Tacoma Dome
Encyclopedia
The Tacoma Dome is an indoor arena located in Tacoma, Washington
, USA, approximately 30 miles south of Seattle.
. It is the world's largest arena with a wooden dome in terms of total volume and seating capacity
(23,000), with a diameter of 530 feet (161.5 m) and a height of 152 feet (46.3 m). The Superior Dome
in Marquette, MI is larger in diameter at 536 feet (163.4 m), but is only 143 feet (43.6 m) high and only seats a maximum of 16,000. The Superior Dome is also not a geodesic dome
; it is a planar radian structure of glue-laminated beams.
The arena hosted the Seattle SuperSonics
from 1994-1995 while the Seattle Center Coliseum was being renovated into the venue now known as KeyArena
as well as various regular season Sonics games during other seasons. It also hosted the Tacoma Rockets
Western Hockey League
team from 1991 to 1995, the Tacoma Sabercats
of the West Coast Hockey League
from 1997 to 2002, The Tacoma Stars indoor soccer team of the MISL from 1984 to 1992, gymnastics
events during the 1990 Goodwill Games
, numerous other minor league ice hockey
and indoor soccer
teams, and many concerts as well. It additionally hosts wrestling events, such as WCW
Spring Stampede
1999.
The Tacoma Dome hosted NHL preseason exhibition games in 1983, 1984, 1988, and 1992.
The Professional Bull Riders hosted a Built Ford Tough Series
bull riding
event at the Dome annually between 2003 and 2009.
Jehovah's Witnesses
have used the dome for their conventions since it was built.
The first concert in the Tacoma Dome was David Bowie
, with The Tubes
as his opening act and has since hosted many concerts by famous artists of many different genres.
Unlike most other arenas of its size, the arena contains little in the way of fixed seating so as to maximize the flexibility of the seating arrangements and of the shape of the playing field. It can even host American football
, albeit with seating reduced to only 10,000.
A wide range of high school athletics are played at the Dome, as the stadium features the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association
High School Championships in Football, Wrestling, 4A Basketball, as well as 4A and 3A Volleyball. The venue became home to the State High School Championships in Football in 2000 after the previous home, the Kingdome
, was demolished.
The Dome also hosted the NCAA Women's Final Four in back to back years (89-90).
The Tacoma Dome made an appearance during a sketch on the February 27, 2010 edition of Saturday Night Live
.
The Dome is also host to the Shanaman Sports Museum of Tacoma-Pierce County, honoring the community's rich sporting history. http://www.tacomasportsmuseum.com/
On May 15, 2011 the Industrial Metal band Rammstein
performed at the Arena in their first North American Tour in over 10 years. Rammstein will be returning to perform at the Arena on May 14, 2012
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
, USA, approximately 30 miles south of Seattle.
History
Upon winning an international design competition, local architects McGranahan and Messenger completed the Tacoma Dome in 1983 for $44 million which opened on April 21, the arena seats 17,100 for basketballBasketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
. It is the world's largest arena with a wooden dome in terms of total volume and seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
(23,000), with a diameter of 530 feet (161.5 m) and a height of 152 feet (46.3 m). The Superior Dome
Superior Dome
The Superior Dome, which opened as the "world’s largest wooden dome" on September 14, 1991, is a domed stadium on the campus of Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. It is home to the Northern Michigan Wildcats football team, as well as a variety of campus and community events...
in Marquette, MI is larger in diameter at 536 feet (163.4 m), but is only 143 feet (43.6 m) high and only seats a maximum of 16,000. The Superior Dome is also not a geodesic dome
Geodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When...
; it is a planar radian structure of glue-laminated beams.
