Walkup Skydome

Walkup Skydome

The J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome is an indoor multi-purpose stadium in Flagstaff, Arizona, on the campus of Northern Arizona University. Opened in September 1977, it is the home of the NAU Lumberjacks football and basketball teams of the Big Sky Conference. The seating capacity is 16,230, with 15,000 permanent seats and 1,230 seats in portable bleachers. The Walkup Skydome has hosted five Big Sky men's basketball tournaments: 1987, 1997, 1998, 2005, and 2006.

For its first six years, the Walkup Skydome was the world's largest clear-span timber dome, until the completion of the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington, in 1983. The architect was Wendell Rossman, of Phoenix, also responsible for many other buildings on the surrounding NAU campus. The wood used in construction of Walkup Skydome was Southern Yellow Pine.

The Skydome is named after J. Lawrence Walkup, the president of NAU from 1958 to 1979, a period of tremendous growth for the university. The playing surface is at an elevation of 6980 feet (2127 m) above sea level, second only to Wyoming's War Memorial Stadium, by 335 feet (102 m). Twenty feet (6 m) above the field is a red line marked with "7000," indicating the exact point where the building hits 7000 feet (2133 m) elevation. Originally AstroTurf, the playing surface for football is now infilled FieldTurf.

Besides sporting events, the arena is also used for commencement ceremonies, concerts, and other events such as conventions and trade shows. The arena floor features 97,000 square feet (9011 m²) of space.

The Walkup Skydome is also used by the NFL's Arizona Cardinals during their summer training camp, held at NAU. The Cardinals are able to move inside to conduct practice when the weather is unsuitable outdoors.