The Pontiac Silverdome opened on August 23, 1975 and was closed in 2013. On Sunday morning, the home of the Detroit Lions was to be demolished and it did not go as smoothly as the Georgia Dome demolition from two weeks ago. Things did not go as planned and after the smoke cleared the Silverdome was still standing strong after the attempted implosion at 8:30 in the morning. The controlled explosions did not snap the metal support beams that were supposed to collapse the upper deck.
IMPLOSION FAIL: Pontiac Silverdome demolition begins with failed partial implosion https://t.co/aDIcWCu7L1 pic.twitter.com/EXtQbexHOC
— Local 4 WDIV Detroit (@Local4News) December 3, 2017
Planned demolition of the Pontiac Silverdome's upper ring (apparently) unsuccessful as charges go off but the metal beams do not come down. Details @WWJ950 pic.twitter.com/B8Vsn8Vuq5
— Jon Hewett (@JonHewettWWJ) December 3, 2017
Fail. Detroit officials said that the demolition “didn’t go according to plan.” Well. No shit. One official said the Silverdome is “built a little too well” while another official said, “eight explosive charges failed to go off at Silverdome implosion today – believe wiring somehow cut.” Another implosion will be scheduled for a later date. Twitter was happy to point out all of the funny in the fail including the building’s link to the Detroit Lions.
https://twitter.com/anthonyb519/status/937320328547639296
City of Pontiac setting up a Go Fund Me page for something stronger than Black Cats & M80s. #silverdome
— Jerry Noble (@noblejerry) December 3, 2017
Pontiac Silverdome, Post-implosion.
Standing next to guys from Adamo “this didn’t work.” Steel columns meant to come down clearly in place. pic.twitter.com/5iAolpHGwt
— Allie Gross (@Allie_Elisabeth) December 3, 2017
#Silverdome be like pic.twitter.com/gLkQ7Ls6z1
— Dan Bergman (@traderforlife) December 3, 2017
Lmao…the Silverdome still stands after explosives went off. Most Detroit thing ever 😂😂😂😂😂
— Braves Ñiñja (@BravesNinja) December 3, 2017
The #Silverdome not collapsing when the charges went off might be the most #Lions thing in the history of Lions things.
— Aaron Santini (@AaronRadioGuy) December 3, 2017
If the #Lions had shown remotely close to the same D as the #Silverdome just did against dynamite, they would have won at least 2 playoff games in the past 50 years.
— Brian Groesser (@Brian_Groesser) December 3, 2017
The Silverdome is so familiar with implosions that one more couldn't even put a dent in it…
— Paul Sacca (@Paul_Sacca) December 3, 2017
Once again angry people leave the Silverdome after a disappointing ending pic.twitter.com/6zvEXU8lGz
— The Drew & Mike Show (@DrewMikePodcast) December 3, 2017
The Silverdome was NOT an inside job!!!!! #silverdome
— Tony (@Yankeet) December 3, 2017
Just in: Scooby-Doo and the gang just unmasked the Silverdome dynamite button-pusher. pic.twitter.com/mZokRjas6j
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) December 3, 2017
The Pontiac Silverdome becomes the first implosion to wish a bus had shielded it from public view. pic.twitter.com/9PuOV3hWyJ
— Dan Hasty (@ThatDanHasty) December 3, 2017
We would like to thank the City of Detroit for their participation in attempting to implode the #Silverdome. pic.twitter.com/KneDu1FmWf
— McNeil (@Reflog_18) December 3, 2017
The Pontiac Silverdome was the former home of the Detroit Lions from 1975 until 2001, the Detroit Pistons from 1978 until 1988, and the North American Soccer League’s Detroit Express from 1978 until 1980. The Silverdome also hosted major events during its heyday including the NCAA Cherry Bowl in 1984, a Led Zepplin concert in 1977, a mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in 1987, and WrestleMania III in 1987 that had a record attendance of 93,173.
Once and if salvageabledemolish the Silverdome, it will take workers at least six months to sift through the rubble to find materials that are salvagable. There is said to be 1,700 tons of structural steel and 1,800 tons of rebar that will be recycled at a processing plant. In all, it will take approximately one year to complete the full demolition of the Silverdome. But this implosion failure will last forever.