The Superdome was the largest fixed domed structure in the world, but it lost its title as the largest domed structure when the Georgia Dome in Atlanta was completed in 1992. (Both the Superdome and Georgia Dome were surpassed in size by London’s Millennium Dome in 1999.) In 2005, the Superdome came to international attention when it housed thousands of evacuees seeking shelter from Hurricane Katrina.
The Superdome is home to the NFL’s New Orleans Saints and the NCAA’s Division I Tulane University football team. It is one of the few facilities in the United States which can host major sporting events such as the Super Bowl and the Final Four; as such, given New Orleans’ popularity as a tourist destination, whenever the Superdome bids to host such an event it routinely makes the “short list” of candidates being considered. It has been chosen to host Super Bowl XLVII in February 2013.
