The Georgia Dome (1992-2017)

The Georgia Dome was the original stadium for the NFL team the Atlanta Falcons. It cost 210 million dollars, and was located in downtown Atlanta. Over the years, it saw many local bands play in its arena, including concerts featuring Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Rolling Stones and more.  Over time, the Dome hosted 10 Super Bowls, with the last taking place in 2010. The much-loved stadium was demolished on November 20, 2017, to be replaced by the new Atlanta Falcons Mercedes-Benz stadium. The Falcons played their last game at the old stadium in January 2017. The city of Atlanta helped pay to build the new stadium, which totaled 1.6 billion dollars.

The Dome was the largest rigid cable-supported oval Dome in the world in 1992. The 27 story facility was made of Teflon-coated fiberglass with a 5-story atrium in each of the building's four corners. In 2005, the Georgia Dome hosted the Chick- FIl- A Bowl and tens of thousands of fans watched as the Louisiana State University Tigers defeated the Miami Hurricanes 40-3. The first concert at the Georgia Dome was the “Olympic Flag Jam” hosted on Sept. 17, 1992. It featured many performances, including Whitney Houston, James Brown, and Gladys Knight.

In Addition, the Georgia Dome was also used for the 1996 Olympic games, the 2002 NCAA men's Final Four Basketball Playoffs, and the 2005 women's Final Four Basketball Playoffs. The 1988 former owner of the Falcons, Rankin Smith, threatened to move the team to Jacksonville, FL if the state did not construct another facility for the Falcons. This is because they shared it with the Baseball team the Atlanta Braves. The last game the Falcons played in the Atlanta-Fulton Co Stadium was in December 1991.

 The Georgia Dome was also known for professional wrestling. One of the most recent Wrestlemania exhibits, Wrestlemania XXVII, took place in the Georgia Dome on April 3, 2011, with the main contenders being The Rock and John Cena. The Rock dominated that event. That was the first time The Rock stepped into the ring after 7 years. It gave fans the opportunity to witness the one and only godfather of wrestling back in action.

In 2014 the city of Atlanta began constructing the new and improved stadium. It took 3 years to build and it was located south of the old Georgia Dome. They finished the Mercedes- Benz stadium in 2017, the Falcons having their last game in the Georgia Dome beating the Green Bay Packers in the Conference Championship for a spot in the Super Bowl. The Falcons were able to play in the new stadium that following August. There were rumors going around that they were going to let the SEC team, the Georgia Bulldogs, have the Georgia Dome stadium as their home stadium, but things did not go accordingly and it took up space. The Dome has Demolished that November.