As a Seattle fan I will always have a soft spot for this place. It’s the birthplace of the 12th man, because the dome would trap the fan noise, and this encouraged the fans to be even louder. The tradition of Seahawks home games being loud started here.
The Kingdome was a dump, but that is where I saw my first NBA, NFL, and MLB games. I was there at the 1987 NBA All-Star Game, and in high school I dreamed of one day playing in the Kingbowl there.
A stadium that anchored three professional franchises can't be all bad. If you weren't there at the time, you really can't understand just what a marvel it was considered to be playing football and baseball indoors. They weren't nearly as bad as you think. During the 1987 and 1991 World Series the Metrodome, which also hosted three franchises for a time, made for one of the best atmospheres in baseball history.
@@smmichie What's ridiculous is to dismiss something you obviously weren't around for. In 1987 the Metrodome was twice as loud as Busch Stadium. It was similar in '91. Also in 1987 more errors were committed by opponents in the Metrodome than in any other venue. It was a huge advantage for the Twins and it is doubtful they would have won without that. Target Field, while consistently ranking as one of the very best stadiums in MLB, has been subdued and reserved by comparison.
Here in Seattle, we loved the Kingdome and had many great memories. Yes, the newer football and baseball stadiums are better, but the nostalgia we have for the Kingdome can't be beat. I'll never forget the Paul McCartney Wings concert in 1978!
I was at a Red Sox game against the Mariners which would have been played in Seattle but because of the ceiling collapse they had the game at Fenway Park. Tickets went on sale that day and full every section but the outfield bleachers were closed. Ken Griffey Jr. was on second base and me, my father and my best friend were sitting on the third base side. My friend gave a double gun point to Junior and Junior gave one back.
I remember being at the final home game in '94, which was the night before the tiles fell, and we had a victory against the Orioles. Although The Kingdome has had a bad reputation for being an indoor multi-purpose stadium, when the Mariners had their epic '95 play-off run, no one in Washington could've cared less. During that six-week stretch, the type of ballpark we played in didn't matter. All we cared about was that the team was winning and during that span, there was no better place to be in Washington than The Kingdome. It was one of the most exciting times to live in that state since Seattle became a major sports town, and many of that ballpark's best memories were in September and October of '95. And when we ended our post-season drought last year, our best home games of September were very reminiscent of the epic run from 27 years prior. Regarding Lumen Field, it's original name wasn't Qwest Field. It was Seahawks Stadium for its first two seasons (which I still call it today) before having three corporate name changes.
My fondest memory of the Kingdome is when Bo Jackson just went off against the Seahawks. He rushed for 221 yards and 3 touchdowns (including an epic 91 yard run), while trucking much hyped rookie Brian Bosworth!🏈
It’s interesting that despite its objective flaws, people still LOVE this stadium. It has a cult following stronger than most other abandoned stadiums in sports. You’ll still find people from the PNW that miss it and even prefer it over Safeco/Tmobile. It definitely had to go when it did, and I’d much rather have Safeco with its open air roof and Lumen with its ear-shattering atmosphere, but I can’t deny that the Kingdome has a charm that simply can’t be found anywhere else.
Kingdome roof was designed to keep noise in it was very loud in the Kingdome, especially for football. The best feature for baseball was the right field wall when they painted it blue. If they would've used curtains for the right field upper deck like the Metrodome did the baseball configuration would not have looked so bad being that the upper deck didn't wrap around.
The Kingdome is my favorite stadium of all time. When I was a child growing up in Portland, Oregon, my father would take me to Seattle every year to see an entire series between the Oakland A's (my favorite team) and the Mariners. I marveled at the Kingdome through young eyes. It was so massive and cool. They figured out how to build a baseball stadium with a roof over it! Holy shit! The day they blew it up was a sad day for me. Many great memories there watching the A's of the McGwire, Canseco and Henderson era dominate the Mariners.
Actually it was - Imploded not Blown-Up. I watched that on King 5 ( NBC ) live and it was a heart felt day. Our family has lived in WA ( Federal Way ) since 1980 : I can't count how many times I went to the King Dome over the years. With the New Stadiums replacing it - helped to ease the pain of losing it.
Two discussions in the late 60's and early seventies were: 1.) Weyerhauser, THE timber company in the Northwest, was urging that any stadium in/near Seattle should be built of wood and wood products, and 2.) There would be (and eventually was the case) limited parking, thus not over impacting Seattle traffic on game days, forcing the use of transit in the area. At one point there was even a proposal to extend the Monorail south to any stadium site.
I loved going to the Kingdome. Walking through the tunnel in the 300 level into the domed area was such an incredible experience. You could not see inside to the playing field from the concessions area till you went through the tunnel into your seating area. It was just MASSIVE and so impressive. I still have a clear memory of going to a sellout game, the first return of the Yankees after they lost to us in the playoffs in '95. We had seats in the right field area and we were surrounded by blue collar bleacher creatures, just as God intended for baseball. My Mom would not let us sit in the metal bench until she went to the bathroom and soaped up some paper towels and scrubbed them, then rinsed them with wet ones, and dried them with dried ones. You can imagine the looks of our entire section of seeing a little Asian lady with arms full of paper towels, some wet some not and us standing next to the bench. I was kind of embarrassed. I saw a guy see my Mom and ask: "what is this lady doing?" She began wiping the bench, and when she was done, flipped the first paper towel over and everyone in the entire section screamed! 😂 The big dude asking what my Mom was doing started freaking out about his own seat and asked if she could wipe his too. 😂 Anyways. Disgusting. It was a dump, but it was OUR dump!
