Edward Jones Dome

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Edward Jones Dome
The Ed
Location	701 Convention Plaza St. Louis, Missouri 63101
Opened	November 12, 1995
Owner	St. Louis Regional Sports Authority
Operator	St. Louis Convention/Visitors Bureau
Surface	FieldTurf (AstroTurf 1995-2004)
Construction cost	$280 million
Architect	HOK Sport
Former names	Trans World Dome (1995-2001) Dome at America's Center (2001-2002) Russell Athletic Field at Edward Jones Dome (December 11, 2006)
Tenants	St. Louis Rams (NFL) (1995-present) 2005 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
Capacity	66,000

The Edward Jones Dome (more formally known as the Edward Jones Dome at America's Center) is a multi purpose stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, and home of the St. Louis Rams of the NFL. It was constructed largely to lure an NFL team back to St. Louis, and to serve as a convention center. The Dome provides multiple stadium configurations that can seat up to 70,000 people. Seating levels include: a private luxury suite level, a private club seat and luxury suite level, a concourse level (lower bowl) and terrace level (upper bowl). The dome was completed in 1995.

[edit] Naming rights

From its opening the dome was known as the Trans World Dome, after Trans World Airlines, until 2001, when TWA was acquired by American Airlines. The facility was then briefly known as the Dome at America's Center (America's Center being the adjacent convention facility) until the naming rights were acquired on January 25, 2002 by Edward Jones Investments, a brokerage house based in St. Louis.

As part of a deal to sell the naming rights to Rams Park (now the Russell Athletic Training Center), the Rams' training facility in Earth City, Missouri after sportswear manufacturer Russell Athletic, the Rams agreed to rename the Edward Jones Dome to Russell Athletic Field for the Rams' Monday Night Football game against the Chicago Bears on December 11, 2006. The renaming was for the one night only.

[edit] Notable events

Street side

The Edward Jones Dome hosted the first Big 12 Conference football championship game in 1996 (Nebraska versus Texas). The third game, in 1998, was also held in the dome (Kansas State versus Texas A&M). The dome has also been a neutral site for regular-season college football matchups between the University of Illinois and the University of Missouri. Missouri has won all three games.

The dome became the site of the biggest indoor gathering in United States history in 1999 when Pope John Paul II held mass in the stadium. Over 104,000 people attended the service.

Also in 1999 the Rev. Billy Graham held The Greater St. Louis Billy Graham Crusade with well over 200,000 people attending in its four days. Michael W. Smith and Kirk Franklin, were among the musical artists that performed.

Metallica's 2003 Summer Sanitarium Tour made a stop at The Edward Jones Dome on July 25, 2003. The tour featured headliner Metallica, with bands Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Deftones and Mudvayne.

In April 2005, the Edward Jones Dome hosted the 2005 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Final Four where the University of Louisville, the University of Illinois, Michigan State University, and the University of North Carolina faced off, with UNC winning the National Championship game against the University of Illinois. It also hosted the NCAA Men's Basketball St. Louis Regional for the 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, where the University of Florida defeated Butler University and the University of Oregon (who had defeated the University of Nevada, Las Vegas) en route to winning its second consecutive championship. Starting in 2006, Edward Jones Dome has become the home of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Urbana missions conference. The event had outgrown its former home on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana.

The dome was also host to Nazarene Youth Conference "Water Fire Wind" in July 2007. The conference was noted for renovating 35 public schools in the St. Louis area, saving the school system over $150,000 in labor costs. The conference also built two homes in one week in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity, sponsored over 1,500 children in third-world areas (in partnership with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries and World Vision), and fed over 10,000 families in the St. Louis area for one week.

[edit] Football playing surface

Interior view

In May 2005, the St. Louis Rams football team announced that the dome would use FieldTurf instead of the antiquated, 10-year old AstroTurf. The surface is a one-year plan until a more flexible surface can be made with access to the power outlets on the dome's concrete floor. After the 2005 season the Rams announced that the current FieldTurf would be torn up and be replaced with another temporary FieldTurf surface for the 2006 season. The facility continues to use FieldTurf as of the 2007 season.

[edit] External links

• Edward Jones Dome

Coordinates: 38°37′58.71″N, 90°11′18.77″W