ThePontiac Silverdome (also known as theSilverdome) was a stadium inPontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured afiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, the first use of the architectural technique in a major athletic facility. With a seating capacity of 82,600+, it was the largest stadium in theNational Football League (NFL) untilFedExField inLandover,Maryland, a suburb ofWashington, D.C. expanded its capacity to over 85,000 in 2000.

Pontiac Silverdome

Pontiac Silverdome in 2011
Former names	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium (1975–1976) Pontiac Silverdome (1976–2013)[5][note 1]
Address	1200 Featherstone Road
Location	Pontiac, Michigan
Coordinates	42°38′45″N83°15′18″W / 42.64583°N 83.25500°W /42.64583; -83.25500
Owner	Andreas Apostolopoulos Triple Investment Group
Operator	Triple Sports & Entertainment
Capacity	82,000+[6] 80,311 (American football,soccer)
Record attendance	93,682 September 18, 1987 (Catholic Mass withPope John Paul II)
Surface	AstroTurf (1975–2005) FieldTurf (2005–2006)
Construction
Broke ground	September 19, 1973
Opened	August 23, 1975[1] April 17, 2010[2]
Closed	February 2006 January 2013
Demolished	December 4, 2017 – March 2018
Construction cost	US$55.7 million ($395 million in 2024 dollars[4])
Architect	O'Dell/Hewlett & Luckenbach C. Don Davidson
Structural engineer	Geiger Berger Associates
General contractor	Barton Malow[3]
Tenants
Detroit Lions (NFL) (1975–2001) Detroit Pistons (NBA) (1978–1988) Detroit Express (NASL) (1978–1980) Michigan Panthers (USFL) (1983–1984) Cherry Bowl (NCAA) (1984–1985) Motor City Bowl (NCAA) (1997–2001) Detroit Mechanix (AUDL) (2012)

It was primarily the home of theDetroit Lions of the NFL from1975 to2001 and was also home to theDetroit Pistons of theNational Basketball Association (NBA) from 1978 to 1988. In addition, the Silverdome also served as the home venue for theDetroit Express of theNorth American Soccer League and theMichigan Panthers of theUnited States Football League, as well as two collegebowl games: theCherry Bowl and theMotor City Bowl. In 2012, the Silverdome served as the home venue of theDetroit Mechanix of theAmerican Ultimate Disc League and hosted the league championship game that season.

The stadium was a regular concert venue and hosted a number of athletic and non-athletic events, including the1979 NBA All-Star Game,Super Bowl XVI,WrestleMania III, early round games of the1994 FIFA World Cup, and regional games in theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

After the opening ofFord Field in 2002, the stadium was left without a permanent tenant. The city of Pontiac was unable to find a good use for the stadium, leaving it empty for eight years; the city ran out of money, and was forced to sell due to the rising maintenance costs. After multiple attempts to solicit redevelopment plans, the city eventually sold the stadium at auction in 2009 with no reserve for $550,000 (less than 1% of the cost to build the dome) toAndreas Apostolopoulos. The property had fallen into disrepair brought on by the city's financial crises, and the city of Pontiac's inability to afford to spend the necessary capital investments it required. After a significant financial investment by the new owners, the facility was brought back to its original glory. The millions of dollars invested by the new owners were needed to bring The Silverdome back to a safe and clean facility. The Pontiac Silverdome reopened in 2010 and hosted many events, including soccer matches, concerts, HBO championship boxing, monster truck shows and many more. The harsh Michigan weather eventually got the best of the aging venue, and in 2013 an excessive amount of snow caused a portion of the antiquated roof system to tear. The Pontiac Silverdome's roof issues dated back to the 1980s with a long list of weather related problems. The Pontiac Silverdome's uniqueness was also its downfall. As one of the last air supported football stadiums left, it was not possible to find a qualified company capable of repairing the damaged roof. Paired with the financial woes of the city, which included the inability to pay for police, emergency services and road maintenance, the decision to close the facility for good was made in 2013. The owners later auctioned the stadium's contents in 2014 and for a few years the parking lot was home to tens of thousands ofrecalled Volkswagen vehicles.