I distinctively remember Bob Costas saying, when he was broadcasting the 2000 ALCS on NBC that the Kingdome was ugly. I'm paraphrasing but when the series moved to Seattle for Game 3, Costas said at the top of the broadcast, unlike the monstrosity that was the Kingdome, a pitcher's nightmare with its bandbox dimensions, the Mariners' new home, what was then known as Safeco Field, now T-Mobile Park, was not only beautiful but favored the pitchers. If it's up on CZcams, I'll try to go back and look at it to because I seem to recall sometime during the broadcast, Bob Costas going further on-air on how horrible of a ballpark the Kingdome was.
Even though the Kingdome was ugly it is still beloved to this day by many in Seattle and the greater PNW. Even though the new stadiums it's been replaced with are infinitely better, it's still kind of legendary around here and holds a special place in many people's hearts. I remember so many people went and took pieces of concrete after they imploded it just to say they had a piece of the Kingdome.
The place will always hold a special place in my heart. I saw Montell Jordan and Ginuwine back to back years for the “Schools Out” celebration. Oh, and all those Griffey HR’s and Randy K’s… ❤
The CZcams channel balsamwoods has a video that is a tour of the Kingdome from 1992. I get why the Kingdome looked undesirable even back then. It gave off this dark, cold, damp, brutalist vibe in its atmosphere. It would almost be like how I would imagine playing baseball in a dungeon would be like. It didn't help that prior to the memorable, "Refuse to Lose" season in 1995, the Mariners were practically a non-entity in the American League.
Going to the Kingdome especially in the 95 season was a great thrill. I remember the old tvs in the obstructed view and sitting in the 300 level on the first base line. May have been ugly but it sure was loud
It was big dark and gray, but goddamn do I have amazing childhood memories there. Seeing fireworks inside as a third grader after a Griffey HR, priceless to me. Got a few pieces of it in my collection
By complete change I happened to catch the live demolition of the Kingdome. It was on a Sunday morning and for some reason I was home that day. Those years I was in church at those hours on Sundays.
Gotta say you're one of my underrated youtubers of the year! Love the work you do. You should talk about the Metrodome and show pictures of the Timberwolves playing there, played their first few seasons until Target Center opened.
Strange thing is, I live in Raleigh, NC and we actually get more rain here than in Seattle because they get a lot of light rain and we are times get a lot here. Go figure.
My dad has been a Seattle Seahawks fan since the 1980s with the Steve Largent days where they played in the Kingdome. Of course in retrospective, Lumen Field (I still call it CenturyLink) is much better than the Kingdome but I feel like that it did its job for the time and they moved on for the better.
Actually at least in recent years they have closed the roof at T-Mobile for a few games early in the season just to maintain some warmth because it can be pretty chilly in April, but you are right that most of the time it is open unless there is rain or a chance of rain
In addition to the Mariners, Seahawks & Sonics, the Kingdome was also home of the Sounders of the NASL from 1976-1983, meaning from 1978 (when the Sonics moved in) -1983 the Kingdome was home to four teams at once. In fact the very first event at the Kingdome was a NASL match between the Sounders & the NY Cosmos (who had Pele) that drew one of the largest crowds the Kingdome ever saw. When it came to soccer, the Kingdome was actually one of the better venues in the NASL from the players perspective because it had a wide field. However this also meant that the fans were seated far away from the field making it not so spectator friendly. Despite that, the Sounders were among the league leaders in attendance during their time in the NASL. The Kingdome also hosted the NCAA Final Four for men's soccer in 1985 & even hosted a World Cup qualifier (the first one held indoors) between the US & Canada in 1976.
I went to Seattle in 2018 to see Pearl Jam play at Safeco Field. I got there early and actually got to see the roof retract closed, it was really neat. I'm a fan of that stadium.
The absolute loudest stadium in MLB history. Those sold out games of the late 90's made up for all the years of empty seats. I also heard that the last row in right field 300 level was the furthest from home plate, in MLB. Even further then the Vet. Sat up there one time, Randy Johnson on the mound for the first interleague match up againstThe Rockies, it was brutal! I still miss that place
I used to call it "Darth Vader's Vacation Retreat" due to the grayness and the deep booming voices of the PA announcers boucing around the concrete. Although with that said, as a general spectator it wasn't THAT bad to watch a game or other event of any type in. Not nearly up to today's standards, but also not horrible. The real negative things I remember about it was how it had no escalators and only 1 elevator (that went to the press box). So when you got there, you started climbing those ramps you see along the outside. And then when you got in, you climbed even higher to your seat (especially in the upper deck). Even as a kid and young adult who was in relatively good shape, that climb took a toll on you before the event even started. And the corridor's were super tight, too. It wasn't that noticible at a Mariners game in the 70's and 80's (mostly since there was barely anyone there). But for a Seahawks game or a larger concert...all I know is that if an emergency happened, just about everyone in there possibly could have been in serious peril trying to get out. T-Mobile Park and Lumen Field are definite upgrades and I love them both, but every now and then when I think back on it, I do kinda miss the Kingdome. It has it's special place in Seattle lore...for mostly good reasons.
