ATLANTA - Georgia Dome (71,228)

[tocino]

Originally Posted by etched Chaos

Sure, if you like playing on synthetic grass then thats great. Personally I'm a traditionalist, nothing beats playing on natural ground. Also, as much as its unqiue, it still looks liek a Circus Tent and there are many places that look a millions times better.

Exactly. Natural grass > astro turf disguised as grass

[mrstar]

The Georgia Dome looks really dated. It was only built 13 years or so ago?

Remember when WCW was at it's peak and they would fill the whole stadium to capacity and RAW could only manage to just fill the Pepsi Arena round to cornor?!

Salad Days.

Love the new renders though.

[rantanamo]

that's what you get with what is currently considered ultra modern. Usually doesn't date well in 10 years.

[Jim856796]

During the 2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, a tornado ripped two holes in the dome during a quarterfinal game. Will we have to do renovations to the Georgia Dome because of this?

[Scoots71]

Originally Posted by Jim856796

During the 2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, a tornado ripped two holes in the dome during a quarterfinal game. Will we have to do renovations to the Georgia Dome because of this?

There won't be any renovations done that weren't already planned because of the tornado. It might put off the replacement of every seat in the stadium though. The inside of the walls above the upper decks were about to be replaced over this summer anyway. The nature of the roof allows for only the damaged panels to only be replaces, and will not require any total roof replacement. The infrastructure of the Dome is perfectly okay, except for the minor roof damage, the only damages were cosmetic to the exterior.

[rover3]

Not just Olympic basketball. The other half hosted gymnastics. That's the venue where the heroic Kerri Strug did her vault despite her sprained ankle, and help the US women's team win the Team Gold!!

It's really an OK stadium considering Georgia didn't go bankrupt just to erect a stadium.

[Yrmom247]

Originally Posted by rantanamo

That's the Georgia World Convention Center. Its is a common practice to place domed stadiums or arenas either adjacent to or attached to convention centers. Most convention centers at least have an attached arena. The site has a heavy rail stop.

I imagine roof height has to do with use. Punts can go very high. They also may have wondered if the Braves would play there at some point between stadiums or if they never built one. Ceiling height would definitely be an issue at that point or you'd have a Tropicana Field situation.

Georgia World Congress Center.

[rantanamo]

Georgia Dome renovation: New seats, paint, scoreboards, video, banners and concourse work

image hosted on flickr

[bing222]

Nice photos

[Gecko1989]

omg are there more pictures please please find more pictures.

[Jim856796]

I was over at the Urbanplanet forums and I found out about a crazy expansion plan for the Georgia World Congress Centre and a new or renovated Georgia Dome. The proposals involve either a new exhibition hall or a new Falcons to the south or to the north or renovations to the existing Georgia Dome. Why I am opposed to this plan is that a new stadium usually involves demolition of the existing facility, and the Georgia Dome is way too modern to be replaced by a new facility, despite being older than 20 or so other NFL Stadiums. Also, I think the Georgia World Congress Centre has had enough expansions. If you want to expand a convention center in Atlanta, you can expand the Georgia International Convention Centre near the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. The building now covers only slightly less than two-thirds of the maximum space for the site. and we already did renovations to the Georgia Dome recently, such as replacing the teal seats with red and repainting the colour scheme of the exterior. And somebody even proposed a new stadium for the Falcons to be built in Doraville. If that new Falcons stadium is ever built, it is almost certain to become a white elephant. So are you for a new Falcons Stadium or against it? I, myself, am against a new stadium.

[kuquito]

It does have a pretty unattractive roof, but the stand sections are georgeous!

[swaugh3]

Originally Posted by Jim856796

I was over at the Urbanplanet forums and I found out about a crazy expansion plan for the Georgia World Congress Centre and a new or renovated Georgia Dome. The proposals involve either a new exhibition hall or a new Falcons to the south or to the north or renovations to the existing Georgia Dome. Why I am opposed to this plan is that a new stadium usually involves demolition of the existing facility, and the Georgia Dome is way too modern to be replaced by a new facility, despite being older than 20 or so other NFL Stadiums. Also, I think the Georgia World Congress Centre has had enough expansions. If you want to expand a convention center in Atlanta, you can expand the Georgia International Convention Centre near the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. The building now covers only slightly less than two-thirds of the maximum space for the site. and we already did renovations to the Georgia Dome recently, such as replacing the teal seats with red and repainting the colour scheme of the exterior. And somebody even proposed a new stadium for the Falcons to be built in Doraville. If that new Falcons stadium is ever built, it is almost certain to become a white elephant. So are you for a new Falcons Stadium or against it? I, myself, am against a new stadium.

