I'm not proposing going back to the dome at all, but just thought I'd share this. On a recent trip, I had a chance to drop by the dome at Northern Iowa University, which is the building the Mini-Dome was patterned after. Other than colors and added seating (the Northern Iowa dome holds around 16,000 now), they're pretty much identical.

I always thought it interesting that our dome had to be cut back because it couldn't meet fire marshall requirements. I also thought it was interesting that the dome in NI continues to be a very popular venue for sports and other events, yet ours never quite caught on.

Having been a Buc fan from way back, I will say that, when the dome was packed as it was in the early 90s, it was as fun as any arena in the country to watch a game. Back then, friends from Knoxville would drive up to the games with me and marvel at how much better the atmosphere was in JC than in Knoxville.