I asked for it and I have received! I used to pass this building all the time as a kid and was perplexed as to short of a lifespan it had compared to other buildings of the same era. Even the Tacoma Dome, which is a much smaller complex, has lasted longer.
I only managed to get through half this vid before I had to stop. Talk about a debby downer. As someone who grew up in washington and went to MANY baseball games there as well as conventions with my dad ( rental conventions), I loved that place. I was so sad when they tore it down. You are in WASHINGTON STATE! it was RIGHT NEXT TO THE WATER! Washington rains a LOT! Yeah it was all cement but they wanted to make sure it stood if the water levels ever rose high enough to hit the stadium. I guess its something people who did not grow up in the area will never understand. Also i was little but i always recall baseball games being PACKED! So the fact that it had so much seating... it was needed!
I remember watching the demolition of the Kingdome live on TV. The Kingdome had plenty of issues, but there is no denying its legacy. The astroturf certainly did its damage to a lot of players. Safeco Field is great though. I was at the first ever, maybe only ever rain delay at Safeco when the roof failed to close. Love your videos. Hopefully people will learn from the past and design stadiums even better. I certainly think a stadium should have a 30+ year life. These teams complaining after 10-15 years need to suck it up. RIP Kingdome, thanks for the memories.
I laugh at how YOU rank it badly.. it was not though that badly of until the opening of Skydome in Toronto and later Camden Yards… then started the “Gotta Keep up with the Joneses” attitude and almost everyone HAD TO HAVE A NEW STADIUM… ugh… A few I could agree with.. Yankee stadium was over 80 years old… Memorial stadium in Cleveland and the stadium in Baltimore.. those were old.. The cookie cutters.. teams just hated the thought of sharing.. because they got greedy… oh at the end, the Vet was falling apart (and had some stands collapse during an army-navy game)…
There’s no such thing as the industrial district of Seattle. It’s called ”SODO“ south of downtown. Most people who lived in Seattle and used to go there didn’t think it was that bad especially during the playoffs. It was electric and probably one of the loudest stadium’s ever.
Saw the World Series winning 92 Jays play in the Kingdome. Edgar, Griff. Juan Guzman started for the Jays. M's weren't great that year but all that talent was in place. Only thing I ever saw in there. Yeah it wasn't great but Seattle fans were always pretty awesome. At that time not that many Jays fans were going down to games. Which was kind of weird because the Jays were awesome through the late 80's early 90's. But geezus did Safeco ever make up for what the Kingdome wasn't. I absolutely love safeco. Always enjoy walking into that stadium. It's just such a great ballpark.
They had a lease dispute with the owners. The initial move to the kingdome resulted in NBA attendance records, but it eventually became clear it was a bad venue for basketball.
Seattle Center Coliseum wasn't that big. So they went to The Kingdome to see if they could fix the problem. I guess there was too many complaints not to mention conflicting schedules in events. So I believe that's why they went back to Seattle Center Coliseum wait to see what could be done. Eventually they came up with an idea to have Seattle Center Coliseum gutted out and transform it into Key Arena.
the Kingdome was of its time but aged poorly in the 90s & it showed. The Mariners especially Griffey had the advantage of hitting Home Runs in the short distance/ high right field wall. When the roof tiles fell down in 1994, the Seahawks played half their games at UW Huskies Stadium.
the Seahawks lost all their home regular season games at home in 1980. Also if you look at scoreboard pics seats where added to the upper deck in that area going right up to the scoreboard. One MLB all-star game in 1979. and At least on NCAA final four. 1984 Georgetown vs, Houston.
@@justinjessee there’s one video where he goes quote mad and refers to some centre field seats as “disgusting” Then it’s the tarped off upper deck which is “absolutely disgusting” and of course we get the road which goes past the stadium which is “completely disgusting” Weird
Also had NCAA a number of times in the 80s. It was a crummy building that's for sure but worst all time is Candlestick by far in terms of multi use stadiums.
The place was hideous you made your case. I’d argue that atmosphere in ‘95 for the one game playoff game against the Angels and game 5 against the Yankees made it all worth it.
lol the Kingdome was awesome. Grew up watching sports there and at no time did it feel “dark” or drab. Some absolute wild times were had there. The only thing that sucked was the ramp that wrapped around the building. You walked around the entire thing to get to your seats. All the new stadiums in Seattle are an upgrade, but love criticism from someone who clearly never visited.
It was a different time back then. People liked watching sports indoors. These stadiums were marvels and they were loud. People who weren't there will probably never understand.
The Kingdome looked like an ugly clam shell. It's too bad that the city didn't build an attractive facade around the outer wall. But on the plus side, that ugly stadium probably paid for itself several times over. I did manage to catch a baseball game there in '85, and I thought that it looked really drab compared to BC Place in Vancouver (which had an inflated teflon roof like the Metrodome and Silverdome). Also saw an MLB exhibition game at BC Place too... I thought that the seating/field configuration was decent, but I wondered if the ceiling made it difficult for fielders to track pop-fly balls. And I can say this... an inflated roof overhead was nowhere near as frightening to me as that massive concrete hat over the Kingdome... a big earthquake during a game could have been horrific.
