Houston's new domed stadium--the first major-league indoor baseball park--is nearing completion and will be ready for the first game of the Houston Colts this spring. The stadium is a domed circular concrete and steel framed building with an adequate playing field for both baseball and football. Covering an area of over nine acres, the structure has an outer diameter of 710 ft with a clear span of 642 ft. The roof rises to a height of 202 ft above the center of the field. Seating up to 66,000 can be arranged to accommodate any type of sport or meeting from rodeos to national political conventions. Some 10,428 seats at field level are contained in two stands which rotate 35 degrees from baseball position to parallel for football position.
I went to the Tampa Bay Rays Stadium to watch the New York Yankees play against the Rays in a domed stadium. A domed baseball stadium would be a new experience for me, so there was a lot of excitement for my trip. People have negative thoughts about indoor baseball games and indoor ballparks, but this was my second time catching a match under a covered field. Here are my thoughts of indoor baseball, why I think covered baseball stadiums are a good idea, and more. A dome also requires turf, and there's a big debate between the effects of natural grass and artificial turf. There were no domed stadiums until 1962, a few NFL stadiums predate it, so requiring every team to use a dome is unrealistic.
How Many Nfl Stadiums Have Domes Plus it's tough to upgrade a domed stadium to add extra luxury boxes or seats. That being said, 4 of the last 6 new NFL stadiums have retractable roofs, so they are becoming more common. The Indianapolis Colts first game at the RCA Dome was on September 2, 1984. The RCA Dome was very similar to the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The roof of the stadium consisted of Teflon coated fiberglass.
Two tiers of 60,000 seats circled the entire Astroturf playing field. In 1994, RCA bought the naming rights to the stadium, thus it was renamed the RCA Dome. The RCA Dome was not built primarily for football, but for conventions and trade shows. Other than being the home of the Colts, the RCA Dome hosted concerts, large banquets, religious assemblies and various sporting events including the NCAA Final Four. After the 2004 season, the Colts announced that they would become one of the final teams to install Fieldturf and remove the Astroturf playing field. In December 2004, the Colts announced plans to build a new stadium in downtown Indianapolis.
On January 13, 2008 the Colts played their last game at the RCA Dome, a playoff loss to the San Diego Chargers. The team moved into Lucas Oil Stadium in August 2008 and the RCA Dome was demolished on December 20, 2008. The first fully-enclosed sports stadium and first air-conditioned event venue of its size seated over 70,000 fans with enough space to include an indoor chapel and bowling alley. The Harris County Domed Stadium was the first fully-integrated public sports and entertainment venue in Houston. For nearly forty years, the iconic structure played host to sporting events, conventions, and concerts. From kings, even Elvis himself, and presidents to football and rodeo, the Astrodome has seen it all.
Harris County Commissioners Court has recently voted to begin a redevelopment plan that will revitalize the "Dome" to set the stage for many more historic moments. Only domed and retractable roof stadiums are included, i.e. stadiums that cover both spectators and playing field. Wembley Stadium in London, which seats 90,000 spectators, is not included as the roof can only be partially closed. The stadiums are divided into current stadiums, closed stadiums, and future stadiums (those currently under-construction and those planned for construction).
Tokyo Dome was the first dome stadium in Japan and is the home ground of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team. Conveniently located in the heart of Tokyo, the stadium is surrounded by department stores, amusement parks, a city hall, restaurants, hotels and other facilities. Together, they make up a greater entertainment complex known as Tokyo Dome City. Visitors can shop to pass time before an event, or avoid the crowds after by grabbing dinner here before taking the train or bus home.
For this reason, the Tokyo Dome is a popular venue for not just professional baseball games and concerts, but also international sports like basketball, American football and professional wrestling. Its evening illumination event in winter is very popular as well. In a study done by Pinnacle.com on scoring in the NFL from 2003 to 2015, they found that total points per game scored in outdoor venues was 42.4. Alternatively, in games played in a dome stadium teams combined for 46.2 ppg. While this margin may not seem significant, you have to keep in mind that this is an easily predictable 9% increase in scoring output.
In the highly competitive world of the NFL and fantasy sports, no advantage can be ignored. In fact, this correlation is so strong it is even factored into betting lines in Vegas. During the same period of time the average Over/Under betting lines in Vegas for indoor games was 44.6 ppg while outdoor games were listed, on average, at 41.7. My first indoor baseball game was at American Family Field out in Milwaukee in 2012. The seats that my brother and I had were deep in left field and under the overhang.
