http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHkvD7-u7y8&feature=related

from the headline, I assumed they would fire about a million rounds of ammo and then blow up the building while speeding away in their van, all without anybody getting hurt

The Astrodome, for example, is 18 stories tall with a 9-acre footprint; it can easily house a Boeing 777.

Yeah, but gettin' it inside's a b*tch.

Yeah, but gettin' it inside's a b*tch.

I dunno, we managed to get that VW up on top of Old Main...

In a controversial move in 2009, the state-appointed emergency manager of Pontiac, Mich., sold the 80,000-seat Silverdome, once home to the NFL’s Detroit Lions, for just $583,000. Some residents thought the city got fleeced, but in his resignation later, the manager wrote that the stadium “had been sapping the lifeblood of the city for many years while it was sitting idle.”

If I remember correctly, the city was spending like $3M/yr for utilites, upkeep, and security. Like Tiger Stadium, there were any number of people with ideas (some good, some....fanciful), but no one could get any financing.

Also left unsaid, the Pistons played there until they built The Palace right around the corner. Ironically, Mike Illich would like the Pistons to play in his (long rumored, never confirmed) new arena downtown that he wants to build for the Red Wings.

I've been involved with some things like this; old military bases being decommissioned, and so on. Getting people to work together to make something happen is worse than herding cats and, of course, no one ever has any money. Something like the Astrodome either gets taken over by a private group for next to nothing, or it gets blown up. As you note, the running costs are just too high to turn a building like the Astrodome into a Young Adults' Rec Center, or the like. It's a shame. It's a interesting building that a lot could be done with. It needs a White Knight, but will either serve as a permanent home for monster truck rallies, or meet the wrecking ball before long.

Why not just abandon it and let it decay? In a thousand years or so, it would be really cool, like the Colosseum. America could use some good ruins.

America could use some good ruins.

Madonna isn't enough for ya?

Why not just abandon it and let it decay? In a thousand years or so, it would be really cool, like the Colosseum.

"While stands the Astrodome, Houston shall stand,
When falls the Astrodome , Houston shall fall,
and when Houston falls -- the world."

The Solons left Sacramento after the 1960 season but their home there, Edmonds Field wasn't torn down until 1964. Former Sacramento owner Fred David tried in vain to get a new baseball team to come to town. He also hosted motorcycle races in the ballpark in 1961, but neighbors complained about the noise, and the practice was quickly abandoned.

After a few fruitless years, Edmonds Field met the wreckers ball. Interestingly, the Giants and Indians played an exhibition at the doomed park not long before this happened.

Speaking of intentional ruins, any Louis Kahn fans on this site?

Why not just abandon it and let it decay? In a thousand years or so, it would be really cool, like the Colosseum. America could use some good ruins.

Albert Speer, while a reprehensible man in a lot of ways, did have some good ideas about designing stadia so that they'd leave attractive ruins behind.