Let’s remember when the Kingdome imploded, on this day in 2000 (March 26)
The Kingdome, the mixed-use stadium served a the home for the Seahawks, Mariners, and a whole bunch of monster truck rallies, was put out of its misery 19 years ago today.
HistoryLink tells us:
At 8:32 a.m. on March 26, 2000, Seattle’s Kingdome is imploded. The Kingdome stadium’s 660-foot concrete dome is the world’s largest. Thousands of spectators crowd Seattle’s streets, hills, sidewalks, and waterfront to watch the dome’s destruction. Onlookers view the implosion outside a "restricted zone" that extends several blocks around the stadium. The blast sets off a small earthquake measuring 2.3 on the Richter Scale. The Kingdome, originally called the King County Multipurpose Domed Stadium, opened on March 27, 1976.
The implosion took place in two phases. The Kingdome’s ribs were grouped into six evenly spaced sections. Three sections collapsed in Phase I, and the remaining three fell many seconds later. Two wires circling the Dome set off six electrical charges, lowering the six sections in careful sequence. The implosion took 16.8 seconds.
The Times' Geoff Baker noted in 2015 that it only took 21 years for King County to pay off the repairs necessary when ceiling tiles began falling in 1994:
Fifteen years after the Kingdome was imploded, King County taxpayers have finally stopped paying for the stadium that was home to the Mariners and Seahawks.
King County budget director Dwight Dively said Thursday that enough lodging-tax revenue has been collected to pay off what’s left of the $67.6 million in municipal bonds issued to repair the Kingdome’s tile roof back in 1994. The bonds can’t technically be paid in full until year’s end, so the $18.7 million still owed in principal plus interest will be placed in an escrow account until that time.
Let’s watch it again:
