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UNI-Dome renovation gears up for second phase
‘The UNI-Dome has given so much to Panther fans and this state’
Oct. 27, 2024 5:30 am, Updated: Oct. 28, 2024 7:39 am
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Although the University of Northern Iowa administration has reassessed priorities in its $50 million renovation of the historic UNI-Dome, it’s forging ahead with a second phase of the massive project — this one focused on improving the fan experience.
With a first phase of updates to the nearly 50-year-old event center complete, UNI’s next round of renovations will include:
- New purple seats, with wider chair backs in the general seating area.
- More premium seating options, offering a “high-end experience.”
- An expanded suite level aimed at generating more revenue to sustain UNI-Dome operations.
- Wider aisles and handrails, along with a new elevator to improve accessibility.
- Party decks in the northwest and southwest corners, so viewers can gather to watch the game together.
- And more bathrooms — primarily for women.
“The UNI-Dome has given so much to Panther fans and this state,” UNI Athletics Director Megan Franklin said in a statement. “It’s time for us to give back to this iconic space.”
The Grateful Dead, RAGBRAI
News of the UNI-Dome’s phase II plans comes two years after UNI announced a capital campaign to renovate the facility, which opened in 1976 as the first indoor stadium in the nation with a full-size, air-supported fabric roof system.
Work on the dome began 50 years ago, in 1974, and the facility since has hosted plenty of Panther football games and also musicians like Alice Cooper in 1977, The Grateful Dead and Willie Nelson in 1978, The Rolling Stones in 1981, Fleetwood Mac and The Who in 1982, and Pink Floyd in 1988.
It welcomed RAGBRAI in 1985 and has hosted student parties, youth sports championships, and commencement ceremonies over the years.
Except for minor updates, like to its scoreboard, the UNI-Dome didn’t get its first major upgrade until 1999 — 23 years after it debuted and five years after snow and ice tore the fabric roof, causing it to deflate.
The dome’s air-supported center fabric roof was replaced at that time with a “better-quality fabric roof” with structural supports. Its outer roof also was swapped with a “hard” metal roof — which lasted until 2010, when hail damage forced the university to install a new PVC white roof with a warranty through 2040.
Five years ago, the university commissioned an independent study to assess the roof, finding the center fabric portion — accounting for a quarter of the entire roof — was deteriorating, nearing the end of its useful life, and would need to be replaced by 2024.
In 2022, on the same day UNI went public with a $250 million fundraising campaign, UNI Athletics announced the $50 million “visionary” capital campaign for the most “comprehensive renewal” of the dome since its birth.
The $11.2 million first-phase involved a new Teflon-coated fiberglass roof and the addition of a new Van G. Miller Family Charitable Foundation football team meeting room.
“Fifty years ago, university leaders had a vision for a structure that would serve the university, the community and the state as a place to bring us together,” UNI President Mark Nook said. “We are grateful for a new generation of donors who have made this first phase of the UNI-Dome renovation possible. This first phase is the initial step in a renovation that will carry this iconic facility through the next 50 years.”
‘Potential for greater impact’
The UNI-Dome annually welcomes 500,000 visitors and has a $17 million economic impact on the community each year, according to the university.
As part of the campuswide capital campaign — which blew past its $250 million goal and reset its ambition at $300 million — more than $20 million in gifts and grants have been made toward the UNI-Dome effort.
That includes support from the city of Cedar Falls and the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors, along with individual donations like $5 million from Marilyn Bohl and a $1 million gift from former Panther linebacker Brad Baumler.
“The significance of the UNI-Dome renovation to the University of Northern Iowa and to the community cannot be overstated,” Bohl said in 2022. “I'd have a hard time identifying a project that has the potential for greater impact on the students of today — but also students 10, 20, 30 years from now.”
To date, UNI has raised $282 million toward its overall campaign goal — involving 30,000 unique donors.
Although timeline specifics still are being worked out, phase two of the UNI-Dome project is planned for completion by fall 2026 — to coincide with its 50th anniversary.
A third phase of the project could involve a concourse expansion, new indoor track, lighting and sound system upgrade, and marquee signage and graphics.
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.
Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com
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