The arena hosted the Seattle SuperSonics
Seattle SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association from 1967 until 2008. Following the 2007–08 season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as...
from 1994-1995 while the Seattle Center Coliseum was being renovated into the venue now known as KeyArena
KeyArena
KeyArena at Seattle Center , is a multipurpose arena, in Seattle, Washington. It is located north of downtown in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, the Century 21 Exposition...
as well as various regular season Sonics games during other seasons. It also hosted the Tacoma Rockets
Tacoma Rockets
The Tacoma Rockets were a junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League from 1991 to 1995. They played at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. The Rockets were granted as an expansion franchise, but low attendance forced the team to move to Kelowna, British Columbia after only four seasons,...
Western Hockey League
Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...
team from 1991 to 1995, the Tacoma Sabercats
Tacoma Sabercats
The Tacoma Sabercats were an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Tacoma, Washington. The team began play in the West Coast Hockey League as of the 1997-98 season....
of the West Coast Hockey League
West Coast Hockey League
The West Coast Hockey League was a professional minor ice hockey league active in the western United States from 1995 to 2003. The number of teams ranged from six to nine. The teams were located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Washington...
from 1997 to 2002, The Tacoma Stars indoor soccer team of the MISL from 1984 to 1992, gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
events during the 1990 Goodwill Games
Goodwill Games
The Goodwill Games was an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...
, numerous other minor league ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
and indoor soccer
Indoor soccer
Indoor soccer or arena soccer, or six-a-side football in the United Kingdom, is a game derived from association football adapted for play in an indoor arena such as a turf-covered hockey arena or skating rink. The most important difference in play is that the indoor field is surrounded by a wall...
teams, and many concerts as well. It additionally hosts wrestling events, such as WCW
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
Spring Stampede
Spring Stampede
Spring Stampede was a professional wrestling pay-per-view from World Championship Wrestling held in the month of April in 1994 and then from 1997 to 2000.-1994:...
1999.
The Tacoma Dome hosted NHL preseason exhibition games in 1983, 1984, 1988, and 1992.
The Professional Bull Riders hosted a Built Ford Tough Series
Built Ford Tough Series
The Built Ford Tough Series is the "major league" tour of the PBR competitions. It is a 30-city event series culminating in the PBR World Finals every year in Las Vegas, Nevada. The top 45 riders of the PBR compete in the BFTS with the rankings determined by points and money won...
bull riding
Bull riding
Bull riding refers to rodeo sports that involve a rider getting on a large bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal attempts to buck off the rider....
event at the Dome annually between 2003 and 2009.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
have used the dome for their conventions since it was built.
The first concert in the Tacoma Dome was David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, with The Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
as his opening act and has since hosted many concerts by famous artists of many different genres.
Unlike most other arenas of its size, the arena contains little in the way of fixed seating so as to maximize the flexibility of the seating arrangements and of the shape of the playing field. It can even host American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, albeit with seating reduced to only 10,000.
A wide range of high school athletics are played at the Dome, as the stadium features the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association
Washington Interscholastic Activities Association
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association is the governing body of athletics and activities for secondary education schools in the state of Washington...
High School Championships in Football, Wrestling, 4A Basketball, as well as 4A and 3A Volleyball. The venue became home to the State High School Championships in Football in 2000 after the previous home, the Kingdome
Kingdome
The Kingdome was a multi-purpose stadium located in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood. Owned and operated by King County, the Kingdome opened in 1976 and was best known as the home stadium of the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League , the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball , and the...
, was demolished.
The Dome also hosted the NCAA Women's Final Four in back to back years (89-90).
The Tacoma Dome made an appearance during a sketch on the February 27, 2010 edition of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
.
The Dome is also host to the Shanaman Sports Museum of Tacoma-Pierce County, honoring the community's rich sporting history. http://www.tacomasportsmuseum.com/
On May 15, 2011 the Industrial Metal band Rammstein
Rammstein
Rammstein is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band from Berlin, formed in 1994. The band consists of members Till Lindemann , Richard Z. Kruspe , Paul H. Landers , Oliver "Ollie" Riedel , Christoph "Doom" Schneider and Christian "Flake" Lorenz...
performed at the Arena in their first North American Tour in over 10 years. Rammstein will be returning to perform at the Arena on May 14, 2012