Superdome

[PeteU]

If my memory serves me correctly, the New Orleans Superdome hosted several exhibition games and numerous college baseball games. I'm curious if anyone knows what the dimensions/set-up of the place was--was it an awkward fit a la the L.A. Coliseum or pretty standard dimensions?

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

Here's a video of baseball in the dome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_IMmhbRZ2k

You can see in the video, at around :59, there was exposed concrete in play... Ouch h.

And here's a seating chart:


Unfortunately, I can't find the dimensions anywhere...

[PeteU]

Cool video.

The only dimensions I could make out was 421 feet to center field. No tall walls anywhere, but the field didn't look too disproportionate. I'm sure the left field porch was shorter than the right field one, though.

The "dugouts" were actually built out from the wall and at field level as opposed to being true dugouts. Given the nature of the place as a football stadium with no permanent baseball tenant, it makes sense.

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

Ya, I tried making out the numbers but I couldn't figure anything out. Looks like a pretty basic field to me...

[vtbub]

They would have had to reconfigure some of the seating along the foul lines as the distance was under 300 feet and too short, or it was when they looked into it in the mid-90's.

[Danielh41]

And the distance from home plate to the backstop looks way too short. Very few wild pitches or passed balls, I would think since runners wouldn't have a chance to move up if the ball doesn't get very far away.

[Astros]

There were some ridiculous ideas in the 1970's to share the Superdome as a secondary home to other major league franchises. What team would want to split ticket/concession revenues with another stadium in another city? Plus, there is the issue of paying a lease to have a second stadium. The Astros and Twins played an exhibition game in the Superdome once.

[JordanDL3891]

I couldn't found the length of the outfield walls either, I did find the capacity if anyone was interested. 65,525 for baseball.

[DevilRays1969]

I've actually been to some baseball games in the Superdome--both the Busch Challenge (college tournament) and a couple of MLB exhibition games that fell in between spring training and opening day after the teams broke camp (I specifically remember seeing the A's vs. Mets in 1991). Also there was a AAA team that played there in 1977. I don't recall if the field was perfectly symmetrical but I don't recall anything drastic. Seems to me capacity for baseball is actually MORE than for football because the entire lower deck is portable. In other words for football (at least for the Saints), the lower deck is pushed all the way forward. For baseball, the stands get pushed all the way back and there are some temporary sections in the corners. If you noticed on the you tube video there was a HR hit to right field and there was a section of stands by the foul pole that didn't have any seats on it. That was one of the temporary sections.

[StanTheMan]

I attended a Exhibition Game between the Yankees and the Red Sox at the Superdome in 1994 or 1995... can't recall.

It was the same week as the PGA Tour Event in New Orleans (I used to work on that Tour....), which traditionally was the week before the Masters every year. So that makes sense with regards to the teams leaving Florida and going home to start the season, and stopping off somewhere to play and exhibition game in a non MLB town.

I remember nothing remarkable about the field configuration, except maybe that the walls were deep most of the way around.

I do remember Don Mattingly was as slick with the glove as one could get.... and that is saying something from a guy who grew up in St. Louis and watched Hernandez catch 99.9% of everything hit, thrown, skipped or bounced at him.

[Elysian Fields]

LSU and Tulane use to play a spring weekend series against other top college baseball teams. Once Zephyr Field was built, they stopped doing it.

It was a crap design, but looked a lot like the Metrodome, except with seating all around the outfield wall. Walls were kind of high as well.

[sflnyc]

I remember when I lived in New York that the Yankees played an exhibition game there in the 1980's. Against whom I have no recollection. Part of the push for baseball expansion back then when you had games played at BC Place? (the domed stadium in Vancouver, BC.)

Also, I think the Superdome set the record for college baseball attendance earlier this decade drawing some 27,000. Rosenblatt Stadium (25-26,000?) in Omaha isn't that big, but as the College World Series continues to grow in stature (and the stadium getting expanded) every year, who knows?

[Calif_Eagle]

There were some ridiculous ideas in the 1970's to share the Superdome as a secondary home to other major league franchises. What team would want to split ticket/concession revenues with another stadium in another city? Plus, there is the issue of paying a lease to have a second stadium. The Astros and Twins played an exhibition game in the Superdome once.

The team that wanted to do this was the Cleveland Indians. Drowning in a sea of red ink in Cleveland in the early to mid 70's, Tribe President Gabe Paul met with a group representing New Orleans, which wanted a baseball tenant for the soon to be built (or completed) Superdome. This group was offering a deal which for that era would have been attractive to the Tribe brass and the struggling ownership group of many investors. Once the proposed deal hit the Cleveland papers however, there was a firestorm of protest, as almost everyone figured that sharing the team with New Orleans would just be a prelude to the Tribe actually just up and moving there. The ownership group being primarily based of many local men, with business interests in the city, they had no choice but to quickly pullback from the offer. The economic landscape of baseball was a lot different in the days before luxury boxes (The pre: Camden Yards - new stadiums era of today) and thankfully this deal never happened. Eventually, Steve O'Neill a very wealthy local man who owned Leaseway Trucking (if I recall correctly) bought the Tribe from the large unwieldy group of often opposed investors that held varying shares, with the express intent of keeping the team from moving away. New Orleans never did get a team, which always surprised me. Teams flirted with them (I believe the Chisox did also, at the very least) but no deal was ever made. And today, with the multipurpose stadium era over; not to mention Hurricane Katrina & the probably permanently reduced population of New Orleans, one probably never will be.

[Jaybird]

I read an article about baseball in the Superdome, and I believe it said the dimensions were 325 down the lines, 380 in the power alleys, and 430 to center (although the YouTube video showed center to be 421 feet).

So, the Superdome's baseball dimensions from left to right would be 325-380-421-380-325.

[HoldenV8]

You know, a lot of people might disagree here and I can understand why as indoor baseball isn't good unless in a retractable dome, but I would love to see how a MLB franchise would go in the Superdome. Still, I guess it will be a long time before New Orleans gets a MLB franchise and even if it did, its home wouldn't likely be the Superdome.