@@plmn93 Do you mean the Kingdome itself, or the roof repair? Without using the google, it seems to me that the repair was ridiculously expensive, and it wasn't long before the dome was knocked down anyway. EDIT: I stand corrected. From Wikipedia: "The Kingdome was demolished before the debt issued to finance its construction was fully paid, and as of September 2010, residents of King County were still responsible for more than $80 million in debt on the demolished stadium. The debt was retired on March 2015, nine months ahead of the original bond maturity and 15 years after the stadium's demolition. " Jeepers... 3-4 sports teams called it home all those years, along with other events... all that money made, with none of it going toward funding the dome construction? Another reason to let billionaires fund their own facilities.
@@jesusm2159 that’s not the point. Did you ever go there? You implied watching games there was a bad experience. As someone who watched countless pro sports game at the kingdome, I’m telling you, from actual experience, it was a great time. Doesn’t matter where baseball “should” be played, the kingdome was rocking.
I can see duel purpose with NHL and NBA or NFL and MLB as these both have similar needs but an NBA in an NFL stadium is like having an NHL team in a domed MLB stadium, they are going to be a poor fit.
T Mobile Park the ⚾ Stadium home of the MLB's Seattle Mariners is going to be a NHL 🏒 Arena for this coming January's NHL Winter Classic, where the Seattle Kraken are going to be the home team and taking on the defending Stanley Cup Champs the Vegas Golden Knights. I wonder what the hockey rink would look like inside T-Mobile Park
In most baseball parks, they line up the hockey rink from 3rd base to 1st base. I think the Pit/Bos winter classic was the 1st where they lined it up down the 1st base foul line.
This dude swears he knows what the best "venues" is for watching sports... You can tell who NEVER PLAYED SPORTS by there thoughts. He likes games to be more intimate played in front of only hundred's of people. Really friend...how bout you review plays instead of sports. You give NO JUSTICE OR PROPER INSIGHT
The upper deck at the Kingdome was exactly the same design as the upper deck at the Superdome. The architects wanted a more ornate exterior, like the one at the Astrodome, but they ran out of money. As it was, it became known as "The Concrete Cupcake." The roof was poorly built, leaked constantly and even had an infestation of moss. That earned another nickname: "The World's Largest Chia Pet." If you think the Kingdome was bad, you should see B.C. Place in baseball configuration: one of the weirdest stadiums ever! Because Canadian football fields are longer, the first base side had ENORMOUS foul territory, almost big enough to fit another infield.
@LitheApo great teams, for one. It was unique in its on right. It's like the astrodome, they made the stadiums pretty much the same but the Dom stadiums they had where just way better and looking. You can think whatever you want opinion wise and I can aswell. I like different and that's my opinion. Take it with a grain of salt.
As a Seattle fan I will always have a soft spot for this place. It’s the birthplace of the 12th man, because the dome would trap the fan noise, and this encouraged the fans to be even louder. The tradition of Seahawks home games being loud started here.
100% this. Memories of Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr. too
The Kingdome was a dump, but that is where I saw my first NBA, NFL, and MLB games. I was there at the 1987 NBA All-Star Game, and in high school I dreamed of one day playing in the Kingbowl there.
A stadium that anchored three professional franchises can't be all bad. If you weren't there at the time, you really can't understand just what a marvel it was considered to be playing football and baseball indoors. They weren't nearly as bad as you think. During the 1987 and 1991 World Series the Metrodome, which also hosted three franchises for a time, made for one of the best atmospheres in baseball history.
agreed!
I'm sure the stadium raked in money during those years. During the prime final years of the Metrodome, they were booked 350 days of the year.
No indoor stadium could ever be a top atmosphere in baseball history. Ridiculous comment
It also hosted the NFL Pro Bowl in 1977, the MLB All-Star Game in 1979 and the NBA All-Star Game in 1987
@@smmichie What's ridiculous is to dismiss something you obviously weren't around for. In 1987 the Metrodome was twice as loud as Busch Stadium. It was similar in '91. Also in 1987 more errors were committed by opponents in the Metrodome than in any other venue. It was a huge advantage for the Twins and it is doubtful they would have won without that. Target Field, while consistently ranking as one of the very best stadiums in MLB, has been subdued and reserved by comparison.
Here in Seattle, we loved the Kingdome and had many great memories. Yes, the newer football and baseball stadiums are better, but the nostalgia we have for the Kingdome can't be beat. I'll never forget the Paul McCartney Wings concert in 1978!
He's a 🤡
I was at a Red Sox game against the Mariners which would have been played in Seattle but because of the ceiling collapse they had the game at Fenway Park. Tickets went on sale that day and full every section but the outfield bleachers were closed. Ken Griffey Jr. was on second base and me, my father and my best friend were sitting on the third base side. My friend gave a double gun point to Junior and Junior gave one back.
Thanks for sharing this, love it
I remember being at the final home game in '94, which was the night before the tiles fell, and we had a victory against the Orioles.
Although The Kingdome has had a bad reputation for being an indoor multi-purpose stadium, when the Mariners had their epic '95 play-off run, no one in Washington could've cared less. During that six-week stretch, the type of ballpark we played in didn't matter. All we cared about was that the team was winning and during that span, there was no better place to be in Washington than The Kingdome. It was one of the most exciting times to live in that state since Seattle became a major sports town, and many of that ballpark's best memories were in September and October of '95. And when we ended our post-season drought last year, our best home games of September were very reminiscent of the epic run from 27 years prior.
