It has been a story that has taken nearly as many twists and turns as the recruitment of the Taurean Thompson saga. The only difference is that the Carrier Dome redesign will continue to develop over the next several years, while Thompson, one would think, would reach a decision in the coming weeks.
It was first announced around the end of the academic year for Syracuse University that the beloved and outdated Carrier Dome would be getting a much-needed facelift. The air-supported roof, the last of its kind in the United States, would be replaced with a fixed roof and the entire building would be taken out of the 1970s and into the 21st century.
Syracuse fans then got their first glimpse at what they thought the building might look like when potential renderings of the new building were released, only to be denied by the University. Now, there is some sort of concrete rendering of the redesign.
On Monday evening, Chancellor Kent Syverud shared a draft of the “Campus Framework” plan with the University community. In these plans was a new, partial rendering of the updated Carrier Dome (see below).
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- The most recent rendering of the Carrier Dome.
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- An initial rendering of the new Dome, which has been rejected by the University.
There are a couple of important things to mention about the Dome in regards to the “Campus Framework”, which you can see in its entirety here. First of all, is that the building is referred to as “the Dome” and the name Carrier is never mentioned. This is not particularly surprising as it has been pretty clear throughout the process that the University will look for a new partner for naming rights.
The other thing to remember, as we all learned the hard way when the last set of renderings came out, is that nothing is final. Things are likely to change a million times between now and the time the building opens with its brand-new roof. There is still no definite timetable for the construction process and a final design hasn’t even been improved yet.
However, that does not mean Syracuse fans should not be excited about these upcoming renovations. The new Dome will still hold all of the incredible memories that Syracuse fans hold dear, like Pearl Washington’s buzzer beater against B.C. or the first game against Duke in the ACC when Syracuse improved to 21-0 on the season. However, this new and improved Dome will also prove to be a better place to watch a game and a better representative to travelling fans of what Syracuse is all about.
