The Skydome has been the home of NAU football, basketball and indoor track and field since 1977. Upon its grand opening, the Dome garnered widespread media attention. One newspaper poetically described the Dome as "a tarpaper-grey flying saucer nestled in a natural bowl in the largest stand of Ponderosa pine on the planet." In the fall of 1979 the structure was formally named the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome in honor of the man who, as president of NAU, guided the project to fruition.