Syracuse, N.Y. -- The Carrier Dome roof was deflated for the final time on Monday morning, a permanent change in the Syracuse skyline that would have felt momentous months ago but was somewhat muted by the changes in the world caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

The deflation began just after 7 a.m., with Syracuse University vice president and chief facilities officer Pete Sala controlling the deflation from the building’s stadium control room. It took about an hour.

From campus, just outside the construction site, it was impossible to know exactly when the process began and when it ended.

There were no loud noises as the process began, no celebration to mark the conclusion. It took time for any noticeable change to occur to the building.

“Is anything happening” one university employee asked another, as they emptied a truck outside Falk College around 7:30 a.m.

“I don’t know,” the other answered. “It’s getting squishee.”

The roof grew squishier and squishier, for lack of a better description, sinking slowly as the sun was rising. Eventually the roof disappeared from view and dropped inside the building, where it will hang inverted 30 feet above the floor until workers cut it down. That process is expected to take eight hours and also be completed on Monday.

Some pieces will remain on the ground to protect the floor. Other pieces will be kept in storage. Syracuse’s graduating class, the first group that won’t graduate in the building since it was erected, will receive pieces to remember the building as it was. Other pieces are expected to be available to Syracuse fans for purchase.

The deflation ends an era that lasted 40 years. The building hosted its first game in 1980, and the air-inflated roof was a distinctive part of the city skyline. It greeted travelers as they arrived in Syracuse on I-81 from Tully. The building’s curves and ridges have been depicted on T-shirts that celebrated Syracuse fans for both their volume and voluminosity.

As the roof dropped there were few observers and relatively little impact to the rest of an empty campus.

“It’s just sort of quiet, right?” offered another observer, pausing to peer up at the roof as she exited a campus building.

Indeed, it was a very quiet end of an era at a building dubbed “The Loudhouse.”

The lowering of the roof officially marks the end of an air-inflated roof both at Syracuse and in similar-sized venues across the country. The roof technology was once a common way to cover large spaces, largely because it was economical, but the era of big-time sports and improved technology spawned a need for progress and more reliability.

The Carrier Dome was the last major stadium of its kind in the country, out-living the Metrodome, Silverdome and RCA Dome.

The Carrier Dome’s next roof, a tension-membrane roof, is expected to have a longer lifespan, require less upkeep and eliminate the potential of a collapse in bad weather. That roof is expected to be finished this fall part of a building renovation that will include improved lighting and sound systems and a center-hung scoreboard. Other improvements are scheduled before 2022.

As the roof came down, the rest of the construction site outside the building remained active. Workers in yellow and orange vests carried on with other tasks. Truck and crane engines rumbled quietly in the early morning.

All of it occurred on a campus that would always be quiet at that hour, especially during spring break, but was likely emptier than usual as university staff was encouraged to work from home and practice social distancing amid the global pandemic.

The Syracuse skyline had changed drastically but the country is grappling with other changes amid the pandemic including illness, school closings, impacts on local businesses and employees, the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament and, in some places, the entire spring sports season.

Sala has said the renovation project remains on schedule to be completed by Sept. 19, when the building is scheduled to host a football game between Syracuse and Colgate. Hopefully, everything else in the country will be back to normal too.

Contact Chris Carlson anytime: E-mail | Twitter | 315-412-1639

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