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Syracuse announces $118 million investment in Carrier Dome renovations

Just don’t you dare mention “Carrier” or “Dome” in the announcement.

By John Cassillo
NCAA Basketball: Notre Dame at Syracuse Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Big news for the Syracuse Orange today as the university’s announced a $118 million investment to “create a new stadium experience.” This is clearly about the Carrier Dome, however, you won’t see any mention of “Carrier” or “Dome” in the announcement because this is a NEW ERA, dammit.

First, without burying the lede:

WE ARE GETTING AIR CONDITIONING IN THIS THING.

Seems the air conditioning company’s name being on the building was what was stopping it the whole time. Weird how these things work...

The other highlights of what truly is a big day for SU as we modernize facilities and bring the Dome (or Wegmans Fieldhouse/Bain Capital Coliseum) into the 21st century:

  • New, fixed roof
  • Vertically hung scoreboard
  • New sound and lighting systems
  • Enhanced Wi-Fi
  • ADA accessibility upgrades
  • Air conditioning
  • Bathroom upgrades
  • Concessions upgrades
  • Natural lighting

So let’s get a gander at this new design...

Via SU

There are some resemblances here to stadiums like Shanghai Stadium, Aviva Stadium in Dublin and maybe even BC Place (in Vancouver), which needed a similar renovation moving away from a traditional dome. But mostly, it might just be a way to avoid using the leaked design from a couple years ago.

But wait, there’s more!

Matt Park also provided some additional information on the timeline (completion by 2022) and scoreboard situation:

Summer construction makes sense to avoid some sort of hellish barnstorming tour for the football and basketball teams, so we’ll applaud that move up front. Putting the scoreboard on a track also seems like a cool and unexpected feature that I’m intrigued to see play out.

So now that this is not just conception but reality, how do we feel? Will you miss the soft roof and getting wooshed out of the doors? Still want to see it called the “dome?” Do you think we can even get out of the Carrier contract? And noticeably, no mention of troughs. Those are likely gone. Sorry to the #IStandWithTroughs holdouts.

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