Kaboom! Georgia Dome Demolished After 25 Years

The stadium has been replaced by the futuristic Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

In seconds, 25 years of gridiron history were pulverized into pieces of debris.

One of the largest and most cutting-edge sports stadiums in the world when it debuted in 1992, the Georgia Dome was imploded Monday morning, months after the completion of its successor, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Up until it was closed in June, the Georgia Dome was home stadium to the Atlanta Falcons and the Georgia State University Panthers football team, as well as the setting for the Peach Bowl every year for 25 years.

Over those two and a half decades, the dome hosted more than 39 million fans at some 1,400 events.

In addition to the NFL and college football, soccer matches were also held at the dome, as were NCAA basketball games and even Olympic basketball when the Summer Games were held in Atlanta in 1996. 

Officials said it took over 300 pounds of explosives to collapse the steel in the upper ring and about 4,500 pounds of dynamite intended to crumble the concrete columns of the dome, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported

However, when the dust settled it became clear the dynamite didn't completely finish the job, as two sections of the dome's outside walls remained standing.

Officials said they would investigate whether the dynamite placed in those sections detonated.

The implosion was otherwise uneventful, and the dome's successor stadium — just 80 feet away — was unscathed, thanks to a five-story protective curtain.

The futuristic-looking Mercedes-Benz Stadium holds about 71,000 people and features a pinwheel shaped retractable roof.