Miller Park is a retractable roof stadium, so games can happen under a dome or be open to the sky. Miller Park is one of my favorite Major League Baseball Stadiums in the game, so I have nothing but good vibes with an indoor or outdoor scene. Nagoya Dome, the home field of the Chunichi Dragons baseball team, may not seem as flashy as some of the other domes in this article.
The only shortcoming is that the location is relatively far away from the city center, which means the nearby shopping center can get very crowded on event days. If you are going for a concert, you may want to buy some concert merchandise at the dome in the morning. After that, you will have to go back to the city to pass time and have dinner before returning to the stadium at nightfall, which is quite a time-consuming detour. Pricing is also a factor when it comes to building domed stadiums.
The added price of an extra roof often inflates the budget of a stadium. Any city or financier of a stadium would not want extra tens or hundreds of millions added to their stadium project because of an "unnecessary" component. The Saints are the only team to have won a Super Bowl at home, a domed stadium. Miami's Hard Rock Stadium hosted the championship game, and the Colts' home games were played in a retractable roof stadium. In Fall 1989, due to demands from the Houston Oilers the capacity of the stadium increased to 54,816 as the grandstands were extended into the outfield, now circling the playing field.
The original scoreboard was replaced by new video boards in the upper deck. Two manual scoreboards were added as part of the outfield walls in both left and right fields. By the mid 1990s, both the Astros and Oilers began to want new stadiums built. After failing to receive funding for a new stadium, the Oilers moved to Tennessee after the 1996 NFL season. However, funding was approved for a new Astros ballpark in downtown Houston.
The Astros played three more season at the Astrodome, playing their final game on October 9, 1999. Today, the Astrodome remains virtually idle as it sits in the shadow of the Houston Texans home, NRG Stadium. Since its closing after the 1999 season, the Astrodome has sat empty. In 2016 nearly all of the interior fixtures including the seats were stripped from the stadium. In February 2018 Harris County commissioners approved a $105 million redevelopment of the Astrodome.
This plan includes raising the ground level two floors to create nearly 1,400 parking spaces that can also be used for festivals, conferences and commercial uses. Construction is expected to begin in October 2018 and be complete by February 2020. The Big Ten continues its attempts to string together plans for a potential winter football season, and a part of those plans could be playing inside domed stadiums. Going into the 2016 season, 24 out of 32 teams will only be able to play their home games outdoor.
The better question is which NFL teams have "indoor" stadiums? The Cardinals, Colts, Cowboys, and Texans play in those stadiums. Covering over 9 acres of land, the new domed stadium in Houston, Texas, offers a playing field and seating area that is completely covered over. The dome has an outside diameter of 712 ft. with an overall height of 208 ft.
Lamella trusses 5 ft. deep frame the roof, and there is a total of 2,150 tons of steel in the 350,000 sq. The stadium will be completely air-conditioned utilizing equipment with 6,000-ton cooling capacity to circulate 2,000,000 cu. Radio-controlled thermostats will be used for the playing area when it is converted for seating for some sports. Aside from baseball games, many popular international and Japanese singers have held concerts at these stadiums to audiences of tens of thousands people.
A concert tour that is held only at dome stadiums is called a "dome tour", and having a dome tour is proof of a performer's popularity, which is why the domes mean so much to music fans. Nicknamed the "Eighth Wonder of the World," the Astrodome was built to protect an entire sports area suitable for baseball and football, with seating for 66,000 spectators. The Lucite-paneled dome, spanning 642 feet , is supported by a steel lattice. The entire interior is air-conditioned at 74 °F (23 °C) and fully lighted with power from its own electricity-generating system. The playing field, constructed 30 feet below grade, spans 150,000 square feet.
In the future, more franchises may opt to break ground on domed and retractable-roof venues, but the data indicates it isn't in their best interest, unless every team is on an equal playing field. Until then, the teams with open-field stadiums appear best suited to march on to victory, especially when the games count the most. One criticism from fans is how quiet the indoor baseball field is when the Yankees or Red Sox are not visiting. The Rays fan said an eerie feeling is present when you are out in the center field and only see a handful of fans in their seats.
