Stadium as big as Wembley left ABANDONED and used as a car park with shredded roof after hosting WrestleMania
THE once impressive Pontiac Silverdome stadium was left to sit abandoned for years after playing host to some legendary events.
The 82,000 seat venue hosted some legendary sporting events over the years, including the 1987 WrestleMania, the Super Bowl XVI and part of the 1994 Fifa World Cup.
The stadium, as big as London’s Wembley, was opened in 1975 in Pontiac, just outside of Detroit, Michigan, and was once an impressive pillar of the community.
Wrestlemania III, which took place there in 1987, famously saw Hulk Hogan body slam Andre the Giant.
Almost 80,000 are estimated to have filled the stadium that day, with millions watching from across America.
Some legendary artists also played there, including rock band Led Zeppelin in 1977.
It was built at a cost of $55million in the early 70s, which would amount to around $250m today if adjusted for inflation.
It later became better known for its apocalyptic wasteland look after sitting abandoned for so long.
In 2002 when another stadium opened in Detroit, Ford Field, the Silverdome lost it’s permanent tenant: the NFL’s Detroit Lions who had played there since 1975.
The city couldn’t seem to find a better way to use the space, leaving it empty and uncared for for almost a decade.
There were some bids to buy the Silverdome, one of which even hit $18million, but it went to auction and eventually sold for just $583,000 – a sign that the city was in a state of irreparable decay.
After years of problems with the stadium’s roof, and the financial state of the city at the time – no one stepped in to save it.
The cover had collapsed in the first year of the stadium’s use, under heavy snow, and while it was fixed it continued to prove faulty over the years.
When the contents were later auctioned off in 2014, the car park bizarrely became home to thousands of recalled Volkswagen cars.
The spooky image of a full car park next to the haunting venue gave the impression of tens of thousands of fans arriving for a game.
As of 2018, Volkswagen were still storing cars on the stadium grounds.
When the city decided it was time to demolish the empty structure, they became embroiled in a legal battle with the stadium’s Canadian owners.
It wasn’t until 2017 that they were able to start stripping it apart.
Explosives were soon used to tear down the roof and by March 2018, the site had been destroyed, leaving behind a cavernous shell in the ground.