The Silverdome Has Been Abandoned To The Elements

The Silverdome hasn't hosted the Lions since 2001. The city of Pontiac auctioned it off in 2009 to the highest bidder. The highest bid was $550,000. "It was a bit surprising," the new owner said. "There were really very few bids."

The 80-plus-thousand-seat stadium has lain mostly dormant since then, hosting the occasional boxing, a rodeo, a monster truck rally—but its only permanent tenant is an ultimate frisbee team. It doesn't look particularly playable at the moment.

Local traffic copters have captured video of the Silverdome today, the roof torn to shreds. Strong winds and snow in the last few days have ripped the inflatable dome apart, and no one's done anything to stop it. That's by design. After discovering a small tear in one of the panels, the building's owners chose to deflate and abandon it rather than repair it. There was no sense in spending money to fix it, since they plan to replace it this summer with a hard covering.

Instead of making tired jokes about Detroit, let's watch the Metrodome roof cave in. Stadium destructo-porn!

OK, now you can make tired jokes about Detroit.

[ CBS Detroit, WXYZ]