The Georgia Dome was the home stadium for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) and the Georgia State UniversityPanthers football team. It hosted two Super Bowls (XXVIII and XXXIV), 25 editions of the Peach Bowl (January 1993–December 2016) and 23 SEC Championship Games (1994−2016). In addition, the Georgia Dome also hosted several soccer matches since 2009 with attendances over 50,000. In its 25 years of operation, the Georgia Dome hosted over 1,400 events attended by over 37 million people.[8] The Georgia Dome was the only stadium in the United States to host the Olympics, Super Bowl and Final Four.[9][10][11]
The Georgia Dome was completed in 1992 at a cost of $214million, making it one of the largest state-funded construction projects in Georgia history.[12][13] The stadium seated 71,228 for football, approximately 80,000 for concerts, and 71,000 for basketball when the stadium fully opened and 40,000 for basketball and gymnastics when the stadium was sectioned off (one half closed off by a large curtain).[14] For most Georgia State football games, the dome was configured with 28,155 seats, with tickets for only the bulk of the lower level and the club-level seats on sale.[1][15] The record for overall attendance at the Georgia Dome came during a college football game, with 80,892 at the SEC Championship Game in 2008.[citation needed][16]
The Dome had 5,740 club seats and 171 luxury boxes. The executives suites fit 16-24 people, while eight super-suites added in 2007 were capable of accommodating 57-96 guests.[17] There were also four restaurants/bars. There were 12 escalators and 9 elevators.[18][19][20]
The structure was located on 9.19 acres (3.72 hectares) of land; the Dome had a height of 271ft (83m), a structure length of 746ft (227m), a structure width of 607ft (185m), and a total floor area of 102,150 square feet (9,490m2). The stadium was the largest cable-supported dome in the world. Its roof was made of teflon-coated fiberglass fabric and had an area of 374,584 square feet (34,800m2). From its completion until the December 31, 1999, opening of the 20-acre (8.09-hectare)Millennium Dome in London, it was the largest hooked domed structure of any type in the world. Matt Hartley Lighting, LLC designed the lighting for the concourse of the Georgia Dome.[21]
Surface
The Georgia Dome originally used AstroTurf artificial surface for its football events. In 2003, Arthur Blank, the new owner of Atlanta Falcons, funded the installation of the new infilled FieldTurf artificial surface system.[22][23]
Renovations
In 2006, the Atlanta Falcons and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority announced a $300 million renovation to the Georgia Dome.[24][25] The project was separated into two stages. The first stage, which took place before the 2007 NFL season, focused on updating the premium seating areas, including the creation of eight 'super-suites' as well as an owners' club, most of them now incorporating new plasma TVs.[18][26] In 2008, the exterior of the stadium was repainted, replacing the original teal and maroon color scheme with a red, black, and silver theme to match the Falcons' team colors; the stadium's original teal seats were replaced with red seats in the lower and upper levels and black seats in the middle level. The entrance gates and concourses were also renovated and updated before the 2008 football season.[27][28] In 2009, the video screens in both end zones were relocated to a new exterior monument sign on Northside Drive. The interior end zones each received a new and considerably wider HD video screen that significantly enhanced views of replays, as well as graphics and digital presentations. A new sound system was installed in the same year, replacing the previous system that was nearly 20 years old.
