One of the biggest dome structures in the US was demolished in a controlled implosion (video)

On Monday, November 20^th, the Georgia Dome – an 80,000-capacity stadium that opened in 1992 and hosted events in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, was torn down. More than 2,000kg of explosives were used for the implosion, which took place at 7:30 a.m. , and was covered by the local media. The stadium, which was also the Falcons’ home for the past 25 years, was one of the country’s largest domed stadiums and its construction had cost $214m. It is now replaced by the adjacent, newly erected $1.6 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which opened in August this year.

The original plan was for the Dome to be imploded in July (before the opening of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium which is only 25 meters away) but that plan was scrapped in April as it could cause further delays with the new stadium (its initial opening date was March 1, postponed to  June 1, then to July 30 until Aug. 26 that finally opened).  

Decommissioning the Dome and preparing it for implosion included removing the seats, video boards and extensive equipment. The impressive implosion lasted for about 15 seconds, with the roof falling in 12 seconds  and grandstands coming down in about 3, according to the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, while a five-story industrial-strength curtain  was erected to protect the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Dome’s Twitter account notes that, from 1992-2017, it hosted more than 39 million fans in over 1,400 events that generated over $7.4 billion for the state. The site will now be used to construct the future home of the Home Depot Backyard, a place for pregame gathering.