If stadiums were capable of such things, the former home of the Colts could be considered a shirttail relative of the Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis and B.C. Place in Vancouver. All were built at roughly the same time and all shared the same feature, an air-supported roof.
Perhaps because it wasn’t as used (or seen) as often as the Metrodome, the RCA Dome (known as the Hoosier Dome until 1994) wasn’t as reviled as its Minneapolis cousin was. Like the Metrodome, this place was built with football in mind. Unlike HHH, however, it would have been impossible to convert to baseball because the stands were permanent. They did play a lot of basketball here, including four NCAA Final Four tournaments and a NBA All-Star Game. In its lifetime, it also hosted the usual type of events that wander into domes (wrestling matches, band competitions, etc.)
In one sense, the RCA Dome was ahead of its time. It was built as part of the Indiana Convention Center Complex in downtown Indianapolis. The current trend in arenas and stadium is to build offices or apartments as part of the overall scheme. But that was unusual in 1983. The idea was to have a dome available for possible sporting events but also quite capable to be used for conventions and the like. The convention center complex, along with the stadium, houses more than 400,000 square feet of exhibit space and nearly 140,000 square feet of meeting space.
The overall space was big. The RCA Dome, however, was not. Its official capacity of 57,980 was the smallest in the National Football League. The Colts are getting more seats in their new home, Lucas Oil Stadium. Even more importantly, they are getting a lot more comfort.
That’s because the RCA Dome wasn’t built with the Colts in mind. The place was already up and standing when Robert Irsay decided to make his midnight run from Baltimore. Like many domed stadiums, this place had its limits. Oh, there were suites and the aforementioned permanent seats. And, when basketball games were played there, the on-floor seating seemed to add to the place, not detract from it as so often happens in domes.
But the stadium had little imagination to it. Indeed, in the years when the Colts weren’t very good (and there were a lot of those – the team’s first home playoff game wasn’t until 2000), RCA Dome looked pretty bland. The hallways were narrow and the bathrooms were small. Its main selling points was the fact so few seats had obstructed views and there was an easy-to-get-to skywalk that linked the stadium to several hotels and restaurants. It also was just 15 minutes from the airport. What a way to be remembered, eh?
In the end, the best thing you can say for RCA Dome is it did serve its stated purpose as a place where events could be staged easily. It didn’t seem to matter if it was a football game, a basketball game or a trade show. Things never went off dramatically. But it all worked out in the end.
There were moments where its size came in handy. One of those came on January 2, 2008 when 3,400 soldiers headed for Iraq for a 12-month deployment were given a hero’s sendoff on the floor of the RCA Dome. A crowd estimated at 25,000 showed up to wish the departees well – the only place around that could have held such a crowd on a cold winter’s day.“The most memorable memory in this building hadn’t taken place until today,” said Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian.
11 days later, the Colts lost to San Diego, 28-24, in an AFC playoff game. Shortly thereafter, the place was quietly closed and slowly demolished.
