Lucas Oil Stadium - Indianapolis Colts New Home Turf

With football season coming up soon, the Indianapolis Colts will have a new place to play. Lucas Oil Stadium is set to be ready this year, with the 1^st game on Sept 7, 2008 against the Chicago Bears.

The stadium will be much bigger then what the RCA Dome was, and multi-functional.

The Lucas oil Stadium is located downtown Indianapolis on 12 acres, 522,720 square feet. 63,000 seats that can be expandable up to 70,000 and 7,100 club seats. There are between 140 to 150 suites., 60 concession stands, and 10 to 13 escalators to get up and down though out the building, something the RCA dome didn't have. The stadium will have 2 HD scoreboards... one at each end, 97 feet wide and 53 feet tall.

The Roof

The roof is a retractable multi-layered system to protect against the weather if needed. It will split into length-wise into the sloping part of the roof. The 2 panels weight in at about 2.7 million pounds... each.

It is on a system of cables, drives and electronics that it can be opened or closed in about 9 minutes.

The window Wall

Lucas Stadium has a movable window wall that will have the 'feel' of being outside, along with the retractable roof, being opened. This will be at one end of the stadium. The wall will be 214 feet by 88 feet. It is made of 6 glass panels of 88 feet by 38 feet, dividing in the middle. The time for opening or closing is about 6 minutes.

Multi-functional

There plans in the works for other event's beside the Colt's games at Lucas Stadium. In 2010, the Men's Final Four will held there, and the Women's the following year. Other events will include the Grand National Marching Band championship, the Indiana State Marching Band Finals and others when the Colts are not playing.

And finally... The Cost

The new stadium will have cost the City of Indianapolis and the State about $657 million dollars. It breaks down to different area's... $500 million for construction, $125 in 'soft' costs and $50 in contingencies. The Colt's team will pitch in about $100 million. The cost of operation will be about $10 million more a year, than it was to operate the RCA Dome.

Future of the RCA Dome

The Dome will be torn down to make way for an expanding project to the Indiana Convention Center. This is expected to be completed in 2010.