Despite the best efforts of officials in Detroit, the Silverdome refused to die. On Sunday morning a scheduled implosion of the Pontiac Silverdome went awry when a series of controlled explosions failed to break a series of support beams that would have caused the upper deck to collapse.
Pontiac Silverdome finally imploded after they failed on the first try
The Silverdome refused to die.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
They finally got the job done on Monday morning.
There is conflicting information about what exactly happened during the planned implosion. Initial reports stated that the the charges went off as planned, which would require extensive evaluation and rescheduling the demolition for a later date, but a city official told FOX 2 in Detroit that the failure was a result of some connections to the cutting blasts failing. This would potentially mean those connections could be re-made, and the implosion could happen later on Sunday.
Crowds of onlookers expecting to see the final breath of a Detroit icon only saw a few puffs of dust ejected into the skyline when the charges failed. If the demolition is delayed further, officials will need to wait until next week, assuming weather conditions remain favorable.
Complete demolition of the Silverdome is expected to take a year, with mechanical excavation taking over following the controlled explosions.
Update: If at first you don’t succeed, just try again. The second attempt at using an implosion to knock down the Silverdome worked.
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