In 2017, the Silverdome owner decided to tear down the closed facility. The upper ring of the stadium, which had supported the roof structure, was imploded on December 4, 2017, after a failed attempt the previous day.^[7] Following the implosion, the remains of the stadium were brought down in sections with hydraulic excavators, and the last free standing section was felled by late March 2018.^[8] In September 2019, it was announced thatAmazon would develop the site.^[9]

The Silverdome hosted theDetroit Lions of the NFL (1975–2001), theDetroit Pistons of theNBA (1978–1988), theDetroit Express (for bothoutdoor andindoor soccer) of theNASL (1978–1980), theMichigan Panthers of theUSFL (1983–1984), college football'sCherry Bowl (1984–1985), theMotor City Bowl (1997–2001), theMHSAA football state finals (1976–2004) and four first-round games during soccer's1994 FIFA World Cup.

For the World Cup matches, a natural grass surface capable of growing inside the dome was developed and installed by a team fromMichigan State University.^[10] This grass surface was laid upon wooden pallets atop the artificial turf that was usually used. It was the first time that World Cup games were played indoors.^[11] The Silverdome also hosted the1979 NBA All-Star Game,Super Bowl XVI on January 24, 1982, and the1988 and1991 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Midwest Regionals andNCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships in 1982 and 1983.

On March 29, 1987, theWorld Wrestling Federation'sWrestleMania III reportedly established the record for attendance of 93,173, the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America.^[12][13][14] The record stood until February 14, 2010, when the2010 NBA All-Star Game broke the indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 atCowboys Stadium.^[15]

The Silverdome hosted anAMA Supercross Championship round from 1976 to 2005.^[16]

In 2012, the Silverdome became the home stadium of the city's professional Ultimate Frisbee team, theDetroit Mechanix, of theAmerican Ultimate Disc League.^[17] That year, the Silverdome hosted the AUDL championship game, as on August 11, the Philadelphia Spinners defeated the Indianapolis AlleyCats 29–22.

After the roof had been collapsed and the stadium abandoned,Red Bull produced a video ofBMX rider Tyler Fernengel riding inside the Silverdome in 2015. Some notable tricks in the video were Fernengel's barspin to double peg to 180° spin on one of the handrails inside the stadium and an impressive "truckdriver" (handlebars spinning 360° while the bike frame spins 360°) out of the luxury boxes onto a ramp that led down to the field.^[18] That same year, adrag racing event at the former parking lot marked the beginning ofWoodward Dream Cruise.^[19]

The idea of a major sports complex was part of a dream of C. Don Davidson, aPontiac native and star high school athlete.^[20] Davidson, upon graduating fromPontiac Central High School in 1947 and completing active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, attendedNorth Carolina State University on a football scholarship.^[21] After earning a master's degree in urban planning and architecture, Davidson began his career as an architect and was recognized for several government and city projects throughout the south including Florida'sJacksonville International Airport. He returned to Pontiac in 1965 and was shocked to see the deterioration of the city and its lack of a future plan. Davidson embarked upon what would eventually become an obsession for him to see his beloved city succeed. In 1965–66, he was hired as a professor of architecture and urban planning at theUniversity of Detroit under the direction of Bruno Leon.^[22]

As part of an ongoing, comprehensive study by his architecture class on urban renewal for the city of Pontiac, Davidson met with various city and state authorities includingWilliam Clay Ford, owner of the Detroit Lions, to discuss the possibility of a new stadium, made it a college class project to find a suitable site for a new stadium and even started his own weekly newspaper known asThe Pontiac Times,^[21] to help promote his vision. After much controversy and sparring with Detroit city officials, Pontiac was chosen over several other sites including the Michigan Fairgrounds, Walled Lake and the Detroit Riverfront as the best place for construction of what would become known as the Pontiac Silverdome.^[23][24] Already having a stadium concept as part of his master plan for the city, Davidson was interviewed and ultimately hired as chief project designer for the stadium project by the architectural firm of O'Dell, Hewlett & Luckenbach.^[25][26] Initial designs included a dual stadium complex for both football and baseball (potentially housing theDetroit Tigers) that was later scrapped due to high costs. Davidson was pleased to see a part of his vision for the city of Pontiac accomplished in the building of the 80,000-seat sports complex.^{[27][unreliable source?]} Completed in 1975 as thePontiac Metropolitan Stadium,^[5] at a cost of $55.7 million, the Silverdome seated 80,311. It contained 102 luxury suites and 7,384 club seats. It sometimes incorporated the arrowhead emblem fromits now-defunct namesake General Motors division into its own logo.