In 2008, the Georgia Dome started showing safety videos before games, presented by Deltalina, flight attendant "mascot" of Delta Air Lines. The videos satirize Delta's massively popular "Deltalina" inflight safety videos. The videos' theme was "Delta Safety First".[29][30]
Major weather-related issues
Three years after the completion of the Dome, the integrity of its roof became an issue. During a Falcons pre-season game in August 1995, a severe rainstorm caused water to pool on the fabric, tearing part of the material, and causing a section of the roof to fall into the stadium. The storm was intense enough that the roof panels could be seen moving during the game, and the water and roof material later fell with enough force to smash seats in the upper decks and knock holes in concrete floors. The collapse occurred after fans left the stadium, and no one was injured during the incident. The roof was eventually repaired in a way that prevented similar incidents from occurring in the future.[31][32]
Aerial photo of Georgia Dome; the land next to it has been cleared for construction of the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.The Georgia Dome (right) and Mercedes-Benz Stadium on July 2, 2017
In 2010, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority announced plans for a new stadium just south of the Georgia Dome. At the time, the Georgia Dome had just completed a major update and was still relatively young.[34] The Dome had been designed specifically for football while a handful of NFL teams still made do with multi-purpose stadiums shared with MLB teams; plus, the Dome had plenty of luxury suites and premium seating which were important revenue-generating features lacking other older venues which made them obsolete. Lastly, the new stadium was located directly adjacent to the Georgia Dome (in contrast to older multi-purpose stadiums, whose suburban locale did not match up with a team's fanbase). Nonetheless, sports economist Rod Fort noted that pro sports team owners "thought they could get away with demanding new" stadiums every year with public money; plus, the Falcons did not have control of the Dome nor the profits, which made them less competitive than other teams that owned state-of-the-art facilities.[35][36] In addition, Arthur Blank "wanted a state-of-the-art facility for his NFL and MLS teams and was willing to pitch in a huge amount of money to make it happen", as well as wanting to host another Super Bowl.[37][38] Also with the Atlanta climate the Falcons long desired to play outdoors in either an open-air stadium or retractable roof stadium rather than inside a dome.[39] At the time it was planned to retain the Georgia Dome to continue hosting non-NFL events.[40][41][42]
In justifying the need for a new venue, Falcons CEO and president Rich McKay said that the Georgia Dome "was a really functional building that served its purpose very well. We did not want to build a better Georgia Dome. That was not the object. If we would have done that, we would have renovated the Georgia Dome. We really wanted to change the game and do it for a long, long time." Stadium general manager Scott Jenkins described the new stadium's advantages over the Dome, saying "The LED displays we have, whether it's every seat is two-inches wider than the Georgia Dome, almost all the concourses connect so you can circumnavigate the building, you don't get cut-off. You can move vertically throughout the building, we have really wide staircases, we have twice the elevators, twice the escalators compared to the Georgia Dome".[43] McKay said of it, "The architecture, I think, speaks for itself. I hope the first time you're in it, yeah, you're wowed by the architecture, but more wowed by the fan experience." SB Nation noted that while the "Georgia Dome did its job for 24 years...it wasn't anything special. That's not the case with [the Mercedes-Benz Stadium]. Walking up to it feels like you're approaching a darn spaceship".[19]
The new stadium, which would be known as Mercedes-Benz Stadium, received approval from the city of Atlanta, Fulton County, and Georgia state governments in 2013. Construction commenced and ground was broken in 2014.
