A Syracuse Super Fan Itching to Get Back Inside the Dome Syracuse Super Fans Missing the Dome

Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) – Look high into the sky, and you will see the bubble roof and new metal arches. Since its construction back in 1980, the Dome has always been a Syracuse staple. However, that was all put on pause last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Tony Dinicola loves all things SU, especially the colors. You’ve likely seen him before: orange baseball cap, orange muscle tank, and  orange and blue striped kilt. His fiancée Kayla Delaney was hesitant about the look at first, but she says she doesn’t question it anymore. “I was a little iffy with the kilt idea at first, but then it grew into him, and it grew on me,” she says. “And ya know, I love it.”

Dinicola adopted the kilt look only a few years ago and says it is definitely a conversation piece. So, while that look is relatively new, his love for the Orange is not. Dinicola has been going to Syracuse games since he was a toddler. His grandfather operated WF Saunders, which supplied the concrete for the structure of the Dome. As part of the agreement, his grandfather was given courtside tickets to basketball games. Dinicola says this helped push his fandom over the top. “So when you watch games on Youtube from the 90s, you’ll see a little blonde haired 12 year-old running up and down the sidelines,” he says. “Yeah that’s me.”

Dinicola is a super fan of Syracuse Athletics, and longtime season ticket holder. After attending games for 35 years, gamedays just feel off. The metal bleachers and Dome nachos simply cannot be replaced. “For 35 years, when you’ve taken that cold frigid walk up to the Dome in the Winter and now you’ve gone a whole Winter without it, it just doesn’t seem right,” he says. “It’s almost like something is empty, something is missing.”

While football and basketball seasons have passed, there is light at the end of the tunnel. On Thursday, Syracuse Athletics announced they will reopen the Dome to 900 student season ticket holders on Saturday, March 6th. The Men’s Lacrosse matchup versus University of Vermont will mark the first time fans have been allowed in the stands in a year. Syracuse will also be the first major college sports venue to test this reopening plan.

So while fans from the community will still have to wait, people like Dinicola are already imagining what that first game back will be like. “That first game back should be the loudest, craziest, most party-like atmosphere that has ever happened in Syracuse history, ” he says.