Regarding Lumen Field, it's original name wasn't Qwest Field. It was Seahawks Stadium for its first two seasons (which I still call it today) before having three corporate name changes.
The '95 and the '01 seasons were amazing, the energy of the fans and city was something else.
My fondest memory of the Kingdome is when Bo Jackson just went off against the Seahawks. He rushed for 221 yards and 3 touchdowns (including an epic 91 yard run), while trucking much hyped rookie Brian Bosworth!🏈
Bo Jackson would have knocked out Cam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner AND Richard Sherman on their asses AT THE SAME TIME. They really were not that good
It’s interesting that despite its objective flaws, people still LOVE this stadium. It has a cult following stronger than most other abandoned stadiums in sports. You’ll still find people from the PNW that miss it and even prefer it over Safeco/Tmobile.
It definitely had to go when it did, and I’d much rather have Safeco with its open air roof and Lumen with its ear-shattering atmosphere, but I can’t deny that the Kingdome has a charm that simply can’t be found anywhere else.
The Kingdom was one of the ugliest stadiums ever built
Kingdome roof was designed to keep noise in it was very loud in the Kingdome, especially for football.
The best feature for baseball was the right field wall when they painted it blue. If they would've used curtains for the right field upper deck like the Metrodome did the baseball configuration would not have looked so bad being that the upper deck didn't wrap around.
The Kingdome was awesome. Great memories. Some people just can’t be pleased.
The Kingdome is my favorite stadium of all time. When I was a child growing up in Portland, Oregon, my father would take me to Seattle every year to see an entire series between the Oakland A's (my favorite team) and the Mariners. I marveled at the Kingdome through young eyes. It was so massive and cool. They figured out how to build a baseball stadium with a roof over it! Holy shit! The day they blew it up was a sad day for me. Many great memories there watching the A's of the McGwire, Canseco and Henderson era dominate the Mariners.
That is why its sister stadium Tropicana Field needs to be declared a national historic landmark and be safe from demolition.
Actually it was - Imploded not Blown-Up. I watched that on King 5 ( NBC ) live and it was a heart felt day. Our family has lived in WA ( Federal Way ) since 1980 : I can't count how many times I went to the King Dome over the years. With the New Stadiums replacing it - helped to ease the pain of losing it.
Two discussions in the late 60's and early seventies were: 1.) Weyerhauser, THE timber company in the Northwest, was urging that any stadium in/near Seattle should be built of wood and wood products, and 2.) There would be (and eventually was the case) limited parking, thus not over impacting Seattle traffic on game days, forcing the use of transit in the area. At one point there was even a proposal to extend the Monorail south to any stadium site.
The sonics also went to the tacoma dome for a season. Had a nice team too.
I loved going to the Kingdome. Walking through the tunnel in the 300 level into the domed area was such an incredible experience. You could not see inside to the playing field from the concessions area till you went through the tunnel into your seating area. It was just MASSIVE and so impressive.
I still have a clear memory of going to a sellout game, the first return of the Yankees after they lost to us in the playoffs in '95. We had seats in the right field area and we were surrounded by blue collar bleacher creatures, just as God intended for baseball. My Mom would not let us sit in the metal bench until she went to the bathroom and soaped up some paper towels and scrubbed them, then rinsed them with wet ones, and dried them with dried ones. You can imagine the looks of our entire section of seeing a little Asian lady with arms full of paper towels, some wet some not and us standing next to the bench. I was kind of embarrassed. I saw a guy see my Mom and ask: "what is this lady doing?" She began wiping the bench, and when she was done, flipped the first paper towel over and everyone in the entire section screamed! 😂 The big dude asking what my Mom was doing started freaking out about his own seat and asked if she could wipe his too. 😂 Anyways. Disgusting. It was a dump, but it was OUR dump!
man you just sparked memories I forgot I had, talking about walking through the tunnel. I remember that, the opening into the massive view.
I distinctively remember Bob Costas saying, when he was broadcasting the 2000 ALCS on NBC that the Kingdome was ugly. I'm paraphrasing but when the series moved to Seattle for Game 3, Costas said at the top of the broadcast, unlike the monstrosity that was the Kingdome, a pitcher's nightmare with its bandbox dimensions, the Mariners' new home, what was then known as Safeco Field, now T-Mobile Park, was not only beautiful but favored the pitchers. If it's up on CZcams, I'll try to go back and look at it to because I seem to recall sometime during the broadcast, Bob Costas going further on-air on how horrible of a ballpark the Kingdome was.
Even though the Kingdome was ugly it is still beloved to this day by many in Seattle and the greater PNW. Even though the new stadiums it's been replaced with are infinitely better, it's still kind of legendary around here and holds a special place in many people's hearts. I remember so many people went and took pieces of concrete after they imploded it just to say they had a piece of the Kingdome.
the stadium also had three final fours 1984, 1989, and 19995
The place will always hold a special place in my heart. I saw Montell Jordan and Ginuwine back to back years for the “Schools Out” celebration. Oh, and all those Griffey HR’s and Randy K’s… ❤
The CZcams channel balsamwoods has a video that is a tour of the Kingdome from 1992. I get why the Kingdome looked undesirable even back then. It gave off this dark, cold, damp, brutalist vibe in its atmosphere. It would almost be like how I would imagine playing baseball in a dungeon would be like. It didn't help that prior to the memorable, "Refuse to Lose" season in 1995, the Mariners were practically a non-entity in the American League.