The Falcons' final game in the Dome was the 2016 NFC Championship Game on January 22, 2017, with a 44–21 victory over the Green Bay Packers, that sent the Falcons to their second Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. The stadium's final public event took place on March 4 and 5, 2017, with back-to-back Monster Jam shows.[44]
Demolition
Shortly after the Georgia Dome's closing, a group presented a petition to the governor's office to save the stadium from demolition, arguing that it was still in good condition and that its loss would be wasteful. While the Falcons initially sought an open-air stadium to complement the Georgia Dome, GWCCA officials ultimately concluded that maintaining two 70,000-seat stadiums was not financially feasible, and the Georgia Dome's fate was already sealed when Mercedes-Benz Stadium was approved in 2013.[45][46]
Demolition of the Georgia Dome was intended to begin shortly after the stadium's final event; however, due to construction delays caused by the complexity of Mercedes-Benz Stadium's eight-panel retractable roof, demolition of the Georgia Dome was postponed until the new stadium's certificate of occupancy could be issued. GWCCA officials stated that the Georgia Dome would remain nominally operational until Mercedes-Benz Stadium was ready; however, the Dome's artificial turf had been removed and its offices vacated prior to the announcement of the new stadium's delay.[47]
On June 9, 2017, Steve Cannon, CEO of the Falcons' parent company AMB Group, stated that construction officials were confident that Mercedes-Benz Stadium would be ready in time for the Falcons' first preseason game, and the process of decommissioning the Georgia Dome had resumed, with the Dome scheduled for implosion on November 20, 2017, at 7:30 am EST.[4]
In July 2017, GWCCA officials removed equipment they intend to reuse either at Mercedes-Benz Stadium or elsewhere on the GWCC campus while other equipment was liquidated by sealed bids. Most of the seats in the lower and middle bowls were sold in bulk to high schools and colleges while pairs were sold to individuals; most of the upper bowl seats were recycled. The stadium's lower bowl and loading docks were demolished by mid-August. From September 16 to 30, 2017, memorabilia from the Georgia Dome was sold in an online auction format by Schneider Industries.[48][49][8][50]
The Dome before and after the implosion
Demolition officials from Adamo Demolition, the company contracted for the job,[51] stated that the pressure from the implosion needed to go up from the roof and not out through the sides to ensure that Mercedes-Benz Stadium and other nearby buildings were not damaged during the demolition; to protect nearby structures, construction felt was placed over the four corners of the Dome, and a 70 foot (21m) tall fence covered in the same material was erected between the Dome and Mercedes-Benz Stadium. To ensure that the roof fell in place during the implosion, parts of the concrete ring supporting the roof had been chipped away and ventilation holes were cut into the roof fabric.[50]4,800 pounds (2,200kg) of explosives were used to bring the Dome down within 12 seconds.[52]
The remains of the Dome with Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the background.
Due to the large exclusion zone required for the demolition, no public viewing areas were made available; additionally, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority officials announced that rail service west of the Five Points station would be suspended on the day of demolition until MARTA safety inspectors certified that the tunnels which run below the Dome site were safe for trains to operate. GWCCA officials stated that the implosion would be broadcast live by WSB-TV as well as livestreamed on the official websites of the Falcons, Atlanta United FC, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.[53][54] Live coverage of the implosion on the Weather Channel was blocked at the last moment by a MARTA bus that stopped in front of the camera just seconds before the implosion.[55]
While the implosion was considered successful with the roof and a majority of the structure felled, the eastern wall and the northwest gate of the Dome were left standing after the implosion.[56] Although the Dome's proximity to adjacent structures was a major concern, with Mercedes-Benz Stadium only 83 feet (25m) away from the Dome, demolition officials stated that bringing the roof down was the biggest challenge due to its unique design. The Georgia World Congress Center and Mercedes-Benz Stadium were undamaged during the first implosion, although the new stadium did receive a heavy dusting.[56] Initially, demolition officials stated that the two remaining sections would be brought down manually with hydraulic excavators; however, after inspections determined that the explosive charges did not detonate, a supplementary implosion took place on the morning of December 20 at 1:00 am EST. A window at one of the GWCC buildings was shattered during the second implosion but was quickly replaced.[57][58]
Following the implosion, most of the concrete from the Georgia Dome remained on site, crushed into smaller pieces to be used as infill material while steel and other materials were separated and recycled.[50] Most of the Georgia Dome site became greenspace for tailgating at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and other community events.[59] On April 21, 2017, GWCCA officials announced that The Home Depot acquired the naming rights to the 13-acre (53,000m2) park prior to its construction, adopting the name of "The Home Depot Backyard".[60] Cleanup of debris from the Georgia Dome site was completed by late February 2018 with construction of the Home Depot Backyard beginning shortly thereafter; the new park officially opened on September 11, 2018.[61][62] Ground was broken for a new high-rise convention center hotel on May 19, 2021, which opened in January 2024. The hotel is located between the Home Depot Backyard and GWCC Building C, and is the first newly constructed hotel for Hilton's Signia brand.[63][64]
A historical marker erected by the GWCCA and the Georgia Historical Society commemorating the Georgia Dome's legacy was dedicated on September 6, 2018.[65]
The Dome was home to the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. The stadium also hosted Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994 and Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000. The Falcons didn't qualify for the playoffs both times that the Dome hosted the Super Bowl; despite a 14–2 regular season in 1998 which was capped off with a Super Bowl appearance,[66] the Falcons slumped to a 5–11 record in 1999. The final NFL Game at the Georgia Dome was the 2016 NFC Championship between the Falcons and the Green Bay Packers, with the Falcons winning 44–21 to advance to their second Super Bowl in franchise history.
