Mercedes-Benz Superdome | All you need to know about the New Orleans Saints’ Stadium

The Mercedes-Benz Superdome, often referred to simply as the Superdome, is a football stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States that primarily serves as the home venue for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). Earlier it was named as Louisiana Superdome, which was later changed in 2011.

History-

After passing legislation in 1966, the Superdome broke ground in a year later  and the building opened as the Louisiana Superdome in 1975 built under the modernist architectural firm of Curtis and Davis. In the same year, the stadium is opened to the public and the first NFL game was played in the Superdome on August 6, where the Houston Oilers defeated the New Orleans Saints 13-7 in a preseason game. On December 31, 2015. the Sugar Bowl was first held in the Superdome. In the game, the Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions, 13-6, with over 75,000 in attendance.

Since then, the Superdome went on to host a range of events in various sports.

Sports & other major events hosted at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome-

While football is the major sport hosted by the Superdome, it has been home to many other sports including basketball, baseball, boxing, gymnastics, wrestling, tennis and even WWE.

In 1976, the Superdome hosted its first baseball match, and has hosted many exhibition baseball matches since. In Basketball, the stadium has been a host to few more major games. NBA’s New Orleans Jazz used the Superdome as their home court from 1975 to 1979. The NCAA has hosted the Men’s Final Four at the stadium five times in 1982, 1987, 1993, 2003, and 2012. The stadium hosted regional semifinals and finals in 1981 and 1990, as well as first- and second-round games in 1999 and 2001.

The stadium also welcomed boxer Muhammad Ali on the Muhammad Ali Appreciation Day in 1975. Over the years, the Superdome has become an all sports stadium with even WWE WrestleMania being hosted there in recent times.

The vast stadium has not only been home to sports but also a many a concerts which saw famous bands and their artists including The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Celine Dion, Backstreet Boys, One Direction, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran.

Capacity of Mercedes-Benz Superdome-

The stadium has undergone quite a few changes in terms of its capacity, which has generally been around 70,000. the Superdome had a listed football seating capacity of 73,208 and a maximum basketball seating capacity of 73,432. In 2011, 3,500 seats were added, increasing the Superdome’s capacity to 76,468.

Mercedes-Benz Superdome area & construction cost-

The Superdome is located on 70 acres (28 ha) of land, including the former Girod Street Cemetery. The dome has an interior space of 125,000,000 cubic feet (3,500,000 m3), a height of 253 feet (77.1 m), a dome diameter of 680 feet (207.3 m), and a total floor area of 269,000 square feet (24,991 m2).

The initial construction of the vast stadium was US$134 million when it was built, the value which is more than $600 million now. It went through major renovations in 2005 which costed about US$193 million then.

The Mercedes-Benz Superdome is now set to undergo a whopping US$450 million renovation- its first major work since 2005.

With these new major renovations, local New Orleans officials will be hoping to keep the Superdome an attractive option for hosting major sports events. The venue is set to host the Super Bowl LVIII, as well as the College Football Playoff National Championship title game in 2020 and the NCAA Final Four in 2022.