The Birmingham city council approved $8 million annually in funding for a dome to be built adjacent to the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. The dome, with a $530 million price tag, would be completed in 2014. The domed stadium would be capable of holding 67,000 spectators for football games and 70,000 for NCAA basketball games (initial capacity 57,500). A groundbreaking for this stadium was held July 21, 2009 but this project has run into a lot problems... here are some concept drawings and preliminary sketches:

http://drugcalledtradition.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/bhamdome.jpg?w=453&h=250http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2008/12/large_BJCC%20atrium.jpghttp://www.brantleyvisioneering.com/images/morfeoshow/bjcc_expansi-7779/big/Picture7.jpghttp://www.brantleyvisioneering.com/images/morfeoshow/bjcc_expansi-7779/big/Picture6.jpg

http://media.al.com/businessnews/photo/populous-design---1014jpg-0fcd77682a345af3_large.jpg

The latest design:
http://newsroom.bjcc.org/images/10049/media_gallery/Overhead%20view%20of%20facility.jpg

Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex:
http://www.bwcitypaper.com/editorial/2007-04-19/1_PF_BJCC_site_LG.jpg

http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2010/08/02/story6.html

BJCC leaders: No money for dome project

The prospect of a 70,000-seat multipurpose facility being built in Birmingham is on life support as officials search for ways to fund the struggling $375 million downtown project.

And several Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex leaders say the funding is going to be so hard to come by they consider the dome project – 12 years in the making – to be officially dead.

“The money is not there, let’s be real about this, the revenue is not there,” said E.C. Brown, vice chairman of the BJCC board. “Construction prices are good this time of year, but the money is not there. (The project) is dead, D-E-A-D, dead.”

With Jefferson County on the brink of bankruptcy thanks to bad bond deals during its sewer expansion, BJCC officials say it’s up to the city of Birmingham to get a bond or a long-shot public-private partnership to make it happen. The board has also discussed selling naming rights.

Sounded like a silly idea from the beginning. Almost like the Alamodome.

http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2010/08/02/story6.html

BJCC leaders: No money for dome project

The prospect of a 70,000-seat multipurpose facility being built in Birmingham is on life support as officials search for ways to fund the struggling $375 million downtown project.

And several Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex leaders say the funding is going to be so hard to come by they consider the dome project – 12 years in the making – to be officially dead.

“The money is not there, let’s be real about this, the revenue is not there,” said E.C. Brown, vice chairman of the BJCC board. “Construction prices are good this time of year, but the money is not there. (The project) is dead, D-E-A-D, dead.”

With Jefferson County on the brink of bankruptcy thanks to bad bond deals during its sewer expansion, BJCC officials say it’s up to the city of Birmingham to get a bond or a long-shot public-private partnership to make it happen. The board has also discussed selling naming rights.

^^ Also, the man who brought this project to fruition, former Mayor Larry Langford, was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for a long-running bribery scheme...

http://www.bhamweekly.com/birmingham/print-article-1269-print.html
http://www2.nbc13.com/vtm/news/local/article/larry_langford_sentenced_ordered_to_prison_and_pay_back_taxes/136088/

Some people believe the project was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Seems a bit big for UAB, unless they can get the Iron Bowl (annual football game between Alabama {Tuscaloosa} and Auburn) there.

Sounds like something he thought up to get the heat off him.

If Birmingham needs something better they should just upgrade what they have, it isn't like an NFL team will be moving in anytime soon.

Past dome proposals for Birmingham (from http://bhamwiki.com/w/Domed_stadium_proposals):

Birmingham Barons owner Art Clarkson introduced the idea of building a domed stadium in Birmingham in 1983. Discussion of expanding or replacing Legion Field was kick-started in 1993 when the Southeastern Conference decided to move the SEC Championship Game to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, two years into a five-game contract with the city. In 1995 Birmingham mayor Richard Arrington Jr. had city staff evaluate potential sites for a new stadium, including the idea of erecting a roof over Legion Field. About the same time, officials in Alabaster began discussing the possibility of purchasing a former limestone quarry and building a domed sports stadium in it. The Alabaster Dome proposal was halted because of difficulties in obtaining the needed land, but it did spur a bill in the Alabama Legislature, sponsored by John Rogers, which set up a commission to acquire and operate a stadium in the Birmingham area. The version of the bill that passed, however, removed the commission's power to direct the use of state revenues for the project. The 1997 Southeastern Regional NCAA Basketball Tournament, held at the BJCC Arena, was predicted to be the last regional tournament that could be held in Birmingham without a larger venue. Figures like the SEC's Roy Kramer and Gene Hallman of the Alabama Sports Foundation were already looking forward to a study for expanding convention and event facilities in Birmingham. A steering committee headed by Hallman and Larry Lemak commissioned a study to determine what type of facility might suit Birmingham's needs. The result of the study was the Metropolitan Area Projects Strategy campaign of 1998. It was modeled after a similar program which was passed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1993, but planned to more closely resemble the 67,000-seat Trans World Dome in St Louis, Missouri along with its associated Cervantes Convention Center and St Louis' MetroLink transit system. The proposal contained, along with several other initiatives, a proposal for a "multi-purpose convention and entertainment facility", which was projected to cost under $300 million. The overall package of capital projects, to be funded by a 1-cent increase in sales taxes as well as larger increases in lodging taxes, was put to a referendum of all Jefferson County voters. Opponents of the plan, notably the group known as "RAPS" (for "Real Accountability, Progress, and Solutions"), promised an alternative means of funding the same slate of projects. The vote had a high turnout and the plan was defeated by a margin of 57 to 43 percent, with "no" votes coming primarily from outside Birmingham proper. The "RAPS" group never produced any alternative schemes. Despite the other aspects of the MAPS plan and the rhetoric of both sides in the debate, the vote has been commonly viewed as a referendum on a publicly-funded domed stadium.

