Midwest's Movable Marvel

Lucas Oil Stadium
Indianapolis, Indiana

The 63,000-seat Lucas Oil Stadium — named Street and Smith's SportsBusiness Journal's Sports Facility of the Year — hosts the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise, as well as NCAA Final Four championships, conventions, concerts and special events. It has the first U.S. retractable roof supported on multiple, parallel supports.

The stadium's roof is the first ever to divide lengthwise into two retractable panels with each half sliding down the steep, gabled roof into the open position. A 960-hp cable-drum drive system moves the retractable roof panels up and down the sloped track in 9 to 11 minutes, depending on wind conditions.

Two 600-foot by 160-foot panels weighing 2.9 million pounds each separate along the roof's longitudinal ridge and roll away from each other down a straight 13.2 degree pitch toward the east and west ends of the building. Each panel rides on five parallel rails along pitched transverse trusses. Primary roof support consists of two steel sideline super-trusses, each spanning 760 feet.

Lucas Oil Stadium won ACEC's 2009 Grand Award for Engineering Excellence.

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