The Edward Jones Dome (more formally known as the Edward Jones Dome at America's Center) is a 66,000 seat football stadium in St. Louis,
Missouri, and home of the St. Louis Rams of the NFL. It was constructed largely to lure an NFL team back to St. Louis, and to serve as a
convention center. Completed in 1995, it was known as the Trans World Dome, after Trans World Airlines, until 2001, when TWA was acquired by
American Airlines. The facility was then briefly known as the Dome at America's Center (America's Center being the adjacent convention facility)
until the naming rights were acquired on January 25, 2002 by Edward Jones Investments, a brokerage house based in St. Louis.
As part of a deal to sell the naming rights to Rams Park (now the Russell Athletic Training Center), the Rams' training facility in Earth City,
Missouri after sportswear manufacturer Russell Athletic, the Rams agreed to rename the Edward Jones Dome to Russell Athletic Field for the
Rams' Monday Night Football game against the Chicago Bears on December 11, 2006. The renaming was for the one night only.
The Edward Jones Dome became the site of the biggest indoor gathering in United States history in 1999 when Pope John Paul II held mass in
the stadium. Over 104,000 people attended the service.
In April 2005, the Edward Jones Dome hosted the 2005 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Final Four where the University of
Louisville, the University of Illinois, Michigan State University, and the University of North Carolina faced off, with UNC winning the National
Championship game against the University of Illinois. It will host the NCAA Men's Basketball St. Louis Regional for the 2007 NCAA Men's Division I
Basketball Tournament and the Women's Final Four for the 2009 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament. The dome was the site of the
1996 and 1998 Big 12 football conference championship games.
Starting in 2006, Edward Jones Dome will become the home of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Urbana missions conference. This event
outgrew its former home on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana.
In May 2005, the St. Louis Rams football team announced that the dome would use FieldTurf instead of the antiquated, 10-year old AstroTurf.
The surface is a one-year plan until a more flexible surface can be made with access to the power outlets on the dome's concrete floor. After the
2005 season the Rams announced that the current FieldTurf would be torn up and be replaced with another temporary FieldTurf surface for the
2006 season.