http://www.waymakerenterprises.net/images/megaplex_280.jpg
Birmingham Megaplex - July 31, 2007 - Waymaker Enterprises held a press conference at the Embassy Suites hotel in Birmingham announcing its plans to build the Birmingham Megaplex. The proposed project will consist of 72,000 seat Dome Stadium, a 25,000 seat Arena, Hotels and an Entertainment district. Alabama State Representative John Rogers, who has been pursing the construction of a dome stadium for 11 years, believes that he has found the right group in Waymaker to complete the project and bring a dome stadium and possible professional sports franchise to Birmingham.

http://assets.bizjournals.com/story_image/107824-0-0-3.jpghttp://blog.al.com/developments/2009/04/large_DomeWithDistrict.jpg
BJCC Dome - Proponents of building a dome regained steam over the next decade. The Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Authority considered a covered multi-purpose event facility central to their long-range expansion plans. A multi-purpose facility adjacent to the BJCC was incorporated into the City Center Master Plan, presented in 2003 and efforts continued to secure commitments of funding from the City of Birmingham, Jefferson County, and the State of Alabama. The city agreed to the request, but the county, reeling from a sewer construction scandal, increasing debts, and uncertainty about the future of the occupational tax, would not commit. Governor Bob Riley said the State's support would only be given once local leaders presented a unified plan. The BJCC decided to explore alternatives and to focus on the development of an entertainment district on the land they had already purchased. The debate over domed stadium plans continued in the run-up to the 2006 elections. Once again, suburban voters made a stand, putting a new Republican majority on the commission which promised greater fiscal responsibility and specifically rejected the notion of lending their support to having a domed stadium as part of any expansion to the BJCC. Other locations for a stadium were floated, including the Alabaster quarry site and another undeveloped site in Forestdale. Birmingham City Council president Carole Smitherman called for designing a fabric roof over Legion Field as a cheaper alternative. Meeting in Salt Lake City in February 2007, the BJCC authority, including Birmingham mayor Bernard Kincaid and Jefferson County Commission president Bettye Fine Collins, voted unanimously to pursue a $505.5 million expansion, including $380 million for a 40,000 seat arena which could be used to provide 175,000 square feet of exhibition space. For a time it appeared as if the smaller stadium proposal enjoyed broad support, but criticisms sprung up regarding its inability to house potential tenants such as the Magic City Classic (or a possible NFL team). Conflicting reports of private backing came and went, with State Representative John Rogers and County Commissioner Larry Langford periodically stating that a full-scale dome in one or another location, built with private money, was a "done deal." The dome remained a hot topic during the 2007 Birmingham mayoral election. All nine candidates expressed some support for building a dome, or at least for putting it to another referendum. In a forum in Smithfield, candidates addressed a question about the future of Legion Field. William Bell said he hoped to build a domed stadium in its place. Larry Langford proposed turning into a park like New York's Flushing Meadows and building a new stadium at Fair Park. As Langford's status as a front-runner emerged, he promised to make building a dome a priority for his administration and that he would propose a way to pay for it without help from the state or county within his first 30 days in office.

I actually think it would be a great way to add significant convention space if you have the need for the convention space. Conventions create huge revenues if you can get them. Again, you have to have the conventions and other events to justify it. So I don't know why this is such a far fetched idea. I actually wish they go ahead and dome the Cotton Bowl and make the floor space useable for conventions.

very nice:yes:

I have never understood why Birgmingham has proposed such a large dome. They are not a destination city so even with this dome there is very little chance they will be hosting many if any superbowls/final fours. They will be hosting a college midmajor football team that won't fill that stadium and possibly an NCAA basketball regional every 4-5 years. They will never be an NFL city, that dome would be like the alamo dome, a sign of a city that is desperate to be more than what it is.

I have been through that city a few times and maybe I'm biased but I would never choose to host anything in that city even if they had the facilities.

Hey that looks amazing, If it doesn't go ahead can we have it instead.....:cheers:

I go there every year for business and stay at that Sheraton and that area is a dump, plain and simple. There is nothing appealing at all near the convention center. B'ham needs a lot of help, but this dome was a white elephant from the get go; UAB barely draws 10k to their home games despite fudged numbers, and they were never gonna get an expansion NFL or NBA team.