Dec. 3 (UPI) — The partial implosion of Michigan’s Pontiac Silverdome didn’t go according to plan, work crews said Sunday, leaving some onlookers disappointed.
The 300 pounds of dynamite was expected to collapse the upper rings of the former home of the Detroit Lions and Detroit Pistons at 8:30 p.m.
Shortly after the scheduled implosion, onlookers could see puffs of smoke around the outside of the structure, but nothing else appeared to happen.
“I’m a little disappointed,” Jessica Landino told The Detroit News.
The foreman of the crews executing the partial demolition said the implosion should have snapped all the beams, but most were still intact.
Officials said the stadium was “built a little too well.”
“We just have to wait and let gravity do its job,” officials told WXYZ-TV in Detroit. “It’s going to collapse, we just don’t know when.
The 82,000-seat stadium opened in 1975 at a cost of $55.7 million to taxpayers in Pontiac, a suburb of Detroit. It was in use until 2002 and hosted sporting events, concerts and a visit from Pope John Paul II in 1987.
The Lions began playing at Ford Field in 2002, and the inflatable dome above the stadium came down during a snowstorm.
Officials sold the site to an investment group for $30 million in 2015. It’s unclear how the land will be used.
“It’s very valuable in terms of its location and its placement not only to the city but in Oakland County as well,” Pontiac Mayor Deirdre Waterman told the Detroit News. “The central location of Pontiac in Oakland County is a distinguishing fixture and the location of the Silverdome property itself is a draw and certainly a great asset for this particular location. It’s at the confluence of major freeways and the city.