The Georgia Dome also annually hosted the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) football semi-finals until 2007 and hosted the football state championships from 2008 to 2016.[69]
It was also one of two homes, along with the facility then known as Alexander Memorial Coliseum, for the NBA's Atlanta Hawks during the construction of State Farm Arena from 1997 to 1999 on the site of the former Omni Coliseum.[70] While playing at the Georgia Dome on March 27, 1998, the Atlanta Hawks set a then-NBA single-game attendance record with 62,046 fans against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.[71]
The Georgia Dome held a number of international soccer matches. On June 24, 2009, the Dome hosted its first ever soccer match between Mexico and Venezuela in front of 51,115 fans, with grass laid over the FieldTurf.[74] On February 9, 2011, Mexico and Bosnia and Herzegovina played a friendly match in front of 50,507 fans.[75][76] On July 20, 2013, the Dome hosted two quarter-final match-ups of the 2013 Gold Cup—Panama vs. Cuba and Mexico vs. Trinidad & Tobago—in front of 54,229 fans.[77]
The stadium was an official candidate venue for hosting matches as part of the United States' bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but Qatar was selected to host the tournament.[78]
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2020)
The stadium also hosted the Drum Corps International (DCI) Southeastern Championship from 2006 to 2016. The inaugural event featured 22 drum corps in the old fashioned Prelims/Finals one-day format. During the competition, the stadium was the first, and only indoor rain delay, when an upper deck rain gutter leaked inside the stadium. The 2006 competition was won by The Cavaliers, becoming the first of only four corps to win in the 11 years the stadium hosted the event.
From 2007 to 2014, the Blue Devils would win an unprecedented 8 straight victories at the annual Southeastern Championship. The win streak would be snapped in 2015 by Carolina Crown with its fan-favorite production of "Inferno"
With the announcement of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium to be opened in the summer of 2017, the 2016 tour season would be the last hurrah inside the dome. Though the 2016 season would be the last in the dome, it would prove to be a historical one at that, with the Bluecoats powering their way to the top to win the last competition in the stadium, bringing the corps' first Southeast Championship and later on their first DCI World Championship Title.
While the 2017 show was scheduled to be in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, construction delays would make the venue not ready for the July 29 event, which would find a temporary home at McEachern High School in Powder Springs. DCI hosted the 2018 and 2019 Southeast Championships at the new stadium.
WCW Monday Nitro was hosted in the Georgia Dome twice in 1998 and twice again in 1999; WWE Monday Night Raw was hosted 4 times in the stadium between 1999 and 2001.
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons were founded on June 30, 1965, and joined the NFL in 1966 as an expansion team, after the NFL offered then-owner Rankin Smith a franchise to keep him from joining the rival American Football League (AFL).
The Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) is a convention center in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Enclosing some 3.9 million ft2 in exhibition space and hosting more than a million visitors each year, the GWCC is the world's largest LEED certified convention center and the fourth-largest convention center in the United States. Opened in 1976, the GWCC was the first state-owned convention center established in the United States. The center is operated on behalf of the state by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which was chartered in 1971 by Georgia General Assembly to develop an international trade and exhibition center in Atlanta. The authority later developed the Georgia Dome, Centennial Olympic Park, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which replaced the Georgia Dome. In 2017, the Georgia Dome was closed on March 5 and demolished by implosion on November 20 while Mercedes-Benz Stadium officially opened on August 26. While the GWCCA owns Mercedes-Benz Stadium, AMB Group, the parent organization for the National Football League's Atlanta Falcons and Major League Soccer's Atlanta United FC, is responsible for the stadium's operations.
The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome, is a domed multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL).
Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The largest of the city's three commercial districts, it is the location of many corporate and regional headquarters; city, county, state, and federal government facilities; Georgia State University; sporting venues; and most of Atlanta's tourist attractions. It measures approximately four square miles, and had 26.850 residents as of 2017. Similar to other central business districts in the United States, it has recently undergone a transformation that includes the construction of new condos and lofts, renovation of historic buildings, and arrival of new residents and businesses.
GWCC/CNN Center station is a rail station in Atlanta, Georgia, on the Blue and Green lines of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. Located on the western edge of Downtown Atlanta, the station officially opened on December 22, 1979. It was originally called Omni station due to its proximity to the Omni Coliseum, which was demolished to build Philips Arena. The station's name expanded in 1992 as Omni/Dome/World Congress Center with that year's opening of the Georgia Dome as well as the Georgia World Congress Center. By the year 2000, the station name had changed to Dome/GWCC/Philips Arena/CNN Center. In June 2019, MARTA held a town hall to gather community input on a new name for the station after the demolition of the Georgia Dome and the renaming of Philips Arena to State Farm Arena. The station was one of five MARTA rail stations that were under consideration for new names in 2019. The name of the station was changed to GWCC/CNN Center.
The Aflac Kickoff Game is an annual series of college football games played on the opening weekend of the NCAA Division I FBS season in Atlanta, Georgia. Organized by the Peach Bowl, the event coincides with Labor Day weekend in the United States. From its inception in 2008 until 2016, it was held at the Georgia Dome. The Georgia Dome's replacement, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, began hosting the games starting in 2017. Since 2012, there have been occasional doubleheaders in the series.
A total of twenty-nine sports venues were used for the 1996 Summer Olympics.
The 2012 season was the New Orleans Saints' 46th in the National Football League (NFL) and their 37th playing home games at the Superdome. The Saints head coach was Sean Payton, but he was suspended by the NFL for the entire season as part of the punishment for the team's bounty scandal. On April 12, 2012, linebackers coach Joe Vitt was named interim head coach to replace Payton while he was suspended. On August 22, 2012, it was announced that Aaron Kromer would take over while Vitt himself served a six-game suspension to start the regular season. The Saints attempted to make history as the first host team to play the Super Bowl on their own home field, but they were eliminated from post-season contention for the first time since 2008 in Week 16. The Saints set an NFL record for most yards given up by a defense, 7,042 yards, surpassing the 1981 Baltimore Colts record of 6,793 yards.
Sports in Atlanta has a rich history, including the oldest on-campus NCAA Division I football stadium, Bobby Dodd Stadium, built in 1913 by the students of Georgia Tech. Atlanta also played host to the second intercollegiate football game in the South, played between the A&M College of Alabama and the University of Georgia in Piedmont Park in 1892; this game is now called the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. The city hosts college football's annual Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the Peachtree Road Race, the world's largest 10 km race. Atlanta was the host city for the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics, and Downtown Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park was built for and commemorates the games.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Opened in August 2017 as a replacement for the Georgia Dome, it serves as the home stadium of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) and Atlanta United FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). The stadium is owned by the state government of Georgia through the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, and operated by AMB Group, the parent organization of the Falcons and Atlanta United FC. In June 2016, the total cost of its construction was estimated at US$1.6 billion.
Atlanta United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference.
