Georgia Dome

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

In addition to the Falcons, the Georgia Dome was also the home of the Georgia State University Panthers football team. It hosted two Super Bowls (XXVIII and XXXIV), 25 editions of the Peach Bowl (January 1993 – December 2016) and 23 SEC Championship Games (1994–2016). In addition, the Georgia Dome also hosted several soccer matches since 2009 with attendances over 50,000. In its 25 years of operation, the Georgia Dome hosted over 1,400 events attended by over 37 million people. The Georgia Dome was the only stadium in the United States to host the Summer Olympics, Super Bowl and NCAA men's basketball Final Four. The Georgia Dome also hosted WrestleMania XXVII with The Rock as the host, and it was the biggest event in the venue. John Cena vs The Miz was the main event for the WWE Championship.

In Their Own Story

The atmosphere inside shifted dramatically over its lifespan. Originally featuring a teal and maroon color scheme to match Georgia Tech, the exterior and lower-level seats were repainted red, black, and silver in 2008 to align with Falcons colors under new owner Arthur Blank. That same year, the facility saw the installation of eight 'super-suites' capable of holding up to 96 guests, alongside a new sound system replacing one that was nearly 20 years old. On March 14, 2008, the quiet tension of an SEC basketball game shattered when wind tore through the roof, delaying play for over an hour. Yet, the Dome remained a fortress; during the 2008 SEC Championship Game, it set an overall attendance record with 80,892 fans packed inside. The final chapter closed on January 22, 2017, when the Falcons defeated the Green Bay Packers 44–21 in the NFC Championship Game, sending them to their second Super Bowl appearance before the stadium's final public Monster Jam shows in March.

Reader's Guide

The Georgia Dome was completed in 1992 in time for the 1996 Summer Olympics at a cost of $214 million. The stadium seated 71,228 for football, approximately 80,000 for concerts, and 71,000 for basketball when the stadium fully opened and 40,000 for basketball and gymnastics when the stadium was sectioned off. For most Georgia State football games, the dome was configured with 28,155 seats. The record for overall attendance at the Georgia Dome came during a college football game, with 80,892 at the SEC Championship Game in 2008. The Dome had 5,740 club seats and 171 luxury boxes. The structure was located on 9.19 acres of land; the Dome had a height of 271 ft, a structure length of 746 ft, a structure width of 607 ft, and a total floor area of 102,150 square feet. The stadium was the largest cable-supported dome in the world. Its roof was made of teflon-coated fiberglass fabric and had an area of 374,584 square feet. From its completion until the December 31, 1999, opening of the Millennium Dome in London, it was the largest hooked domed structure of any type in the world. The Georgia Dome originally used AstroTurf artificial surface. In 2003, Arthur Blank funded the installation of new infilled FieldTurf artificial surface. In 2006, a $300 million renovation was announced, with updates including super-suites, repainting the exterior in Falcons colors, replacing seats, and adding HD video screens and a new sound system. In 2008, the Dome started showing safety videos before games presented by Deltalina.

Did You Know?

• The Georgia Dome was the second-largest domed stadium in the world by capacity when it opened in 1992, behind the Louisiana Superdome.
• During a Falcons pre-season game on August 11, 1995, a severe thunderstorm caused a section of the roof to fall into the stadium, but no one was injured.
• The Georgia Dome hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics, two Super Bowls, and the NCAA men's basketball Final Four.
• The Georgia Dome's successor, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, opened on August 26, 2017, and the Dome was demolished on November 20, 2017.