The original silver-like roof was built of Teflon-coated fiberglass panels, andsupported by air pressure inside the stadium. Although the roof has always been white in color as viewed with the naked eye, the stadium obtained the name "Silverdome" (which it would officially take on in 1977) due to a silver-like reflection caused by theSun, mainly noticed from the sky. (Initially, however, the stadium also went by its shortened nickname ofPonMet, but that nickname was disliked by Pontiac city commissioners.^[28]) The roof was replaced by a new canvas fabric, reinforced by steel girders after a strong snowstorm on March 4, 1985, caused structural damage to the old roof.^[29] Because of the damage, the Detroit Pistons played the remainder of the1984–85 season at the now-closed and demolishedJoe Louis Arena.^[30] The accident, and the delay in repairs, partially prompted the Pistons moving three seasons later 4 miles (6 km) north to their new, privately owned, 20,000-seat sports arena,The Palace of Auburn Hills (like Joe Louis Arena, it also has since closed down and demolished).

The 1985 repairs were necessitated by a collapse of the original 1975 roof around noon EST on March 4, 1985. Heavy, wet snow accumulated on the southwest corner of the dome and depressed the fabric panels low enough so that the fabric came in contact with a steel lighting catwalk that was positioned just below the inner lip of the roof's ring beam. The hole caused a loss of air pressure and the Dome deflated slowly – there were no injuries. The shift from a "dome" to "bowl" caused all the heavy, wet snow to slide down into the bowl and rupture more roof panels, collapse some precast risers in the SW upper deck, and dislodge more plastic seats "... than a Rolling Stones concert" according to Bob Haney, the Dome's Operations Manager. Crews from Owens-Corning Fiberglas, the dome's original roof installer, were on site by 1:30 pm on March 4. Repair operations began immediately but were interrupted for over a week due to high winds. During the high winds event nearly all of the remaining panels in the deflated roof, 100 in all, were badly damaged. The decision was made to replace the entire roof and incorporate some improvements to prevent a similar event from occurring in the future. Repair cost of the roof was just under $8 million.

The repairs were completed and the dome re-inflated at noon on May 28, 1985. A thunderstorm passed through the Pontiac area the morning the Dome was to be re-inflated and a partial inflation, or "puff", was performed so that the scheduled inflation could occur in the presence of the many city and area politicians as well as a number of corporate executives. The original-style, Teflon-coated fiberglass material was used to make the repairs – not canvas as described in the article. There were several snow-melting and waterproofing improvements that kept the dome inflated until January 2, 2013 – almost 28 years.

The largest crowd to gather at the Silverdome was on September 18, 1987, forMass withPope John Paul II, with a reported attendance of 93,682 — just shading the reported record of 93,173 set at the Silverdome on March 29, 1987, forWrestleMania III. Another notable audience attendance record had earlier been broken on April 30, 1977, when the English rock bandLed Zeppelin played in front of 76,229 fans at the Silverdome. This was, at the time, a new world record attendance for a solo indoor attraction, beating the 75,962 thatThe Who attracted there on December 6, 1975.^[31] TheDetroit Pistons also set numerous NBA attendance records during their time at the Silverdome; Regular Season, 61,983 vs. Boston, January 29, 1988; Playoffs, 41,732, vs. L.A. Lakers, June 16, 1988.^[32]

The Silverdome was a venue for the1994 FIFA World Cup. In an exhibition game betweenGermany andEngland in June 1993, English coachGraham Taylor criticized the indoor venue's lack of weather as removing an unpredictability factor from soccer. The lack of air conditioning contributed to extreme heat and humidity, an advantage to the Germans playing for Italian clubs. The 62,126 attendance was the highest in any US soccer match since 1984.^[33]

On June 18, 1994, theUnited States tied 1–1 withSwitzerland in the first World Cup game to be played indoors. Swiss coachRoy Hodgson later admitted that his team had not prepared for the extreme temperature and humidity.^[34]

The Silverdome was also the home to many marching band activities and events, including theMichigan Competing Band Association State Marching Band Championships until 2005, theBands of America Regional championships from 2003 to 2005, and the Bands of America Grand National Championships in 1987 and 1988. Following its reopening, the Silverdome was host to the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Bands of America Pontiac Regional Championship.^[35]

The Lions moved from the Silverdome toFord Field after the end of their2001 season. Despite being the Lions' home for 27 seasons, the day of the last home game, January 6, 2002, was marked by a noticeable absence of nostalgia among the fans as well as the players.^[36] In particular, long-time Lions' defensive endRobert Porcher singled out the stadium'sartificial turf as the worst part about playing at the Silverdome, echoing other players present that day.^[36]

The upper concourse was used for inline skating and provided skaters with a 25-foot wide track measuring 0.4 miles on the inner edge and 0.5 miles on the outer edge.^[37][38]

When theWorld Hockey Association (WHA) tried to re-introduce itself, thenew WHA Detroit team was slated to play its home games at the Silverdome. Plans were also mooted for aWindsor-basedCanadian Football League team which could have used the dome for possible playoff games, but that team also did not materialize.

