Pontiac Silverdome's assets for sale

[JonLP24]

PONTIAC, Mich. -- The Pontiac Silverdome was the place Elvis, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones played. And Pope John Paul II prayed. It's where Barry Sanders and Isiah Thomas became Detroit sports legends.

A marvel of 1970s-era engineering, the stadium covered by a 10-acre, Teflon-covered roof supported by air once was THE place to see big events -- the Super Bowl, the NBA finals, the World Cup, WrestleMania.

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The elements have wreaked havoc. Without electricity, the stadium's innards are dark and mold-infested. The weed-covered turf, on which Sanders once made tacklers look silly, is floating on a foot of water like an oversized lily pad. Workers scared off a pair of foxes living underneath the roof remnants that cover a section of Honolulu blue chairs in the lower bowl.

The Silverdome's current owner -- an investment company that tried to revive interest by holding events such as soccer and boxing in recent years -- is determined to cash in before it's too late, putting pretty much anything and everything inside up for auction starting on Wednesday.

"Every item starts at $5. If we don't get that, it goes in the garbage," said Jim Passeno of RJM Auctions, which is handling the online auction that runs through May 29.

Among the 4,000 items available for bidding are pretzel warmers, a boxing ring, a Zamboni turf machine, flat-screen televisions and scoreboards. A pre-auction sale of Silverdome seats is already underway.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10952712/pontiac-silverdome-assets-sale?addata=module-b

[KamaAina]

1. No one has ever been able to explain to me

how the color other than silver on the Lions' jerseys came to be called "Honolulu Blue". Not even the late 5thGenDem, who was once a sportswriter in Saginaw.

[hughee99]

2. Yes, but since it's Pontiac, your purchases may be recalled in the future. n/t

[RockaFowler]

3. The picture of the stadium is so sad

I remember in the 80's going to Lions games and Pistons games. My brother was in a Basketball tournament there and was over the moon when his team got to meet the Pistons (1984 ish). My Dad used to take us to Thanksgiving games (they were always blacked out in our area) in the mid 80's. I loved that stadium - plus it was only 1/2 hour from our house. It was a beauty in 1981 when they hosted the Super Bowl. I still have my Super Bowl stamp from that day. The whole area is such a mess now. I went back in 2003 and I was so sad to see what happened. Then last week I saw the picture of the Silverdome itself and it was beyond sad. The turf was still in pretty good shape. Imagine if they would have kept it up and used it for other events properly!! Nope!