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Edward Jones Dome at America's Center®
Court and Turf
The Court
An NBA-quality, portable basketball floor is another feature of the Edward Jones Dome. Here are a few facts about St. Louis' "Dome Court":
- The floor is a Robbins All-Star portable basketball court, the same brand used by the Chicago Bulls, Seattle Supersonics, and 17 other NBA basketball teams. The manufacturer, Robbins Sports Surfaces, also provided basketball courts for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Summer Games.
- The Dome's court is made up of 220 pieces of 4' x 8' maple flooring panels. The panels, which weigh approximately 165 pounds each, are laid out sequentially to form a 60' x 112' basketball court.
- Panels are held together using a hidden drop-pin locking devise built into a metal tongue-and-groove construction system. The floor assembles in just 12 to 15 person hours. No special tools are required for assembly.
- Painted surfaces on the floor are red, white and blue and include the America's Center logo at center court, the key, end zones, and sidelines. The Dome at America's Center name appears along each end zone and St. Lous is painted to the left of the key area at each goal. A polyurethane finish protects the maple and painted surfaces.
- The Dome's portable basketball backstops are the Gared Pro model manufactured by Performance Sports, Inc. The same model is used by the NBA's Indiana Pacers.
- Go ahead and dunk it! Each backstop weighs 3,000 pounds and has a low center of gravity to assure stability. The backboard attachment adjusts to compensate for uneven playing floors and aligns the glass on a single plane. The rim is not attached to the glass in any way, which is an added safety feature during aggressive play.
- As many as 40,000 fans can be seated for basketball and other arena-style events using a state-of-the-art seating system that provides the most intimate basketball setup in any dome in the nation.
Dome court is “best basketball setup in America”
The Edward Jones Dome at America's Center has a seating system that gives the multipurpose facility the most intimate, state-of-the-art basketball seating setup in any dome in the country.
The system of risers, seats and ramps has been designed to transform the south end of the Dome into an arena-like space where the seats are closer to the action and sight lines are dramatically improved.
A six-inch rise between seating rows in the new system enhances the fans' view of the basketball floor. New chairs come equipped with padded backs and seats and an attached cup holder. Ramps connect the Dome's permanent seating with the risers, creating a seamless space and allowing fans to access the new portable seating from the Dome's concourse level.
The Dome hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament in 2002 and 2003 and the NCAA men's Final Four in 2005. The seating arrangement also will allow convention and meeting groups and special events to seat attendees in an arena configuration inside the Dome.
As many as 40,000 fans can be seated for basketball and other arena-style events when the system is put in place.
The turf
A new sports surface is being installed at the Edward Jones Dome for the upcoming St. Louis Rams football season. The FieldTurf product, touted in its marketing materials as “The Greatest Turf on Earth,” will be in use starting with the August 12 Rams’ pre-season opener against the Chicago Bears. The installation takes approximately three weeks as pieces are sewn into place on site. Work is being done by TTI Sports, one of FieldTurf’s St. Louis-area installers.
“The Dome’s original ‘Magic Carpet’ system turf was retired because of improvements in sports surface technology,” said Bruce T. Sommer, Vice President of Facilities for the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission (CVC). The CVC markets and manages the America’s Center® convention complex which includes the Edward Jones Dome.
In May 2005, the St. Louis Regional Convention & Sports Complex Authority (RSA), the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission (CVC) and the St. Louis Rams jointly announced the selection of FieldTurf as the new, temporary artificial playing surface for the Dome.
The temporary installation allows the CVC and the Rams to agree, in the future, on a convertible field that will be newly introduced or one that will be improved upon during the next year. A convertible field is designed to be removed and stored away when not in use, thus allowing the potential opportunity for events such as conventions, trade shows and other economically important activities to take place in the Dome during the football season.
FieldTurf is known for its grass-like surface, with soft fibers designed to eliminate the abrasions of traditional turf. A “synthetic earth” mixture of rounded silica sand, rubber granules and “Nike Grind” ground-up athletic shoe material surrounds the fibers. It is in use at the following professional venues: Giants Stadium, Georgia Dome, Ford Field, Paul Brown Stadium, the MetroDome, the Toronto Blue Jays stadium, Tropicana Field and approximately 80% of the NFL artificial practice fields – including Rams Park.
