RCA Dome

Lucas Oil Stadium

Lucas Oil Stadium

The RCA Dome (originally Hoosier Dome) was a domed stadium in Indianapolis. It was the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise for 24 seasons (1984–2007).

It was completed at a cost of $77.5 million, as part of the Indiana Convention Center, with the costs split between private and public money. The largest crowd to attend an event at the Dome was 62,167 for WrestleMania VIII in 1992. It was demolished on December 20, 2008, as part of a project to expand the attached convention center.

Description

The Birdair-designed dome was made up of teflon-coated fiberglass and weighed , which was held up by the air pressure inside the building. The ceiling was high, though the height varied up to as the materials expanded and contracted with the weather.

Like other domes of this style (the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, BC Place, the Carrier Dome, and the Pontiac Silverdome) there were warning signs posted cautioning patrons of the high winds at the doors when exiting the facility.

History

The domed stadium was similar in design and appearance to the Metrodome and the previous BC Place roof, owing in great part to the involvement of engineers David Geiger and Walter Bird, pioneers in air-supported roofs.

The stadium was originally named the Hoosier Dome until 1994 when RCA paid $10 million for the naming rights for 10 years, with two 5-year options to RCA at a cost of $3.5 million if invoked. The stadium seated 56,127 for football, the smallest in the NFL. Modifications were made to the stadium in 1999 to expand the suites and add club seating. Before that, the maximum seating for a football crowd was 60,272. The stadium was built to lure a National Football League team to Indianapolis, and as the stadium was being completed, the Baltimore Colts took the bait on March 29, 1984.

The Dome was officially dedicated on August 11, 1984, as a sellout crowd watched the Indianapolis Colts defeat the New York Giants in an NFL preseason game. The Buffalo Bills and Chicago Bears played a preseason game at the Hoosier Dome on August 26, 1984, which had been scheduled prior to the Colts moving in.

The football playing surface was originally AstroTurf, and replaced with FieldTurf in 2005.

The Colts moved into the new, retractable-roof, Lucas Oil Stadium for the 2008 NFL season. The RCA Dome was replaced by additional space for the adjacent Indiana Convention Center. The new convention space connects to Lucas Oil Stadium in much the same way that the existing Indiana Convention Center had been connected to the RCA Dome (although the new connecting walkway now passes under a railroad track).

Demolition

On September 24, 2008, the roof of the Dome was deflated, which took about 45 minutes. The building itself was imploded on December 20, 2008, and was featured on the second series premiere of the National Geographic show Blowdown.

An Indianapolis nonprofit, People for Urban Progress, rescued of the Dome roof. They work with local Indianapolis designers to recycle the material into community shade structures and art installations, as well as wallets, purses and bags.

Events

Football

Although the Dome never hosted any Super Bowls, it played host to the 2006 AFC Championship Game, which saw the Colts erase a 21–3 deficit for a come-from-behind 38–34 win over the New England Patriots in what would ultimately be the only AFC Championship Game hosted at the Dome.

The Dome also hosted three AFC Divisional Round games in 1999, 2005, and 2007, with the Colts posting an 0–3 record in those games; the 2005 game, which saw the heavily-favored Colts lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-18 in one of the biggest upsets in NFL history (en-route to the Steelers victory in Super Bowl XL), is best remembered for Colts cornerback Nick Harper recovering a Jerome Bettis fumble only for Mike Vanderjagt to miss the game-tying field goal at the end of the game. The Dome also hosted three AFC wild card games in 2003, 2004, and 2006, with the Colts winning all three games. The Colts' 28–24 loss to the San Diego Chargers in the 2007 Divisional Round proved to be the stadium's final game before the Colts moved on to Lucas Oil Stadium the following season.

Basketball

In addition to football, the Dome hosted several basketball games. The first was an exhibition game in 1984 between an NBA All-Star team led by home-state hero Larry Bird and the United States Olympic Men's Basketball team, coached by Bob Knight, who was at the time the coach of Indiana University. The Dome hosted the 1985 NBA All-Star Game in February, where an NBA-record crowd of 43,146 saw the Western Conference beat the host Eastern Conference 140–129. Since then it hosted many NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship games, including four Final Fours (1991, 1997, 2000, 2006). The NCAA, whose headquarters are in Indianapolis, has committed to holding the Final Four in the city once every five years. The RCA Dome hosted its only Women's Final Four in 2005. It served as one of two sites for the FIBA Men's Basketball World Championship in 2002, sharing the honors with Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the home of the Indiana Pacers.

Concerts

Many concerts took place in this venue, such as Farm Aid IV in 1990 (Elton John, Guns N' Roses, Lou Reed, John Mellencamp, Genesis, CSN&Y, Willie Nelson, Iggy Pop, Don Henley & Bonnie Raitt to name a few), The Monsters of Rock Festival (Van Halen, Metallica, Scorpions, Dokken, and Kingdom Come), the 1987 Pink Floyd reunion and the Rolling Stones. It also hosted events such as Indiana State University college football, Black Expo, Promise Keepers, truck pulls, wrestling and many high school events.

Text taken from Wikipedia - RCA Dome under the CC-BY-SA-3.0 on April 13, 2023

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