The cost of demolition

The expected price tag to demolish the Reliant Astrodome that Harris County o cials have cited in recent years far exceeds the cost of razing other stadiums across the country, including domes of comparable size. Demolition costs on more than two dozen razed stadiums, listed in order of seating capacity:
Stadium Metro area Seating capacity Year demolished Estimated cost to demolish

Giants Stadium Mile High Stadium Cleveland Municipal Stadium Orange Bowl Houlihans Stadium Seattle Kingdome Texas Stadium Astrodome Foxboro Stadium Three Rivers Stadium Yankee Stadium RCA Dome Shea Stadium Memorial Stadium Milwaukee County Stadium Riverfront Stadium (Cinergy Field) Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium Busch Memorial Stadium * Tiger Stadium Exhibition Park Amway Arena Richeld Coliseum Reunion Arena Civic Arena McNichols Arena Market Square Arena Boston Garden

N.Y./N.J. Denver Cleveland Miami Tampa Seattle Dallas Houston Boston Pittsburgh New York Indianapolis New York Baltimore Milwaukee Cincinnati Atlanta St. Louis Detroit Toronto Orlando Cleveland Dallas Pittsburgh Denver Indianapolis Boston

80,242 76,123 75,000 74,476 74,301 66,000 65,000 63,000 60,000 59,000 57,545 56,127 55,775 53,371 53,192 52,952 52,769 50,345 46,945 43,737 17,519 17,213 17,000 16,940 16,707 16,530 14,890

2010 2002 1996 2008 1999 2000 2010 -2002 2001 2009-10 2008 2008-09 2001 2001 2002 1997 2005 2008-09 1999 2012 1999 2009 Ongoing 2000 2001 1995

$10.0 million $9.0 million $2.9 million $3.0 million $740,000 $10.0 million $6.0 million $78.0 million $1.5 million $5.1 million $22.0 million $13.0 million $17.0 million $3.8 million $2.5 million $5.8 million $7.0 million $6.4 million $400,000 $1.8 million $2.0 million $2.3 million $2.1 million $5.0 million $900,000 $3.5 million $4.5 million

Note: Seating capacities and demolition costs are estimates; almost all are taken from media reports * Busch demolition cost does not include the cost to excavate the site

Houston Chronicle