Adios, Georgia Dome

[Ronfitch]

Home to the Falcons from 1992-2016 and two Super Bowls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... vfuPqsv36E

[Terry Baldshaw]

Another magnificent waste of taxpayer dollars so a billionaire gangster can loot the taxpayers' pockets again!

[JohnR]

Stadiums come & stadiums go, but since 1966 the Oakland Alameda Coliseum proudly stands as a testament to the leagues' long partnership with the surrounding community.

[SixtiesFan]

I remember when those cookie-cutter "dual purpose," artificial turf stadiums, some with domes, came into being in the late 60's-early 70's. Most of them paid for by taxpayers and demolished after 25-30 years of use.

[Rupert Patrick]

I remember when those cookie-cutter "dual purpose," artificial turf stadiums, some with domes, came into being in the late 60's-early 70's. Most of them paid for by taxpayers and demolished after 25-30 years of use.

I think the cookie cutter stadiums started in 1966 with Busch Stadium in St. Louis and Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta in 1966 as dual-purpose stadiums, and quickly spread to Philadelphia (1971), Cincinnati (1970), Pittsburgh (1970) , and Houston, which was hosting baseball games in 1965 but didn't start hosting NFL games until 1968. Seattle (1976/77) and Minnesota (1982) came along later, where all the dimensions were the same left to right, there were no distinguishing features whatsoever, and the stadiums were rather bland and generic. The Metrodome was the last of them to be constructed.

Of these stadiums, Fulton County is the one that really doesn't fit in with the others, because of the grass surface. The others I think were all Artificial Turf, and their influence was felt much more in baseball. Due to the fact that most of these teams were in the National League, it changed the way NL teams played in general as opposed to AL teams, especially in conjunction with the DH rule. The NL in the 70's and 80's became more of a speed and defense league, where teams adapted to and took advantage of the turf surface.

There were other multi-purpose stadiums before that, as Wrigley Field hosted a lot of Bears games, and Comiskey hosted a lot of Cardinals games and Tiger Stadium a lot of Lions games, but those stadiums were designed for baseball. I think Memorial Stadium in Baltimore was designed for football and modified for baseball, but was a terrible place to play football. Cleveland Municipal was another baseball stadium that also accommodated football, as was Candlestick Park.

There are other multi-purpose (I'm talking baseball and football) stadiums in the US that were built in those years that I'm not sure really fall into the cookie cutter stadiums, such as Shea Stadium, RFK in Washington, Jack Murphy in San Diego, and the Oakland Coliseum. One rule, I think, for a cookie cutter stadium is that it has to have a complete ring around the top, and not an open end, like Shea Stadium does, as a cookie cutter is round. Jack Murphy also doesn't quite form a complete ring around the top. Oakland Coliseum also does not form a complete ring around the top. I guess RFK does, but I don't really think of it as a baseball stadium because the Senators only played there ten seasons, also, it is grass while I think all the other cookie cutter stadiums were Artificial Turf. Artificial Turf is a must for a cookie cutter stadium.

I suppose when they built the cookie cutter stadiums they thought they would last as long as the other stadiums, but to paraphrase from the movie Blade Runner, "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long."

[L.C. Greenwood]

I remember when those cookie-cutter "dual purpose," artificial turf stadiums, some with domes, came into being in the late 60's-early 70's. Most of them paid for by taxpayers and demolished after 25-30 years of use.

I think the cookie cutter stadiums started in 1966 with Busch Stadium in St. Louis and Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta in 1966 as dual-purpose stadiums, and quickly spread to Philadelphia (1971), Cincinnati (1970), Pittsburgh (1970) , and Houston, which was hosting baseball games in 1965 but didn't start hosting NFL games until 1968. Seattle (1976/77) and Minnesota (1982) came along later, where all the dimensions were the same left to right, there were no distinguishing features whatsoever, and the stadiums were rather bland and generic. The Metrodome was the last of them to be constructed.


For a time, the cookie cutter stadiums weren't considered obsolete at all, but like all facilities, it's all about history and legacy. Philadelphia sports fans who experienced the rebirth of the Phillies, and their first baseball world title will always have fond memories of Veterans Stadium. Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium enjoyed the impressive number of six world titles in the NFL and MLB, and plenty of great players. Pitt's dominant 1976 National Title team even beat Penn State at TRS, before easily beating SEC Champ Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Three Rivers Stadium will also be significant as the site for arguably the most famous play in football history. And Cincinnati baseball fans who experienced the last NL team to repeat as world champs will also have warm memories of Riverfront Stadium.