40 Reasons To Love The Superdome On Its 40th Birthday
NEW ORLEANS – The Mercedes-Benz Superdome is an icon of the New Orleans skyline, holds a special place in the city’s history and has shaped the international sports and entertainment landscape for nearly four decades. Its fan amenities and technology upgrades also make it one of the world’s most advanced stadiums.
• Forty years ago today, the Louisiana Superdome opened for business and to the pubic on August 3, 1975.
• A first year of milestones included hosting its first NFL game when the Houston Oilers defeated the New Orleans Saints, 13-7, in a preseason game on August 6. The Bayou Classic moved from Tulane Stadium to the Superdome and the Grambling State University Tigers defeated the Southern University Jaguars, 33-20, on November 29.
• With a diameter of 680 feet, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome is the largest fixed dome structure in the world. The area of the roof is 9.7 acres, or 440,000 square feet.
• It is the world’s largest entirely steel-constructed arena unobstructed by posts or columns, and took 20,000 tons of steel to create.
• From the Superdome floor, the roof reaches 273 feet. It could comfortably house another landmark of the New Orleans skyline – St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square – which stands at 172 feet.
• The main arena floor of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome offers 166,180 square feet of entertainment space, or 3.8 acres.
• The building holds 125 million square feet of air, and is cooled by 9,000 tons of air conditioning.
• Total land area is 52 acres, including the building, garages and grounds. The distance around the exterior plaza of the Superdome is a walk of .65 miles.
• Nearly 400,000 square feet of aluminum makes up the exterior skin of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
• The custom anodized, light bronze exterior panels have a fade-proof finish, measure 1-foot by 25-feet, and weigh approximately 27.5 pounds each. The aluminum was specifically researched, developed and tested for the project.
• The Superdome’s exterior’s LED lighting system was activated in October, 2011, and features more than 26,000 LED lights in 288 fixtures.
• The LED lighting system is capable of reproducing every color, patterns and images by a customizable program, and illuminating the Superdome is often used to raise awareness for charitable causes.
• When operating in a single color, it draws only 10 kilowatts of electricity, or the equivalent of one small home.
• When operated six hours per day every day of a year, no lights are expected to be replaced until 2057.
• The system won the 2012 “Excellence in Design” award in the ‘Architainment’ category from Live Design Magazine, a leading architecture, design and event production publication.
• Though there are multiple configurations for concerts and events, there is a seating capacity of 73,208 for New Orleans Saints games.
• The sideline seating on the Plaza Level was completely revamped in 2011, moving patrons closer to the field, with improved sightlines.
• The new lower bowl seating units added 3,400 prime seats close to the team benches, and 5,000 seats were replaced in the Plaza Level with club seats.
• For an NCAA Final Four basketball game, seating capacity is 67,500. For a center stage concert, maximum seating is 83,000. For football, maximum seating is generally considered 74,295.
• There are 17 elevators, 42 escalators and two handicap lifts in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. There are also 1,121 televisions for patrons.
• The Superdome contains 153 privately owned luxury suites (64 on the 400 level, 89 on the 300 level), two premier club lounges (7,500 square feet each) at the 50-yard line and four Club Rooms that are approximately 13,000 square feet each.
• For natural light, windows were installed in all four Club Rooms in Phase 2 of the enhancements from 2006-2009.
• Before the 2010 NFL season, over 110,000 square feet of Speed S5-UM was installed. The synthetic turf is filled with a mixture of 70 percent rubber and 30 percent sand – 750,000 pounds of the combination is brushed in – to provide a firm and safe playing surface.
• In 2011, a $336 million enhancement was completed, which added Premium Club lounges under the Plaza Level seating, 15 additional suites to the 300 level and moved the press box to the Terrace.
• Also in 2011, The Saints locker room was expanded to 10,000 square feet and an adjacent media interview area was added.
• Champions Square opened in 2010 at the site of the former New Orleans Centre mall. It includes a grand staircase to the Plaza Level to provide a prominent entryway to the Superdome, the luxury club XLIV lounge, as well as the indoor entertainment areas Encore and The Opening Act.
• Champions Square now includes a fixed, custom stage for national touring acts, and the festival space has become one of New Orleans’ most popular outdoor venues.
• To enhance the experience of patrons and offer greater customer engagement service, in 2011 a state-of-the-art telecommunications network capable of supporting wireless voice, date and text services across the complex via a neutral-host Distributed Antenna System (DAS) was installed. When it was completed, the Superdome’s network was the largest DAS system of its kind in the country.
• The network of antenna nodes can split a cellular signal among several smaller antennas throughout the building. It features 950 remote antenna and 70 miles of cable, and is engineered to serve patrons inside the Superdome and additional patrons in adjacent facilities simultaneously. During major events at the complex, total turnout can top 100,000.
• The Superdome was created by law on November 8, 1966, and construction began on August 11, 1971. It opened its doors on August 3, 1975, and reopened September 25, 2006, after Hurricane Katrina with a 23-3 victory by the Saints over the Atlanta Falcons.
• When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on August 29, 2005, the Superdome served as a refuge as last resort for approximately 30,000 evacuees who sought protection inside its walls and had no other means to leave the city. If not for the Superdome, many of them may have perished. The wind ripped open holes in the Superdome’s roof and water poured inside, causing massive damage. The Arena next door was converted into a triage center.
• Within weeks experts said the Superdome remained structurally sound, and the work of cleaning, drying and restoring it began. It has since reclaimed its status as a premier venue worldwide for major entertainment and sporting events.
• The Super Bowl has been played seven times in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome – more than any other venue – including Super Bowl XII (1978), XV (1981), XX (1986), XXIV (1990), XXXI (1997), XXXVI (2002) and XLVII (2013).
• The Superdome has also held five NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Fours (1982, 1987, 1993, 2003, 2012), five NCAA Basketball Division I Regionals (1981, 1990, 1999, 2001, 2011), four NCAA Basketball First and Second Rounds (1999, 2001, 2007, 2010), and three BCS College Football Championship Games hosted by the Sugar Bowl (2004, 2008, 2012).
• Annual events presented at The Mercedes-Benz Superdome include The Allstate Sugar Bowl, The Bayou Classic, The Boat Show, The Essence Festival, the New Orleans Home and Garden Show, the Monster Jam and World of Wheels.
• Home to the New Orleans Saints since 1975, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome is both the nerve center of New Orleans’ loyal fan base and the symbol of the team nationwide.
• Every ticket for the Saints has been sold out on a season ticket basis since 2006, and in 2014 the club set a team record for attendance inside the stadium with 584,900 fans during the regular season, an average of 73,112 per game.
• The largest Saints crowd in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome occurred November 24, 2014, when 73,373 packed the stadium as the Saints took on the Baltimore Ravens.
• The Superdome was the site of one of the Saints’ greatest triumphs in the NFL playoffs. In the NFC Championship on January 24, 2010, a field goal in overtime lifted New Orleans to a 31-28 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. The stirring win catapulted the Saints to Super Bowl XLIV in Miami two weeks later, and a 31-17 defeat of the Indianapolis Colts.
• The stadium’s exterior lighting is proudly emblazoned in brilliant gold to celebrate every kickoff inside its walls during football season. It is a signal of one of the NFL’s greatest home field advantages, and best game experiences.