The 2016 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's 51st season in the National Football League (NFL) and the second under head coach Dan Quinn. It also marked the team's 25th and final season playing their home games at the Georgia Dome, as the Falcons moved into the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2017. The Falcons won the NFC South for the first time since 2012 and improved on their 8–8 record from 2015, going 11–5 and earning the second seed in the NFC playoffs. Quarterback Matt Ryan was named the 2016 NFL MVP. The Falcons scored 540 points, the most in the NFL for 2016 and 8th all-time. The team scored fewer than 23 points only once all season: a 24–15 loss to the Eagles.
The 2017 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's 52nd season in the National Football League (NFL) and their third under head coach Dan Quinn. They entered the season as the defending NFC champions and tried to defend their NFC title for a second consecutive trip to the Super Bowl after losing the previous year against the Patriots in Super Bowl LI after blowing a 28-3 lead. This was the Falcons' first year in Mercedes-Benz Stadium after spending the previous 25 seasons in the Georgia Dome, which was demolished on November 20, 2017. Mercedes-Benz Stadium opened as scheduled on August 26, 2017; however, its retractable roof system was incomplete. The roof of Mercedes-Benz Stadium remained in the closed position for most of the 2017 season, with the roof opened only during the September 17 game against the Green Bay Packers, as contractors continued to fully mechanize the roof.
The 2017 season was the New Orleans Saints' 51st in the National Football League (NFL), their 42nd playing home games at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and their 11th under head coach Sean Payton. The team improved on their 7–9 output from the previous season, while achieving an eight-game winning streak after losing their first two contests, their longest streak since 2009, when they won Super Bowl XLIV. In Week 13 the Saints clinched their first winning season since 2013 and swept the Carolina Panthers for the first time since 2011. In Week 16, the Saints clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2013 by defeating the Atlanta Falcons. In Week 17, the Saints clinched the NFC South for the first time since 2011 with the Panthers loss to the Falcons. This was the first of four consecutive NFC South titles for the Saints. On January 7, 2018 the Saints played their divisional rival Carolina Panthers in the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. They beat Carolina 31–26 in the Wild Card, but lost 29–24 to the Minnesota Vikings in the Divisional Round in a shocking ending.
Center Parc Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The stadium is the home of the Georgia State University Panthers football team as of the 2017 season, replacing the Georgia Dome which had served as their home stadium from the program's inception in 2010 until 2016.
The 2018 season was the Atlanta Falcons' 53rd in the National Football League, their second playing their home games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and their fourth under head coach Dan Quinn. The Falcons attempted to be the first team to play the Super Bowl in their home stadium as an expected Super Bowl contender. However, the Falcons were riddled with injuries, losing 7 starters to IR with the Falcons stumbling to a 1–4 start.
The 2018 season was the New Orleans Saints' 52nd in the National Football League (NFL), their 43rd at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and their 12th under head coach Sean Payton.
The 2020 season was the Atlanta Falcons' 55th season in the National Football League (NFL), their fourth playing their home games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and their sixth and final season under head coach Dan Quinn.
John F. Kennedy Park is a public park in the Vine City neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The park, named after former United States president John F. Kennedy, was reopened in 2019 following an extensive renovation.
The 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship is the upcoming college football bowl game scheduled to be played on January 20, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The eleventh College Football Playoff National Championship will determine the national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for the 2024 season. It will be the final game of the 2024–25 College Football Playoff (CFP), the first CFP National Championship under the 12-team format, and, aside from any all-star games afterward, the culminating game of the 2024–25 bowl season. It will be televised nationally by ESPN.
† – Centennial Olympic Stadium was rebuilt in 1997 as Turner Field. Turner Field was subsequently rebuilt in 2017 as Center Parc Stadium. See also:|Atlanta landmarks
†= Team's stadium under construction or refurbishment at time 1 = A team used the stadium when their permanent stadium was unable to be used as a result of damage.
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