is a

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

located in

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous ci ...

Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

, Japan, and is primarily used for

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 ...

and

association football 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 t ...

. It is the home field of the association football club

Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo is a Japanese professional football club, which plays in the J1 League. The team is based in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. The club name of "Consadole" is made from ''consado'', a reverse of the Japanese word and the Spanish expression ...

, and was also home to the baseball team

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Figh ...

through the

2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season The 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season is the 73rd season of professional baseball in Japan since Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) was reorganized in 1950. There are 12 NPB teams, split evenly between the Central League and Pacific Lea ...

. It was a football venue for the 2020 Summer Olympics, was the venue for the opening ceremony of the

2017 Asian Winter Games The 2017 Asian Winter Games ( ja, 2017アジア冬季競技大会, 2017 Ajia tōkikyōgitaikai) was the 8th edition of the Asian Winter Games. They were hosted in Sapporo and Obihiro in Hokkaido, Japan. These Games were originally scheduled for ...

, and was used for 2 matches of the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

. The stadium was previously a venue of the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea ...

. The dome will be used as the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the

2030 Winter Olympics The 2030 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXVI Olympic Winter Games, is an upcoming international multi-sport event. The host city was initially set to be elected at the 140th IOC Session in Mumbai in 2023, but IOC officials declared in ...

if Sapporo is successful in their bid.

History

Sapporo Dome opened in 2001 with 41,580 seats. The stadium hosted three games during the

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

; all three matches were in the first round. The Dome hosted the opening ceremonies of the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships on February 22 and hosted the closing ceremonies of the championships on March 4. It also made history as being the first venue where both indoor and nighttime skiing events took place for the first time on a world championship or

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

level with competitions in the

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...

sprints (men's and women's individual, and men's and women's team) and the cross-country portion of the 7.5 km sprint event in the

Nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924, while the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup ...

. In order to generate snow, the stadium used its turf conversion hovering system to facilitate the snow making process for the skiing competitions.FIS Newsflash Edition 112. January 31, 2007. The opening ceremony featured

Maki Ohguro is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter from Sapporo, Hokkaido under B-Gram Records label. Biography In 1989, she passed Being Inc.'s singers audition, the "3rd BAD". In 1992, she debuted with the single "Stop Motion" released under B-Gram ...

, a local artist from Sapporo, Japanese drum demonstrations and other performances paying tributes to local customs and traditions. For the championships,

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile th ...

was reduced to 30,000. The Dome was used as a super special stage in Rally Japan in both

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. In late 2009, renovations with the possibility of increasing the capacity up to 53,796 were finished. These renovations also included space for more food outlets, an extra video screen, two extra changing rooms (to accommodate preseason matches in the

NFL International Series The NFL International Series is a series of American football games during the National Football League (NFL) regular season that are played outside the United States. Since 2017, the series has two sub-series: the NFL London Games in the Uni ...

, which have up to 75 players per team) and further media area as part of new office buildings attached to the stadium. As part of these renovations, the surface area of the arena itself was decreased to allow for more seating. Beginning in 2023, the dome will be soccer-only, as the Fighters will move into their own new stadium in nearby

Kitahiroshima is a city located in Ishikari, Hokkaido, Japan. "Kita" is the Japanese word for "north", so the town's name, ''Kitahiroshima-shi'', is translated as "North-Hiroshima city" or "city of North-Hiroshima". As of April 30, 2017, the city has an est ...

Retractable surface

The Dome switches between two entirely different surfaces: Baseball games are played on an underlying artificial turf field, while

games are held on a grass pitch that slides into and out of the stadium as needed. Conversion from baseball to football begins with the storage of the baseball field's artificial turf. Once finished, a set of lower bowl bleachers rotate from an angled position for baseball to a parallel position. A set of main bowl seats on one end of the

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a ...

then retracts, and the football pitch is slid into the stadium. The lower bowl is then rotated 90 degrees. Conversion from football to baseball occurs in reverse. Due to the retraction of seats, the Stadium has a capacity of 40,476 for baseball games. Other stadiums that feature sliding pitches include the

GelreDome The GelreDome () is a football stadium in the city of Arnhem, Netherlands. It is one of the largest and most modern stadiums in the country, built from 1996 to 1998 at a cost equivalent to €75 million, that opened on 25 March 1998. The stadium ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Veltins-Arena Arena AufSchalke (), currently known as Veltins-Arena () for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor football stadium in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It opened on 13 August 2001, as the new home ground for Bundesliga club FC S ...

, the split pitch of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium,

State Farm Stadium State Farm Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Glendale, Arizona, United States, west of Phoenix. It is the home of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) and the annual Fiesta Bowl. State Farm Stadium replaced Sun Devil ...

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 deser ...

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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, and Allegiant Stadium in

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the f ...

, United States; however, unlike these four facilities (with the exception of Allegiant Stadum), the Sapporo Dome has a fixed roof. File:Sapporo Dome moving pitchjpg.jpg, Retractable grass field shown outside the stadium File:Sapporodome201108171.JPG, Football field installed inside the stadium, during a football match. File:Sapporo dome view from seats.jpg, Inside the stadium during a

game.

Details

* Name: Sapporo Dome * Capacity: 41,484 / 40,476 * Home Team:

* Former home team:

(2004–2022) * Completed: March 2001 * Location: Sapporo City, Hokkaido, Japan * Building Area: 53,800 m² Total Floor Area:(Open Arena) 92,453 m² * Roof Diameter: 245 m Stand Inclination: Max. 30° angle * Architect: Hiroshi Hara

Access

Tōhō Line The is a rubber-tyred metro line in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, operated by Sapporo City Transportation Bureau. It is part of the Sapporo Municipal Subway system. It runs from Sakaemachi Station in Higashi-ku to Fukuzumi Station in Toyohira-ku ...

: 10 minutes walk from Fukuzumi Station.

Major sports matches

2002 FIFA World Cup

2019 Rugby World Cup

References

External links

*
Dome website
*
World Stadiums — Stadium Design — Sapporo Dome Stadium in Sapporo
{{Collegiate American Football in Japan navbox 2002 FIFA World Cup stadiums in Japan Venues of the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic football venues Toyohira-ku, Sapporo Retractable-roof stadiums in Japan Retractable-pitch stadiums Lattice shell structures Football venues in Japan Baseball venues in Japan Cricket grounds in Japan Rugby union stadiums in Japan Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters Rally Japan Sports venues completed in 2001 Sports venues in Sapporo 2001 establishments in Japan American football venues in Japan Motorsport venues in Japan 2017 Asian Winter Games Venues