It was late November of 1987, and only West Virginia and star quarterback Major Harris held Syracuse back from an undefeated regular season. Syracuse countered with quarterback Don McPherson and the Carrier Dome crowd, a metaphorical 12th man. The Orange won the game on a two-point conversion in the game’s final play. Carrier Dome managing director Pat Campbell said it’s the loudest he’s heard the Dome since he arrived in 1981.

No one knows for sure how loud the Carrier Dome gets, but on several occasions Campbell’s heard it rock.

‘We don’t keep any formal measurements in terms of decibel level,’ Campbell said. ‘But I’ve heard it get pretty loud.

‘With the roof, a crowd of 50,000 can really make some noise. You look at some of those big open-air stadiums, like at Penn State or Michigan, and you wonder how the Carrier Dome can get that loud. But the upside-down bowl-shaped dome intensifies the noise and focuses it on the field. It gets very intimidating.’

The intimidation did not work in Monday night’s basketball game when Syracuse fell to Pittsburgh, 68-64. However, the Panthers certainly heard the crowd.

‘The Dome is loud and the Dome is crazy,’ said Pitt forward Chris Taft. ‘The whole time we were shooting around, there were guys saying stuff about us. You always expect that at away games. The crowd is crazy and that’s expected. You’ve got 35,000 people and you can hear them all talking trash. You expect that at the Dome.’

Campbell mentioned the record-breaking game against Notre Dame on Feb. 5 as one of the loudest he’s heard for basketball.

During the ESPN GameDay festivities that afternoon, ESPN kept decibel level of the Dome. Needless to say, the reading was consistent with Campbell’s assessment.

It was the third week of the GameDay broadcast. The first week was at Connecticut, where the UConn’s fans roared to 112 decibels. The following week at Kansas, GameDay measured 117 decibels. The Orange students had to rise to the occasion.

‘We faced a daunting challenge,’ said Associate Athletic Director Michael Veley, who doubles at Mr. Excitement during basketball games. ‘Kansas recorded a 117 (on the decibel level), so we had to top 117. But ESPN set up their production in a hallway (at Kansas) where it can get a lot louder. The Dome is a big place. We had to get everyone revved up – and we did.’

Syracuse got up to 120 decibels, setting the three-week record.

‘When the teams were introduced, it was about as loud as I’ve heard it for basketball,’ Campbell said. ‘And then when (Syracuse) made the comeback down toward the end of the game, it got real loud.’

Veley doubles that claim.

‘In 10 years, I don’t remember the Dome ever getting any louder for a basketball game,’ Veley said. ‘When Hakim (Warrick) made the steal and the dunk, and then (Gerry McNamara) hit the 3. Wow! That place was rocking! If it was at 120 during pre-game, you could have doubled it then.’

Actual measurements during the game were unavailable.

For comparison sake, the 120 decibels during the pregame telecast exceeded that of a diesel truck, which measures at 100 decibels. Had the Syracuse crowd exceeded 125 decibels, the sound would have reached the point of pain and hearing damage. Had they reached 135 decibels, it would have rivaled a jet engine at 100 feet. The loudest noise possible is 194 decibels.

Veley aids in getting the crowd noisy. He said he tries to utilize the band, the spirit squad and the cheerleaders in an effort to get fans’ lungs warmed up.

A good speaker system also aids the intensity of the Dome. The sound system has been updated twice – in 1989 and again in 1999 – since the Carrier Dome was built in 1980.

While it might sound like hyperbole, Louisiana State played host to a football game that was truly earth-shaking. In 1988, the Tigers battled Auburn in a classic Southeastern Conference duel. Auburn led, 6-0, with less than two minutes remaining when LSU scored. The crowd’s eruption was so strong that it registered as an earthquake on a seismograph in LSU’s geology building.

It makes one wonder: Do the citizens in Skaneateles have anything to worry about?

Published on February 15, 2005 at 12:00 pm