You hear other fans conversations, the players conversions, and more as they echo around the dome. The game I went to was sold out, so I did not experience this, but I could see that this would be negative. Many people think that Tropicana Field is a dump, but I don't think that is the case.
Here are my thoughts on why the attendance is down at the ballpark. A dome also requires turf, and there's a big debate between the effects of natural grass and artificial turf. Million to a domed stadium project, and it typically costs a few thousand dollars to open and close the structures each time, said Mark Waggoner, a structural engineer who has had a hand in several pro sports stadiums. Tokyo's famous "Big Egg" is the result of an ingenious piece of engineering. The fully enclosed roof is an air-supported structure, a flexible membrane that is held up by a slight pressurization of the atmosphere inside the stadium.
It seats between 42,000 and 55,000 people and is predominantly used for baseball, although it has played host to a variety of sports and entertainment events. The actual dome was 18 stories above the playing field and consisted of "Lucite" skylights that were planned to allow the natural grass playing field to stay alive. During afternoon games outfielders were blinded by the sunlight.
Thirty percent of the panels were coated with paint to reduce the problem but that caused another problem. The natural grass playing field died due to the lack of sunlight A new type of turf that became famous at stadiums throughout the country during the 1970s was developed. Named after the team, Astroturf was a green surface of nylon grass. Would that building really host such events on a regular basis?
College basketball is one thing but it's unlikely the NCAA sends its biggest college football bowl games to Arlington Heights in the dead of winter. This and a number of other reasons are why Marc Ganis of Sportscorp, a well-respected stadium expert, believes the dome idea isn't nearly as set in stone as people think. A few days ago it was reported by the Chicago Tribune that there is a widespread belief that if and when the Chicago Bears look to establish a new stadium in Arlington Heights, the odds heavily favor it being a domed building. Not just for Bears games but also concerts, college football and basketball playoffs, and maybe even hosting a Super Bowl.
They are designed to move panels that weigh millions of pounds in just minutes. By doing so, they give fans a new experience at baseball and football games. Given their popularity, it's likely we will see many more of these convertible stadiums built in the next decade until they are replaced by the next stadium trend. In the 1960s and '70s, many cities built doughnut-shaped multipurpose stadiums. We were in awe of the immensity of the Astrodome in Houston and the Kingdome in Seattle. Today, a new trend in stadiums has led to the demolition of the Kingdome and the likely demise of the Astrodome.
The latest trend in sports stadiums is the retractable-roof stadium. For 23 seasons, the RCA Dome was the home of the Indianapolis Colts and stars such as Peyton Manning. Prior to moving to Indianapolis for the 1984 season, the Colts called Baltimore their home.
The Colts had played in Baltimore since 1953 at Memorial Stadium, that they shared with the Baltimore Orioles . Prior to the Colts decision to move to Indianapolis, the city already had a dome stadium under construction in 1982. The city decided to build the stadium because of its adaptability to accommodate a variety of events, including football.
Meanwhile in Baltimore, the Colts were dissatisfied with the conditions of Memorial Stadium and decided to move to Indianapolis after the 1983 NFL season. Originally named the Hoosier Dome, grand opening ceremonies took place on May 3, 1984. When the Astrodome opened to the world in 1965, the National Football League saw something that would lead to a look into the future. The "eighth wonder of the world" has a fixed roof, and is big enough to allow football to be played indoors. While the Astrodome is currently closed at this time, it's legacy as a domed stadium is still shown. I believe that all new baseball stadiums should have a retractable roof.
The oldest park in the game, Fenway Park, won't have this option because there is no space in the city to install the retractable roof. However, I believe that anytime a new stadium is in the discussion, baseball should have a retractable roof by default with their design. Rogers Centre has a retractable roof, and I was fortunate enough to catch a game with the roof opened and closed. With the roof open during the game, I saw the CN Tower along with the buildings in Toronto which was awesome. The crowd attendance was pretty small, which made the indoor baseball field experience very quiet.
The roof fabric is pliable, usually made of tensile fiberglass or polyester, hemispherical, and attached at the foundation with heavy weights. Inflation fans, located just under the roof, keep the dome inflated and blow into a common duct that circumnavigates the building. The air is then funneled into the interior arena from that duct.
