On Sept. 20, 1980, the Carrier Dome opened with 50,564 football fans witnessing a 36-24 Syracuse victory over Miami University. “The Dome” replaced the aging Archbold Stadium, which had been built on the same spot in 1907. The project cost approximately $27 million (about $78 million today) to complete. It is the largest domed stadium on any college campus and the largest domed stadium in the Northeast. It can seat over 30,000 people for basketball games and nearly 50,000 for football games. Over the past four decades, the Dome has been the site of sporting events, commencements and convocations, concerts and community events.
(Via Syracuse University) In 2014, for the first time in the Dome’s history, there was an ice rink where there normally is turf or hardwood.The Syracuse Crunch took on the Utica Comets in the Frozen Dome Classic on Saturday, November 22nd, 2014. It was the first professional hockey game played in the historic Carrier Dome. The crowd of 30,715 was the largest to ever watch an indoor pro game in the United States.It was the second largest single-game crowd in AHL history, ranking behind the 45,653 people who attended a Jan. 6, 2012 outdoor game at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
— Dan Connors