Kingdome - Concept and Construction

Concept and Construction

In 1959, Seattle restaurateur David L. Cohn wrote a letter to the Seattle City Council suggesting that the city needed a covered stadium for a major professional sports franchise. At the time, the city already had Husky Stadium and Sick's Stadium for collegiate football and minor league baseball, respectively, but both were deemed inadequate for a major league team. In 1960, the city council placed a $15 million bond issue measure on the ballot to fund construction of a stadium, but voters rejected it due to doubt that the stadium could be built within that budget, and lack of a guarantee that the city would have a team to play in the stadium. By 1966, the National Football League and the American League were both considering granting the city an expansion franchise, and as a result the King County Council placed another bond issue measure on the ballot, which was also rejected by voters.

In 1967, the American League granted Seattle an expansion franchise that would later be known as the Seattle Pilots. The league clearly stated that Sick's Stadium was not adequate as a major-league stadium, and stipulated that as a condition of being awarded the franchise, bonds had to be issued to fund construction of a new domed stadium that had to be completed by 1970; additionally, the capacity at Sick's Stadium had to be expanded from 11,000 to 30,000 by Opening Day 1969, when the team was scheduled to begin playing. The Pilots were originally supposed to begin play in 1971 along with the Kansas City Royals. However, when Senator Stuart Symington got wind of those plans, he demanded that both teams begin play in 1969. The American League had birthed the Royals and Pilots as a result of the Kansas City Athletics moving to Oakland, and Symington would not accept the prospect of Kansas City waiting three years for baseball's return.

In February 1968, as part of the Forward Thrust group of bond propositions, King County voters approved the issue of US$40 million in bonds to fund construction of the "King County Multipurpose Domed Stadium." That year a committee considered over 100 sites throughout Seattle and King County for the stadium, and unanimously decided the best site would be on the grounds of Seattle Center. Community members decried the idea, claiming that the committee was influenced by special interest groups.

The Pilots began play as planned in 1969, but Sick's Stadium proved to be a woefully problematic venue for fans, media, and visiting players alike. It soon became apparent that Sick's Stadium was completely inadequate even for temporary use—a major reason why the Pilots only drew 677,000 fans that season, not nearly enough to break even. However, a petition by stadium opponents brought the project to a halt. The Pilots' ownership group ran out of money by the end of the season, and with the stadium plans in limbo, were forced to declare bankruptcy. Despite efforts by Seattle-area businessmen to buy the team and an attempt to keep the team in Seattle through the court system, the Pilots were sold to Milwaukee businessman Bud Selig, who relocated the team to Milwaukee and renamed it the Milwaukee Brewers a week before the start of the 1970 season.

The push to build the domed stadium continued despite the lack of a major league sports team to occupy it. In May 1970 voters rejected the proposal to build the stadium at Seattle Center. From 1970–1972 the commission studied the feasibility and economic impact of building the stadium on King Street adjacent to Pioneer Square and the International District—a site that ranked at the bottom when the commission originally narrowed the field of possible sites in 1968. This drew sharp opposition primarily from the International District community, which feared the impact of the stadium on neighborhood businesses located east of the site. On November 2, 1972, a groundbreaking ceremony was held on the King Street site. Several protesters attended the ceremony, disrupted the speakers, and at one point threw mud balls at them.

On December 5, 1974, the NFL awarded Seattle an expansion franchise to occupy the new stadium; the team would later be named the Seattle Seahawks. Construction lasted another two years, and the stadium held an opening ceremony on March 27, 1976. It hosted its first professional sporting event on April 9 of that year, a soccer match between the Seattle Sounders and New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League.