed that its members should play only in major-league venues. The extended road trip could have lasted over two months, but it was shortened because of the

1994–95 Major League Baseball strike The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike was the eighth and longest work stoppage in baseball history, as well as the fourth in-season work stoppage in 22 years. The strike began on August 12, 1994, and resulted in the remainder of that season ...

, which began on August 12 and ended up canceling the remainder of the 1994 MLB season; the strike also resulted in a delay to the start of the 1995 season. The Seahawks had to play both their two preseason home games and their first three regular-season home games of the 1994 season at nearby Husky Stadium. The Kingdome held a reopening ceremony the weekend of November 4–6, 1994, which culminated with the Seahawks returning to the stadium for a regular-season game against the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

. Repairing the roof ultimately cost US$51 million, and two construction workers lost their lives in a crane accident on August 17 during the repair. The incident also motivated plans to replace the stadium.

Replacement

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

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. 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 Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

, 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 Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

co-founder

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, whic ...

, who stipulated that a new publicly funded stadium had to be built as a condition of his purchase of the team. 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. 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. 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. 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 T-Mobile Park is a retractable roof stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners and has a seating capacity of 47,929. It is in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, near the wes ...

, nearly three weeks later on July 15. Meanwhile, the Seahawks temporarily relocated to Husky Stadium following the 1999 season. 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. On the morning of March 26, 2000 at 8:30 AM, the Kingdome was demolished by

Controlled Demolition, Inc. Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI) is a controlled demolition firm headquartered in Phoenix, Maryland. The firm was founded by Jack Loizeaux who used dynamite to remove tree stumps in the Baltimore, Maryland area, and moved on to using explosives t ...

via implosion, just one day short of 24 years after the stadium's opening; it set a record recognized by

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for the largest building, by volume, ever by implosion. 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. The new stadium,

Seahawks Stadium Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL, th ...

, eventually opened on July 20, 2002, in time for the beginning of the

NFL season The National Football League (NFL) regular season begins on the weekend following the first Monday of September (i.e, the weekend following the Labor Day holiday) and ends in early January, after which that season's playoffs tournament begins. I ...

that year. 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. 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.

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. It was also mentioned in 1992 with the airing of "Crushed", the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of ABC

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

'' Full House''; in the episode, guest star Tommy Page boasted to Jesse Katsopolis about playing there. 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. Furthermore, the Kingdome's demolition was featured on The History Channel's ''

Modern Marvels ''Modern Marvels'' is an American worldwide television series that formerly aired on the History Channel and is currently shown on Story Television. The program focuses on how technologies affect and are used in modern society. It is History's ...

'' series with their "

Concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

" episode that first aired on May 31, 2000. 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''. Rapper Macklemore also mentioned the Kingdome in "My Oh My", a 2011 song that paid tribute to

Dave Niehaus David Arnold Niehaus (February 19, 1935 – November 10, 2010) was an American sportscaster. He was the lead play-by-play announcer for the American League's Seattle Mariners from their inaugural season in until his death after the 2010 season ...

, 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 A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

also contains footage of the Kingdome's demolition. With the rise of

3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...

, 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. Seattle Circuit is featured in

Gran Turismo 2 ''Gran Turismo 2'' is a 1999 racing game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It is the sequel to '' Gran Turismo''. It was well-received critically and financially, shipping 1.71& ...

, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, Gran Turismo 4, Tourist Trophy, and

Gran Turismo PSP is a 2009 racing video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable. The game was announced at Sony's E3 press conference on May 11, 2004, alongside the original PSP. Following ...

. Despite the Kingdome's demolition occurring before the game was released, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec still featured it in the track. 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.

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Concept and construction

Surface

Football

Seahawks

Amateur

College

Other levels

Baseball

Basketball

SuperSonics

College

Final Four

Other

Soccer

Sounders

College

Other professional games

Other events

Concerts

Final years

1994 ceiling collapse

Replacement

Seating capacity

In popular culture

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links