After the Lions relocated, activity in the Silverdome dropped drastically; however, it still staged some events. Annually,Jehovah's Witnesses used the Silverdome from the late 1970s to 2004. Due to talk of renovation in 2004, the Witnesses opted to travel to TheDow Event Center inSaginaw, and theSeaGate Convention Centre inToledo, Ohio for their District Conventions.^[39] Between 2003 and 2006, a three-screendrive-in theater operated in the parking lot; this theater reopened in 2010 before closing again on July 13, 2011.^[40]

The Silverdome hostedMonster Jam on January 7, 2006, and was used as a practice facility for theAFC championPittsburgh Steelers forSuper Bowl XL, with the NFL addingFieldTurf, which was later donated to a local high school.

After the Lions' departure, the city of Pontiac began to experience several years of serious financial problems. Due to the continued high maintenance costs of the structure, it made several unsuccessful attempts to sell the stadium.^[41][42] In early 2008, United Assurance Company Ltd. made the highest purchase offer to date, with a bid of $18 million to convert the Silverdome into a Hollywood-style entertainment complex, following an earlier bid of $12 million by an attorney.^[43] However, the city announced in October 2009 that the property would go to auction with no minimum bid, and that zoning regulations would be relaxed for any buyer in order to spark development. The city engaged the firm of Williams & Williams to conduct the auction in November 2009.^[44]

After reading about the auction in a newspaper, Greek-born Canadian real estate developerAndreas Apostolopoulos, CEO of Toronto-based Triple Properties Inc., submitted a winning bid of US$550,000. Real estate fees of 6% raised the price to US$583,000.^[45] The sale of the Silverdome, completed in 1975 at a cost of $55.7 million (approx. $225 million in 2012 dollars) and sold in 2009 for $583,000, was viewed by many as a symbol of the collapse ofreal estate prices in theDetroit metropolitan area though many local leaders and residents claimed the sale was brought about due to the incompetence of city management and their not having a vision or future plans for the stadium and surrounding area.^[46]

In the March 11, 2010, edition of theDetroit Free Press, Apostolopoulos vowed "to revive the stadium as a big-event venue by investing millions of dollars".^[47]

The Silverdome re-opened on April 17, 2010, with amonster truck event.^[6]

A.C. Milan andPanathinaikos F.C. played anexhibition game on August 6, 2010.^[48] On January 29, 2011,professional boxerTimothy Bradley defended hisWBOlight welterweight title in a unification fight againstWBC championDevon Alexander. The fight aired live onHBO World Championship Boxing, with an attendance of about 7,000.^{[citation needed]}

The owners indicated that they were pursuing a possible expansion team forMajor League Soccer, and contemplated renovating the Silverdome for this purpose.^[49] Ultimately, the lack of events coming into the stadium, combined with the 2013 roof collapse, put any further development plans on indefinite hold.

In March 2014, the owners announced that they would be auctioning off the contents of the facility, including seats and fixtures.^[50]

In December 2014, Cleveland-based photographerJohnny Joo captured the Silverdome in a state of abandonment, showing destruction caused by the 2013 roof collapse.^{[51][52][53][54]}

Afterwards, in October 2015, it was announced that the Silverdome would be demolished in the Spring of 2016, and the area would be part of anOakland Countymixed-use development. Demolition was then scheduled for December 3, 2017.^[55] In June 2016, fire caused by arson destroyed the former press box.^[56] Around the same time, the parking lot began being used as storage for hundreds of Volkswagen diesel cars as a result of Volkswagen's2015 emissions scandal. The dome owner and the city were in conflict over the condition of the dome and the cars in the lot.^[57][58]

In 2017, the Silverdome was condemned and cleared for demolition. Workers had been on the site for the past few months before main power feeds were disconnected preparing the Silverdome for demolition, including completing environmental remediation, universal waste removal and tearing out transite asbestos panels that were used in a majority of the suites around the perimeter of the dome; though not without a few local trespasser visits to explore the place leading up to the demolition. On September 18 and 19, 2017, four power feeds were disconnected, officially starting the final preparation process for demolition.^[59] The firm contracted to handle the demolition, the Detroit-based Adamo Group, also imploded theGeorgia Dome inAtlanta on November 20 before moving on to the Silverdome. The demolition of the Silverdome was to commence on December 3, 2017, with a partial implosion of the upper deck, followed by an excavation of the building from the inside out.^[60][61]