I agree! And I certainly don't want to see a new stadium built in Doraville or anywhere in the suburbs.

[GunnerJacket]

Originally Posted by Jim856796

I was over at the Urbanplanet forums and I found out about a crazy expansion plan for the Georgia World Congress Centre and a new or renovated Georgia Dome. The proposals involve either a new exhibition hall or a new Falcons to the south or to the north or renovations to the existing Georgia Dome. Why I am opposed to this plan is that a new stadium usually involves demolition of the existing facility, and the Georgia Dome is way too modern to be replaced by a new facility, despite being older than 20 or so other NFL Stadiums. Also, I think the Georgia World Congress Centre has had enough expansions. If you want to expand a convention center in Atlanta, you can expand the Georgia International Convention Centre near the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. The building now covers only slightly less than two-thirds of the maximum space for the site. and we already did renovations to the Georgia Dome recently, such as replacing the teal seats with red and repainting the colour scheme of the exterior. And somebody even proposed a new stadium for the Falcons to be built in Doraville. If that new Falcons stadium is ever built, it is almost certain to become a white elephant. So are you for a new Falcons Stadium or against it? I, myself, am against a new stadium.

On the surface I'm against a new stadium, but there's more to this than what you've presented.

First, the concept of a new stadium is suggested for about 10+ years from now. The owner, Arthur Blank, is trying to ensure his team has not only the best stadium/financial deal available but also has been working with the City, GWCC and others with respect to long-term event hosting. The kicker is that it appears Atlanta may be left out of future Super Bowls because of the weather and some "inadequacies" with the stadium, which as best as I can tell has to do with the prime suites and hosting facilities directly tied with the stadium. Yes, Phillips Arena and the GWCC are immediately adjacent to the stadium, but the costs and coordination are no longer on par with the likes of a renovated Dolphins stadium, UofPhoenix Stadium, etc. Blank paid for the recent cosmetic makeover and was willing to pay for the redevelopment of one corner to provide a lot of these amenities IF the city got one of the upcoming super bowl, but it didn't pan out.

Once that project was pushed back outside parties made pitches to the Falcons for alternative sites. The theory being that, if Atlanta isn't going to be getting anymore Super Bowls then the Dome could survive by hosting select college games, HS playoffs and non-football events like concerts, NCAA's tournament games, etc. The Falcons, meanwhile, would be free to get a new venue, one more "right-sized" for the team (ie: about 65k) tailored just to their needs. But these ideas were floated more by the outside parties (like the developer in Doraville) and not by the Falcons.

Latest word is that the Falcons and GWCC will enter into an extensive review of potential redevelopment options on the same site, again only for the long term. This may not even include alterations to the dome proper but rather a re-engineering of the convention facilities and public areas around the Dome to make it more attractive to all types of users. Atlanta is losing convention business to more and more other cities due mostly to the lack of amenities - It's easier for the likes of Denver and Orlando to build a convention center than it is for Atlanta to conceive a major tourist attraction to make the city a more appealing destination. The aquarium will help, and Centennial Park is becoming a nice pocket of such attractions, but more will be needed to keep convention business flowing into the GWCC the way it used to. The Falcons are merely trying to see how they fit in within that scope.

Hopefully they stay put and the GWCC eventually is revitalized with some dynamic architecture.

[en1044]

[Bobby3]

That's a cool video.

[ryebreadraz]

AC MIlan vs. Club America tonight from the Georgia Dome. It should be a fun look at the stadium in soccer mode.

[Scoots71]

AC Milan vs. Club America match. there were some 50,300 fans there. Here's some pictures I took. The place was far from full, but it was loud in there.

[coren]

Great shots there.

As a Saints fan I think the Georgia Dome is an intimidating venue to visit and definitely one of our least attractive games on the schedule. I've enjoyed many a famous New Orleans Saints victory there but still it's always the game I pencil a 50/50 next to on the schedule no matter how poor a Falcon team we face.

[Ganis]

The only reason i like this stadium is because of the technology they use to keep the roof up. Its amazing what you can do when you manipulate gravity against its self.