Going to the Kingdome especially in the 95 season was a great thrill. I remember the old tvs in the obstructed view and sitting in the 300 level on the first base line. May have been ugly but it sure was loud
It was big dark and gray, but goddamn do I have amazing childhood memories there. Seeing fireworks inside as a third grader after a Griffey HR, priceless to me. Got a few pieces of it in my collection
By complete change I happened to catch the live demolition of the Kingdome. It was on a Sunday morning and for some reason I was home that day. Those years I was in church at those hours on Sundays.
Gotta say you're one of my underrated youtubers of the year! Love the work you do. You should talk about the Metrodome and show pictures of the Timberwolves playing there, played their first few seasons until Target Center opened.
Strange thing is, I live in Raleigh, NC and we actually get more rain here than in Seattle because they get a lot of light rain and we are times get a lot here. Go figure.
My dad has been a Seattle Seahawks fan since the 1980s with the Steve Largent days where they played in the Kingdome. Of course in retrospective, Lumen Field (I still call it CenturyLink) is much better than the Kingdome but I feel like that it did its job for the time and they moved on for the better.
Actually at least in recent years they have closed the roof at T-Mobile for a few games early in the season just to maintain some warmth because it can be pretty chilly in April, but you are right that most of the time it is open unless there is rain or a chance of rain
That Yankees vs Mariners game Griffey running home most epic game at the Kingdome.
In addition to the Mariners, Seahawks & Sonics, the Kingdome was also home of the Sounders of the NASL from 1976-1983, meaning from 1978 (when the Sonics moved in) -1983 the Kingdome was home to four teams at once. In fact the very first event at the Kingdome was a NASL match between the Sounders & the NY Cosmos (who had Pele) that drew one of the largest crowds the Kingdome ever saw. When it came to soccer, the Kingdome was actually one of the better venues in the NASL from the players perspective because it had a wide field. However this also meant that the fans were seated far away from the field making it not so spectator friendly. Despite that, the Sounders were among the league leaders in attendance during their time in the NASL. The Kingdome also hosted the NCAA Final Four for men's soccer in 1985 & even hosted a World Cup qualifier (the first one held indoors) between the US & Canada in 1976.
Thank you. I yelled at the start of the vid " you forgot the Sounders!"
Me too -dont forget the Sounders and monster trucks and McCartney & Wings and the Stones..etc
I went to Seattle in 2018 to see Pearl Jam play at Safeco Field. I got there early and actually got to see the roof retract closed, it was really neat. I'm a fan of that stadium.
The absolute loudest stadium in MLB history. Those sold out games of the late 90's made up for all the years of empty seats. I also heard that the last row in right field 300 level was the furthest from home plate, in MLB. Even further then the Vet. Sat up there one time, Randy Johnson on the mound for the first interleague match up againstThe Rockies, it was brutal! I still miss that place
I have lots of great memories of watching the Mariners and Seahawks there.
That stadium was demolished about two months after the Mapes Hotel in Reno.
I used to call it "Darth Vader's Vacation Retreat" due to the grayness and the deep booming voices of the PA announcers boucing around the concrete. Although with that said, as a general spectator it wasn't THAT bad to watch a game or other event of any type in. Not nearly up to today's standards, but also not horrible. The real negative things I remember about it was how it had no escalators and only 1 elevator (that went to the press box). So when you got there, you started climbing those ramps you see along the outside. And then when you got in, you climbed even higher to your seat (especially in the upper deck). Even as a kid and young adult who was in relatively good shape, that climb took a toll on you before the event even started. And the corridor's were super tight, too. It wasn't that noticible at a Mariners game in the 70's and 80's (mostly since there was barely anyone there). But for a Seahawks game or a larger concert...all I know is that if an emergency happened, just about everyone in there possibly could have been in serious peril trying to get out. T-Mobile Park and Lumen Field are definite upgrades and I love them both, but every now and then when I think back on it, I do kinda miss the Kingdome. It has it's special place in Seattle lore...for mostly good reasons.
The King County Stadium a.k.a. The KingDome was a good multi-purposed stadium
I asked for it and I have received! I used to pass this building all the time as a kid and was perplexed as to short of a lifespan it had compared to other buildings of the same era. Even the Tacoma Dome, which is a much smaller complex, has lasted longer.
The Kingdome hosted the 1987 NBA All-star game
What an awesome name for a venue like the Seattle Kingdome!
It was named King County Stadium.
It looked cavernous and reminds me of Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
Seattle unlike their cousins in Oakland/East CA. Actually imvested in sports and got new venues for Football and baseball
I only managed to get through half this vid before I had to stop. Talk about a debby downer. As someone who grew up in washington and went to MANY baseball games there as well as conventions with my dad ( rental conventions), I loved that place. I was so sad when they tore it down. You are in WASHINGTON STATE! it was RIGHT NEXT TO THE WATER! Washington rains a LOT! Yeah it was all cement but they wanted to make sure it stood if the water levels ever rose high enough to hit the stadium. I guess its something people who did not grow up in the area will never understand. Also i was little but i always recall baseball games being PACKED! So the fact that it had so much seating... it was needed!
