It looks like we are bidding farewell to TWO NFL venues this winter. The first to close was Qualcomm Stadium which began life as an MLB/NFL cookie cutter to house the Padres and the Chargers together. But multipurpose stadiums fell out of favor by the 1990s and so the Padres moved to the friendly confines of Petco Park in downtown San Diego. Meanwhile, the Chargers soldiered on in the aging arena. Qualcomm's last Super Bowl was hosted in January 2003. It was made clear that if the NFL was going to award another Super Bowl to San Diego, a new stadium would have to be built. Football facilities over a certain age are basically barred from holding the big game. Two notable exceptions though are the Superdome in New Orleans and the Dolphins Stadium in Miami. As long as they make regular upgrades, they'll continue to get a pass from the league since those cities are very popular Super Bowl venues.

Anyway, the NFL and Chargers have approached city, county, and state governments several times for assistance to finance a new field. But in each case the Chargers were asking for more public money than was acceptable. I agree that sports stadiums shouldn't get excessive public subsidies but I still feel bad about San Diego's situation. Anyway, a last ditch referendum was put before voters last fall to raise money for construction and it was rejected. It was pretty much known that if it failed to pass the Chargers were leaving San Diego. The strange thing is, the Chargers already celebrated a potential Qualcomm Stadium finale last season as they were then first offered the option to go in on the Los Angeles Rams stadium with Stan Kroenke. Despite a hefty NFL relocation fee, being a tenant in the Rams stadium, and having to split the Los Angeles market with them, the Bolts ultimately decided to make the move.

Anyway, here is a nice, concise overview of Jack Murphy/Qualcomm Stadium's history.

After years of sharing the dual-use Fulton County stadium with the Braves, the Falcons finally got an upgrade. Atlanta's Georgia Dome opened in 1992 and became the NFL team's new home. At the time it was well received. The Georgia Dome hosted the Super Bowl twice in 1994 and in 2000. But supposedly it didn't measure up very well compared to its peers that have opened in the years since? I dunno...25 years seems like an awful short life span for a sports venue but this guy makes a pretty good case for why the time had come to replace it. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1647485-yes-we-have-it-straight-atlanta-does-need-a-new-stadium-for-the-falcons In any event, the political climate in Georgia is different from California and getting public financing to complete stadium deals is relatively easy there. I visited Atlanta in 2015 and it was something else to see the Georgia Dome and its future replacement under construction right next to it.

Here is the In One Minute piece on the Georgia Dome.

At least the Falcons managed to send the dome out in style with a victory that led to their appearance in Super Bowl LI. Plenty of teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles, closed out their previous digs with a disappointing loss.

Next month's dead building feature will discuss a former NFL venue that is known for hosting one of the most popular WrestleManias of all time.