Let’s remember when the Kingdome opened, on this day in 1976 (March 27)
Amazingly, yesterday, we talked about the Kingdome being imploded on March 26, and today, we can talk about it opening.
The Kingdome (officially King County Multipurpose Domed Stadium[3]) was a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood. Owned and operated by King County, the Kingdome opened in 1976 and was best known as the home stadium of the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB), and the Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The stadium also served as both the home outdoor and indoor[4] venue for the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League (NASL) and hosted numerous amateur sporting events, concerts, and other events. The Kingdome measured 660 feet wide from its inside walls.[5]
The idea of constructing a covered stadium for a major league football and/or baseball team was first proposed to Seattle officials in 1959. Voters rejected separate measures to approve public funding for such a stadium in 1960 and 1966, but the outcome was different in 1968; King County voters approved the issue of US$40 million in municipal bonds to construct the stadium. Construction began in 1972 and the stadium opened in 1976 as the home stadium of the Sounders and Seahawks. The Mariners moved in the following year, and the SuperSonics moved in the next year, only to move back to the Seattle Center Coliseum in 1985. The stadium hosted several major sports events, including the Soccer Bowl in August 1976, the Pro Bowl in January 1977, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in July 1979, the NBA All-Star Game in 1987, and the NCAA Final Four in 1984, 1989, and 1995.
It was an immediate hit, before people began to grow tired of the acoustics and how impersonal the huge venue was.
HistoryLink said of the opening festivities:
The opening ceremonies coincide with the nation’s bicentennial, and include a number of performances including square dancing, barbershop singing, and log rolling. During its first year of operation, the Kingdome receives more than 2,425,000 visitors. It will be demolished 24 years after the opening.
More than 6,000 performers participated in the Kingdome’s grand opening, “the largest cast of performers in the history of Seattle” according to Tommy Walker, the ceremony’s coordinator. In preparation for the event, scores of schools, clubs, and community groups from seven counties designed programs to celebrate the bicentennial, and the dome’s inauguration.
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