I remember watching the demolition of the Kingdome live on TV. The Kingdome had plenty of issues, but there is no denying its legacy. The astroturf certainly did its damage to a lot of players. Safeco Field is great though. I was at the first ever, maybe only ever rain delay at Safeco when the roof failed to close. Love your videos. Hopefully people will learn from the past and design stadiums even better. I certainly think a stadium should have a 30+ year life. These teams complaining after 10-15 years need to suck it up. RIP Kingdome, thanks for the memories.
I remember when the roof collapsed at the Kingdom it helped me go to my first Red Sox game at Fenway Park
Went to the second to last Mariners game at the Kingdome. Was like a warehouse kinda smelled like one
I laugh at how YOU rank it badly.. it was not though that badly of until the opening of Skydome in Toronto and later Camden Yards… then started the “Gotta Keep up with the Joneses” attitude and almost everyone HAD TO HAVE A NEW STADIUM… ugh… A few I could agree with.. Yankee stadium was over 80 years old… Memorial stadium in Cleveland and the stadium in Baltimore.. those were old.. The cookie cutters.. teams just hated the thought of sharing.. because they got greedy… oh at the end, the Vet was falling apart (and had some stands collapse during an army-navy game)…
There’s no such thing as the industrial district of Seattle. It’s called ”SODO“ south of downtown. Most people who lived in Seattle and used to go there didn’t think it was that bad especially during the playoffs. It was electric and probably one of the loudest stadium’s ever.
Honestly the only sports that should share a stadium is hockey and basketball
Saw the World Series winning 92 Jays play in the Kingdome. Edgar, Griff. Juan Guzman started for the Jays. M's weren't great that year but all that talent was in place. Only thing I ever saw in there.
Yeah it wasn't great but Seattle fans were always pretty awesome. At that time not that many Jays fans were going down to games. Which was kind of weird because the Jays were awesome through the late 80's early 90's.
But geezus did Safeco ever make up for what the Kingdome wasn't. I absolutely love safeco. Always enjoy walking into that stadium. It's just such a great ballpark.
I think this is the first time I've heard a a stadium be described as "obnoxious." 😂
5:24 scoreboard says King County Stadium, not King Dome.
How do rate seahawks stadium?
It's top 15. Seattle built their stadium right. You guys stadium has another 10 to15 years before a heavy renovation
@sirchi8731 yea Seattle doesn't need to do anything to their stadium
The Kingdome was great. We were sad to see it go.
we're gonna gloss over the fact that if it had been like an hour later that the ceiling collapsed possibly mad casualties would have resulted.....wow!
Do the Metrodome next!
Really cool place
never understood why the Sonics played there, was Key Arena (not called that then) so bad?
They had a lease dispute with the owners. The initial move to the kingdome resulted in NBA attendance records, but it eventually became clear it was a bad venue for basketball.
Seattle Center Coliseum wasn't that big. So they went to The Kingdome to see if they could fix the problem. I guess there was too many complaints not to mention conflicting schedules in events. So I believe that's why they went back to Seattle Center Coliseum wait to see what could be done. Eventually they came up with an idea to have Seattle Center Coliseum gutted out and transform it into Key Arena.
For A long time there was no Key Arena - so the KingDome was the choice by default.
I heard the Kingdome described as looking like a "giant septic tank".
I was there. I not only ;saw a game, I took a tour of the place. I hate indoor stadiums but the Kingdome wasn't so bad.
My dad went to the monster truck rally. One of the last events there.
Nothing about one of their original baseball stadiums the was burnt down by an arsonist in early 1900s?
Maybe a video idea.
the Kingdome was of its time but aged poorly in the 90s & it showed. The Mariners especially Griffey had the advantage of hitting Home Runs in the short distance/ high right field wall. When the roof tiles fell down in 1994, the Seahawks played half their games at UW Huskies Stadium.
It was in Seattle. End of story. The place where sports careers go to die
the Seahawks lost all their home regular season games at home in 1980. Also if you look at scoreboard pics seats where added to the upper deck in that area going right up to the scoreboard. One MLB all-star game in 1979. and At least on NCAA final four. 1984 Georgetown vs, Houston.
Seems like you don’t know what “disgusting” means?
@@justinjessee there’s one video where he goes quote mad and refers to some centre field seats as “disgusting” Then it’s the tarped off upper deck which is “absolutely disgusting” and of course we get the road which goes past the stadium which is “completely disgusting”
Weird
I liked the Kingdom I went to a few seahawks and Mariners games there
How about talking about the 15 seconds it took to implode it? that was an amazing feat itself. lol
Also had NCAA a number of times in the 80s. It was a crummy building that's for sure but worst all time is Candlestick by far in terms of multi use stadiums.
The place was hideous you made your case. I’d argue that atmosphere in ‘95 for the one game playoff game against the Angels and game 5 against the Yankees made it all worth it.
I love hearing about The Kingdome.
9:05 damn straight, brother. The T mobile T is too close to the texas ranger T, and magenta goes not go with northwest green.
