SkyDome (original) (raw)

SkyDome has the world's first fully retractable roof, consisting of four panels, three of which retract. Weighing 11,000 tons (equivalent to 3,732 automobiles!), covering eight acres, and rising 282 feet at its highest point, the roof moves at a rate of 71 feet per minute and takes 20 minutes to fully open or close.

JumboTron, the largest video display board in the world, is three stories high and nine stories wide. Manufactured by Sony, it is 1/12 of an acre, equivalent to the area of a piece of land occupied by a house with a swimming pool. Did you know that the Jumbotron is also the same length as the blue whale? They are both 108 ft. long.

Converting the field from baseball to football, and vice versa, takes approximately eight to 10 hours. Other conversions take up to 15 hours.

There are 106 rolls of Astroturf for SkyDome's football surface. The strips of turf are fastened together by 8 miles of zippers, the equivalent amount used for 50,000 pairs of blue jeans!

SkyDome houses a 348-room hotel - the first in the world to be fully integrated into a domed sports and entertainment facility - as well as a fitness club, a theater, state-of-the-art broadcast facilities, and seven restaurants and bars, including the world-famous Hard Rock Cafe and the largest McDonald's in North America! Did You know that there 348 NBA players playing in the NBA, that means the SkyDome hotel could fit all of the 348 NBA players.

Since its opening June 3, 1989, SkyDome has achieved the highest honors:

Performance Magazine, "Best New Venue," 1989 "Stadium of the Year," 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 Canadian Accessibility Award, 1991, 1993 Responsible Beverage Servie Award, 1991, 1993 Site of the 1991 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, July 9, 1991 SkyDome's 5 Millionth Visitor: May 4, 1990 (11 months after opening) SkyDome's 10 Millionth Visitor: February 22, 1991 (20 months after opening) SkyDome's 15 Millionth Visitor: April 16, 1992 SkyDome's 25 Millionth Visitor: September 10, 1993

Miscellaneous Facts

| 3 | Retracting panels in SkyDome's roof. | | ------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 4 | Panels in SkyDome's retractable roof. | | 8 | Acres, the area of SkyDome's roof. | | 8 | Miles of zippers used to fasten the Astroturf for SkyDome's football surface, the equivalent amount used for 50,000 pairs of blue jeans! | | 8 | Boeing 747's, which could fit on SkyDome's floor. | | 9 | Stories, the width of the JumboTron video display board, by three stories high. | | 20 | Minutes, the time for SkyDome's roof to fully open or close. | | 56.5 | Million cubic feet (1.6 million cubic meters), the inside volume of SkyDome with the roof closed. | | 71 | Feet per minute, the rate at which SkyDome's roof moves. | | 106 | Rolls of Astroturf for SkyDome's football surface. | | 161 | Private suites, ranging in size from 16 to 40 person capacity, each one unique in design. | | 282 | Feet, SkyDome's height at its highest point. | | 348 | Rooms in SkyDome's hotel, the first in the world to be fully integrated into a domed sports and entertainment facility. | | 1,000 | Since its opening, SkyDome has staged over 1,000 events. | | 5,800 | Privately-owned Club Seats. | | 50,000 | The size of the city which could be illuminated by SkyDome's 9,000 lightbulbs and 776 field lights, which use 120 miles of electrical cable. | | 11,000 | Tons, the weight of SkyDome's roof (equivalent to 3,732 automobiles!). | | 22,911 | Seating capacity for basketball. | | 67,678 | SkyDome's highest single event attendance, for Wrestlemania VI. | | 150,000 | Entries received in a province-wide "Name The Dome" contest. |

February 20, 1999 (AP) - The Toronto Raptors put on a quality performance in their final game at the SkyDome, outplaying the hottest team in the conference during a 90-82 victory last night over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Tracy McGrady had an assortment of high-flying dunks, Dee Brown hit three timely 3-pointers and Doug Christie led all scorers with 20 points for the Raptors, who will move into the new Air Canada Centre tomorrow.

The win was just the second of the season for Toronto, which had been playing at SkyDome since entering the league in 1995. The victory gave the Raptors a record of 40-77 in the cavernous building built for baseball's Toronto Blue Jays.

Will they miss it? "Not at all," said McGrady, who dispite being 19 is one of the senior members of the team. "This place is one of the worst."

"It's not a basketball facility. The fans are too far away, it's too big and it's not a good atmosphere for basketball. This place is so dead, you can hear everybody in the stands talking."

**Directions to the SkyDome (From Airport) Take 427 South to QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) East to Spadina Avenue. Travel north on Spadina; then east Bremner Boulevard or Blue Jays Way to the arena.