Due to a wiring issue, eight of the explosive charges failed to detonate, preventing the stadium from imploding as planned. A second attempt was successful the next day. While Adamo could not pinpoint the exact cause of the issues, they did note that trespassers had been seen on the property a couple of days prior to the first attempt.^{[62][63][64][65]} It was noted that on the second attempt, Adamo doubled the amount of explosives used from 300 to 600 lb (136 to 272 kg) ofTNT.^[66]By the end of March 2018, the last free standing wall of the Silverdome was destroyed, leaving a 50 foot (15 m) deep hole where the stadium once stood. 55,000 cubic yards (42,050 m³) of crushed concrete remained on site to be used as landfill material. Demolition officials stated that final filling and grading operations of the former Silverdome site were expected to be completed by the end of November 2018.^[8]

In September 2019, the City of Pontiac announced thatAmazon was going to develop the Silverdome site into both a distribution facility and delivery center. The delivery center opened in September 2020, while the distribution center opened in 2021.^[67] The project cost an estimated $250 million.^[9]

• August 23, 1975 –Detroit Lions' first game in Silverdome, a preseason contest against theKansas City Chiefs.
• October 6, 1975 – Lions' first regular season game, a 36–10 defeat by theDallas Cowboys onABC Monday Night Football.
• October 12, 1975 – Lions' first regular season Silverdome victory, a 27–7 defeat of theChicago Bears.
• November 27, 1975 – Lions' first Thanksgiving Day game in the Silverdome, a 20–0 loss to theLos Angeles Rams.
• January 24, 1982 –Super Bowl XVI.
• January 5, 1992 – Lions' first home playoff game at the Silverdome – a 38–6 victory over theDallas Cowboys. This stood as the Lions' most recent playoff victory for 32 years, until their 24–23 victory over theLos Angeles Rams on January 14, 2024, atFord Field.
• November 23, 2000 –Tom Brady made his NFL debut in a 34–9 Lions victory at the Silverdome. Brady completed 1 of 3 passes for 6 yards.^[68]
• January 6, 2002 – The final Lions game played at the stadium, a 15–10 victory over theDallas Cowboys.

• October 13, 1978 –Detroit Pistons' first home game in Silverdome
• February 4, 1979 –NBA All-Star Game
• January 29, 1988 – Detroit Pistons single game attendance record (61,983 vsBoston Celtics)
• 1988 –NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Midwest Regional – Sweet Sixteen Games and Finals
• June 12, 14 and 16, 1988 –NBA Finals games 3 through 5.
• 1991 –NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Midwest Regional – Sweet Sixteen Games and Finals

• March 29, 1987 –WrestleMania III (reported Pontiac Silverdome record attendance of 93,173).^[70]
• January 29, 2011 – (HBO Championship Boxing Match) "The Superfight".

• February 22, 1982—United States Hot Rod Association held its first monster truck car crush, made by Bob Chandler and Bigfoot II, inside a stadium.
• February 27, 1983 — TheAmerican Speed Association (ASA) held an asphaltstock car race inside the dome.^[80] The ASA started their National tour's season in the dome and the race was won byButch Miller.^[80]
• September 18, 1987 —Pope John Paul II celebratedMass (Silverdome attendance record of 93,682).
• October 27, 2004 Rally for theGeorge W. Bush 2004 re-election campaign^[81]
• April 17, 2010 — "Domination In The Dome" (Monster Trucks) Grand re-opening of the Silverdome.^[82]

• November 25, 1997: In theseason 7Home Improvement episodeThanksgiving, Tim (Tim Allen) manages to black out the entire stadium during the Detroit Lions' annual Thanksgiving Day game.
• January 27, 2016: The Silverdome's inception and demise, includingSuper Bowl XVI, are profiled bySports Illustrated's MMQB, "Road to Super Bowl 50".
• Throughout his career, wrestling legend Hulk Hogan made various references to being the first man to body-slamAndre the Giant at WrestleMania III—The Birth of a Dynasty and the Death of a Dome.
• The Silverdome appears inTransformers: The Last Knight, the fifth installment in the Paramount film franchise. Crews began filming on June 20, 2016, and shot in the area for about eight weeks. The movie was released in theaters on June 23, 2017.^[83]

• Pontiac Silverdome official website, archived fromthe original on June 16, 2013, retrievedMay 20, 2014
• Inside the abandoned Silverdome at Detroiturbex.com
• Demolition video