It was named King County Stadium, not King Dome.
lol the Kingdome was awesome. Grew up watching sports there and at no time did it feel “dark” or drab. Some absolute wild times were had there. The only thing that sucked was the ramp that wrapped around the building. You walked around the entire thing to get to your seats. All the new stadiums in Seattle are an upgrade, but love criticism from someone who clearly never visited.
It was a different time back then. People liked watching sports indoors. These stadiums were marvels and they were loud. People who weren't there will probably never understand.
No mention of the Astrodome being the first huh? Astrodome never had a roof collapse either
Can't believe that was a stadium
The kingdome was not a bad stadium. We went to a ton of games there.
As a Yankees fan, I'm happy the Kingdome is gone.
yeah... but we loved it.
The Kingdome looked like an ugly clam shell. It's too bad that the city didn't build an attractive facade around the outer wall. But on the plus side, that ugly stadium probably paid for itself several times over. I did manage to catch a baseball game there in '85, and I thought that it looked really drab compared to BC Place in Vancouver (which had an inflated teflon roof like the Metrodome and Silverdome). Also saw an MLB exhibition game at BC Place too... I thought that the seating/field configuration was decent, but I wondered if the ceiling made it difficult for fielders to track pop-fly balls. And I can say this... an inflated roof overhead was nowhere near as frightening to me as that massive concrete hat over the Kingdome... a big earthquake during a game could have been horrific.
The Kingdome wasn't paid off until 15 years after it was demolished.
@@plmn93 Do you mean the Kingdome itself, or the roof repair? Without using the google, it seems to me that the repair was ridiculously expensive, and it wasn't long before the dome was knocked down anyway.
EDIT: I stand corrected. From Wikipedia: "The Kingdome was demolished before the debt issued to finance its construction was fully paid, and as of September 2010, residents of King County were still responsible for more than $80 million in debt on the demolished stadium. The debt was retired on March 2015, nine months ahead of the original bond maturity and 15 years after the stadium's demolition. " Jeepers... 3-4 sports teams called it home all those years, along with other events... all that money made, with none of it going toward funding the dome construction? Another reason to let billionaires fund their own facilities.
God help me...I just love this channel! Depressed Ginger's perspectives are alway spot-on!
Id go back to the kingdome to watch the mariners old guard one last time.
Poor people had sit in that place
It was great
@kanpoe7043 not great
@kanpoe7043 baseball is a outside game not in closed
@@jesusm2159 that’s not the point. Did you ever go there? You implied watching games there was a bad experience. As someone who watched countless pro sports game at the kingdome, I’m telling you, from actual experience, it was a great time. Doesn’t matter where baseball “should” be played, the kingdome was rocking.
It has to be indoors in Arizona and Texas
"meetings 1.2%"
Who needs a big stadium to hold meetings? What kind of meetings were they having? 😂
How many fuckin times are you gonna say Cookie-cutter
Every photo & video of it looked way too dark and drab
I can see duel purpose with NHL and NBA or NFL and MLB as these both have similar needs but an NBA in an NFL stadium is like having an NHL team in a domed MLB stadium, they are going to be a poor fit.
Another YAWN video!
It's like the Tokyo Dome, but worse.
Seattlestan, where lizards go to die!
T Mobile Park the ⚾ Stadium home of the MLB's Seattle Mariners is going to be a NHL 🏒 Arena for this coming January's NHL Winter Classic, where the Seattle Kraken are going to be the home team and taking on the defending Stanley Cup Champs the Vegas Golden Knights. I wonder what the hockey rink would look like inside T-Mobile Park
In most baseball parks, they line up the hockey rink from 3rd base to 1st base. I think the Pit/Bos winter classic was the 1st where they lined it up down the 1st base foul line.
This dude swears he knows what the best "venues" is for watching sports... You can tell who NEVER PLAYED SPORTS by there thoughts. He likes games to be more intimate played in front of only hundred's of people.
Really friend...how bout you review plays instead of sports. You give NO JUSTICE OR PROPER INSIGHT
Kingdome > T Mobile park and Lumen Field
Trippin
@@jsp5533 how, the Kingdome was an icon and a better place to watch a game and opposing teams hated it more than the two mediocre stadiums.
The upper deck at the Kingdome was exactly the same design as the upper deck at the Superdome.
The architects wanted a more ornate exterior, like the one at the Astrodome, but they ran out of money. As it was, it became known as "The Concrete Cupcake."
The roof was poorly built, leaked constantly and even had an infestation of moss. That earned another nickname: "The World's Largest Chia Pet."
If you think the Kingdome was bad, you should see B.C. Place in baseball configuration: one of the weirdest stadiums ever! Because Canadian football fields are longer, the first base side had ENORMOUS foul territory, almost big enough to fit another infield.
HOT MESS
Its was not that dark or damp
I’m sorry I disagree I love the Kingdome
He rather PRO SPORTS be played in a highschool setting... Annoying
Way better than Safeco Field in my Opinion.
In what way?
@LitheApo great teams, for one. It was unique in its on right. It's like the astrodome, they made the stadiums pretty much the same but the Dom stadiums they had where just way better and looking. You can think whatever you want opinion wise and I can aswell. I like different and that's my opinion. Take it with a grain of salt.
Fair enough.
@LitheApo my 2 cents doesn't me a whole lot lol, I just like different myself. Just like a racetrack, the more unique the better.
Will Safeco Field be open or closed for the Winter Classic in 2024?