Fukuoka Dome

Fukuoka PayPay Dome
Fukuoka Dome PayPay Dome
Full name	Fukuoka Dome
Location	2-2-2 Jigyōhama, Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, Japan
Broke ground	April 1, 1991
Opened	April 2, 1993
Owner	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Marketing Corp.
Operator	Hawks Town Co.
Surface	FieldTurf 2009–present AstroTurf 1993 to 2008
Construction cost	¥76 billion
Architect	Takenaka Corporation and Maeda Corporation
General Contractor	Takenaka Corporation and Maeda Corporation
Former names	Fukuoka Dome (1993–2005) Fukuoka Yahoo! JAPAN Dome (2005–13) Fukuoka Yafuoku! Dome (2013–2020)
Tenants
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (1993–present)
Capacity
40,000 (baseball) 47,500 (concert)
Dimensions
Left Field – 100 m (328 ft) Left-Center – 118 m (387 ft) Center Field – 122 m (400 ft) Right-Center – 118 m (387 ft) Right Field – 100 m (328 ft) Outfield Fence Height: 5.84 m (19.2ft)

The Fukuoka PayPay Dome (福岡ペイペイドーム, Fukuoka Peipeidōmu^?), officially the Fukuoka Dome (福岡ドーム, Fukuoka Dōmu^?) is a stadium located in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. Built in 1993, the stadium was originally named Fukuoka Dome (福岡ドーム, Fukuoka Dōmu^?) and has the capacity of 40,000 seats. With a diameter of 216 meters, the Fukuoka PayPay Dome is the world's largest geodesic dome. The Fukuoka Dome is Japan's first stadium built with a retractable roof, and was the only one in Japan until the opening of Es Con Field Hokkaido in 2023. In 2005, Yahoo! JAPAN, one of SoftBank's subsidiaries, acquired the stadium's naming rights, and thus renamed it Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome (福岡Yahoo! JAPANドーム, Fukuoka Yafū Japan Dōmu^?) or abbreviated as Yahoo Dome (ヤフードーム, Yafū Dōmu^?), In January 2013, it was renamed to Fukuoka Yafuoku! Dome (福岡ヤフオク! ドーム, Fukuoka Yafuoku Dōmu^?). Yafuoku is the abbreviation for Yahoo! Auctions in Japan. On October 30, 2019, it was announced that the stadium was going to be named Fukuoka PayPay Dome, in reference to the payment system PayPay owned by Softbank (50%) and Yahoo Japan (25%), from February 29, 2020. It is one of the few NPB stadiums with onsite hotels.

History

Dome interior in 2016

Fukuoka Dome from outside

Fukuoka Dome is the home stadium of Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and, together with Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk Hotel, is part of the Hawks Town entertainment complex. It is located near Momochi Beach, and a 15 minute walk from Tōjinmachi Station, a part of the Fukuoka City Subway system.

In 2006, the stadium received an upgrade to its mono-color main scoreboard "Hawks Vision." Sharing the same nickname as its predecessor and measured at 10 m (32.76 ft) high and 53 m (173.86 ft) wide, it was one of the largest high-definition electronic scoreboards at the time, equivalent to a 2,123-inch wide-screen display. In 2010, with further addition of two 5.7 m (120.65 ft) × 33 m (108.27 ft) displays, the stadium boasted the largest total viewing area of HD display in all baseball stadia (total area 905.2sqm or 9,743.49sqft).

The Fukuoka Dome has hosted one game in each Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series since its creation, including the final game of the 2006 series, where Japan was swept for the first time in the history of the event.

In the TV series Extreme Engineering, Danny Forster makes a reference to the Fukuoka Dome, saying it was said to have a "floating" field. (An indoor baseball stadium in Japan which actually has a floating field is Sapporo Dome, which also hosts football games for Consadole Sapporo, a J. League club. However, this stadium does not have such a field.) In 2009, the older, short-pile AstroTurf field was replaced with the more modern grass-like FieldTurf brand surface to reduce injuries; the Hawks players had seen far more injuries than any other team in Japan prior to the field being replaced.

The roof of the Fukuoka Dome was designed to be opened similar to that of the now demolished Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, where the roof would open from the side. This design causes the roof to be rarely opened, due to costs of electricity to the mechanics to open the roof.