Story

Businessman David Dixon conceived the stadium to convince the National Football League to play in New Orleans more often. In response, Dixon was told that the NFL would never do this without the dome stadium. The first bell was received.

Dickson received support from Louisiana Governor John McCaten. In 1966 they visited the Astrodome stadium in Houston, where McCaterin declared: “I want the same, only more.” Construction has begun.

The stadium was conceived as multifunctional: they were supposed to play football, baseball and basketball. Also present were conference rooms that can be rented for various purposes.

As the dome was built, different people developed eccentric variants, to the extent that the dome was proposed to be made from sugar. Hope were that the stadium will be ready for the NFL games in 1972, and the final value of the object will be 46 million dollars. Instead, construction did not begin until August 1971, and it was completed only in 1975.

There was an oil crisis. Inflation crept up, transportation costs go in the same place. Delays in construction for all political reasons also did not make life easier. As a result, the final price of the stadium took off up to 165 million dollars.

Police are interested in such spending. A special commission conducted an investigation in search of corruption and financial fraud, but this did not prevent the stadium from opening.

The first in the Superdome played New Orleans Saints, and already in 1978 was the twelfth Super Bowl. It is important to understand that this is so steep - it is at this time that the final game of the National Football League is taking place. Super Bowl is the real show, which even people far from sports are interested in. In recent years, the championship has been collecting 100 million viewers, and the display of short advertisements during the broadcast is worth $7 million. So if NFL players come to play with you, and it’s always the case, it’s a victory and the cult status of the stadium for all times.

The Superdome received international attention at the time of the storm of Hurricane Katrina. Thousands of people seeking asylum found it here. As a result of the storm, the building was severely damaged and was closed for a year. The stadium was fully repaired for $185 million and reopened in September 2006.

Its reopening was a spark in the city’s recovery from natural disasters and revived the state’s sports and entertainment business.

A year later, the German automaker Mercedes-Benz acquired the rights to the name of the stadium. It was originally called the Louisiana Superdome. The new name came into force in October 2011. At that time it was the third stadium, which had the corporate name of the concern.

Interesting Facts

Naturally, during this time, the stadium has been expanded and reworked many times. Here are just some of the numbers that characterize the stadium.

• The dome has a diameter of 680 feet - it is the largest fixed dome structure in the world.
• This is the world's largest all-steel arena, capable of withstanding 20 thousand tons.
• The total land area is 52 acres, including the building, garages and grounds. To make a circle around the stadium, you have to go a kilometer.
• Almost 400 thousand square feet of aluminum is external cladding.
• The lighting installation has more than 26 thousand diodes combined into 288 lamps. The system is capable of reproducing various colors, patterns and images.
• The stadium can accommodate up to 80 thousand spectators.
• There are 17 elevators, 42 escalators and two lifts for the disabled.
• Synthetic turf consists of 70% rubber and 30% sand.
• The dressing room is expanded to 10 thousand square feet, and there is an area for an interview next to it.

Activity and events

Since this is the home stadium of the New Orlean Saints team, you can see their matches with other football teams at the stadium: Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons and others.

In addition to regular competitions between the teams, the stadium regularly hosts concerts of stars. Let's look, for example, at the schedule for the second half of 2018. Here is what we will see there:

• September 13, JAY-Z and Beyoncé will unite as part of a new concert tour;
• On September 22, Taylor Swift will perform hits from his latest Reputation album;
• October 31, Ed Sheeran will call in as part of a world tour in support of the album Divide.