Hey, Cat-lanta, get up early to watch Monday’s Georgia Dome implosion
University of Kentucky basketball fans have logged innumerable miles and booked countless hotel rooms to watch their Wildcats transform Atlanta into Cat-lanta through the years.
A structure that housed so many of those thrilling memories — five Southeastern Conference Tournament championships and four NCAA tourney victories — will go out with a bang early Monday morning.
The Georgia Dome, which has been replaced as the downtown sports venue of choice by the $1.6 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium right next door, will be erased from the Atlanta skyline with a 7:30 a.m. implosion.
Click here to watch a live stream of the implosion, which will be shown on the Facebook page of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, the most prominent team to call the Georgia Dome home for the past 25 years. Atlanta United, the city’s popular Major League Soccer franchise, will also show the implosion live on Facebook. The Facebook broadcasts will begin around 7 a.m. The implosion itself is expected to last no more than 15 seconds.
Those not on Facebook may watch the implosion live on the website of WXIA-TV in Atlanta.
According to AtlantaFalcons.com, the coverage will include an exclusive camera broadcasting from inside the Dome in addition to two aerial drone shots. The broadcast will include five different camera angles in all.
Kentucky won SEC Tournament titles in the Georgia Dome in 1995, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2011. They won NCAA Tournament games there in 1998 and 2012 — both years leading to Kentucky’s two most recent national championships.
According to BigBlueHistory.net, the Wildcats went 26-6 all-time in the Georgia Dome.
Atlanta police said several streets and parts of Atlanta’s transit system will close Monday morning as many of the city's residents watch the blast against the early-morning sky. The city's tallest hotel, the 73-story Westin Peachtree Plaza with a view of the dome, even plans a "Georgia Dome implosion party" in its restaurant and bar near the very top.
This story was originally published November 19, 2017 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Hey, Cat-lanta, get up early to watch Monday’s Georgia Dome implosion."