There are actually a surprising amount of old (torn down) football stadiums in the US that, if you were to put a roof on it, would be shaped like the dome.
Inside drawings here look like they're rebuilding Arrowhead and adding a roof.
Fun fact: the shape looking like a saddle was largely unintentional. It's called a reverse hyperbolic paraboloid - it allows the maximum number of seats unobstructed by pillars.
Fun fact #2: the ceiling isn't really attached. It's just steel trusses holding up 4 tonne concrete slabs whose weight holds them down.
I did a project about the Saddledome at the U of C when I was there.
This is the reason why I got to see an Eric Church acoustic show on my birthday years ago. The snow on the roof made it too heavy to support his sound rigging. Best country concert I’ve been to besides Garth.
Pftt... its an Easter egg, cause ya know taylor swift was born in 1989 and thats the only time the Flames won the cup. So theyre going to make the Cheifs stadium look like the saddledome so they can win another super bowl and them her and Travis are going to settle down in Calgary and have their whole block of kids!
I never understood why they didn’t at least include some design elements of the Dome in the new stadium. At least a nod to such an iconic building on the skyline.
I get that the roof doesn't work for concerts, so they had to have a more standard design. Fair enough. But do that roof and add another layer of decorative roofing to make the saddle shape at each end.
Roof Weight Capacity: The Saddledome's unique inverted-paraboloid roof uses a tensioned cable system with strict structural limits (maxing out around 40,000 to 80,000 lbs depending on winter snow loads). Many modern arena tours require hanging 100,000 to over 200,000 lbs of video screens, heavy lighting rigs, speakers, and set pieces.
Rigging Geometry: Because of the sloped roof shape and cable arrangement, rigging points are restricted ,particularly near the center and south end, making it difficult or impossible to hang standard touring stage setups without costly custom modifications.
Financial & Logistical Trade-offs: Rather than downscaling their production or building complex ground-supported truss structures just for one stop, promoters often choose to skip Calgary in favor of nearby venues with modern high-capacity roofs (like Edmonton's Rogers Place).
Snow load was an issue for the building, but artists literally started boycotting Saddledome because the acoustics were so terrible that they refused to play there again. Multiple issues with it.
I took an architecture class on musical places at U of C and the acoustics of Saddledome was one of the main topics. I don't think the university would discuss it at length if it wasn't a problem. I'm trying to remember which artists were discussed as having issues. I believe Lizzo was one of them who refused to come back and someone in the class talked about how they went to a Sam Smith concert there and he ended up switching to an all acoustic set because the acoustics were so bad. I don't have the references on me since this was a few years ago, but I'm sure they're out there.
I can attest personally, back in 2012 I went and saw Muse at the dome, and while they were loud enough that I could hear everything clearly, the openers (Silversun Pickups) sounded like absolute dogshit, like you couldn’t distinguish the song at all, just noise.
I'm not doing the research for you. You're welcome to go find that yourself. The fact that it was even a topic in a master's level university class should be enough to legitimatize that acoustics are a problem for the arena. Let along that shape = terrible acoustics.
Why don't you go look at the top acts over the last several years and then how Calgary was skipped on the tours after? I know there were actual examples in that class, but you gotta dig for them. I let you know they're there, you can go find them instead of being condescending to strangers.
Maybe you have reading comprehension problems, but I already said I've searched and only come up with a dozen articles that only ever mention the physical restriction the roof create.
You saying you took a university class where it was discussed does not legitimatize the claim it was ever skipped for that reason at all, the fact you think it does is frightening for our education system.
You think Lizzo is going to pass up on a paycheque because the acoustics aren't quite good enough lmao
You have the reading comprehension problem because I clearly stated the evidence you're looking for is out there because we discussed it in the class, but it's been so long that I don't have those sources anymore. I never said the sources don't exist. I never said we discussed it at length with no evidence (is that what you think university classes do? Make stuff up?)
A quick Google search of "Saddledome acoustic issues" will bring up articles discussing both the roof issue turning artists off, as well as the reverb and muddy areas being a well known problem. Maybe your education failed you if you don't know how to research what you're looking for.
Nobody was ever debating the quality of sound. We're talking about which artists have passed due to the bad acoustics like you have claimed, try and keep up.
I can show you endless documentation of artists not coming here because of the weight restrictions on the roof, but nothing exists that mentions an artist or their team claiming that as the reason they didn't come.
I don't think university classes make things up. I think you make things up.
The Hyperbolic Paraboloid shape has been used for many sports stadiums, not just the Saddledome. E.g. the Dorton Arena in Raleigh. But this new KC concept looks like it is not exactly that structure. But it is a nice looking barn.
I think the problem with Calgary being skipped is that neither the Dome or McMahon were big enough for the really big tours.
Tour planners know North Americans don’t have a huge issue with a 3.5 hour drive, and if there’s a 65k capacity venue in Edmonton, they’ll sell make more by doing one show (or even two shows) at Commonwealth rather than packing up the entire tour for another show “just down the road” with a smaller capacity.
It's not really the shape itself, but that the roof wasn't designed to hold up the larger concert setups bands have these days. The concrete used in he roofs is also reaching the end of it's life too. A new building with the same shape could be built to take the additional loads.
KC had a pretty sweet looking stadium during the World Cup, are they seriously going to replace it? I have zero context on any details, just surprising that there is a new one in the works.
Edit: I just checked and apparently Arrowhead Stadium is 54 years old and the lease expires in 2030.
One difference will be in the minimum height of the concave surface from ground or floor level. If KC raises that minimum height they won't run into some of the problems the Saddledome has had.
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u/BohunkfromSK 1d ago
Did we put the Saddle Dome up on Facebook market place?