After eight years of clinging to life, the Pontiac Silverdome is returning to the sporting world. On August 6, the long-vacant sporting venue will host “Match of the Titans,” an exhibition match between European soccer powerhouses AC Milan and Panathinaikos.

This will be the first professional sporting event held at the dome since the Detroit Lions defeated the Dallas Cowboys January 6, 2002. The once mighty venue hosted musical acts such as Michael Jackson, Led Zepplin, and the Rolling Stones. Other historic events were the 1994 World Cup, Wrestlemania III, Superbowl XVI and a mass for Pope John Paul II.

Despite the clout of former guests and tenants, the Silverdome sat quiet while its bright, white, puffy roof shined off of I-75.

In October, a public auction was held to find an owner for the Silverdome. With a surprise winning bid of only $550,000 — the Silverdome was built at a price tag of $57 million in 1975 — Andreas Apostolopoulos, CEO of Toronto-based Triple Properties Inc., took over with the intention of fully reviving the contemporary relic. Apostolopoulos’ primary vision for the Silverdome is to turn it into a soccer venue. Kicking off with AC Milan from the elite Italian Serie-A league and Panathinaikos FC of the Greek Super League could be the best start one with such vision could hope for.

Apostolopoulos brought in Roger Faulkner to help facilitate his motives. Faulkner, a former tennis player, came to Detroit from England in 1969. He has since worked diligently to help grow soccer in the United States. He served as the general manager of the Detroit Express of the defunct North American Soccer League, who played in the Silverdome from 1978 to 1983. He was also on the chair for the USA World Cup Committee in 1994, as well as head of the Michigan Soccer Federation. Faulkner now stands as lead consultant on the project of getting more big soccer matches in Pontiac and possibly an Major League Soccer franchise in the future.

“The MLS will definitely take notice of what we are doing here. It establishes credibility,” Faulkner said. “We have had preliminary conversations with the MLS and they are not looking to expand within the next couple years.”

This is mainly due to the U.S.-based soccer league already expanding into Portland, Vancouver and Montreal for the 2011 and ’12 seasons. A franchise in the Detroit area will remain a possibility, but will likely hinge on the success of international exhibition games held at the Silverdome. Faulkner said they are currently looking into more international games, including a U.S. National Team game sometime next year.

The importance of putting on a good show for a better future is reflected in the focus that the Apostolopoulos ownership has for its unofficial grand opening August 6.

Part of continuing to get big soccer matches, a new franchise, and other events in the dome will be renovation. Sitting practically dormant for eight years has left a lot of operating issues that Silverdome building manager Grant Reeves has had to focus on. The official reopening of the Silverdome came on April 17 for a monster truck rally. The venue itself came with mixed reviews.

“There were some complaints, but I saw it as a huge success. We had 24,000 people,” Reeves said.

Many of the criticisms came from concession prices being too high. This was noted by Reeves and said they are working with suppliers to get costs down. Other issues have come in appearance. Natural deterioration has set in over time.

According to Faulker, over 43 gallons of fresh paint have been applied to the dome but the renovation process is far from complete.

“The outside has been cleaned up considerably,” Faulkner said. “On the inside we renovated ticket booths in the concourse, did work on the roof and the biggest was updating the place electronically. The dome didn’t even have internet. It will now be a Wi-Fi hot-spot. She’s a big girl, there’s a lot to do.”

Appearance aside, there is the general risk of attempting to revive a large venue by hosting a relatively unpopular sport in the United States. Faulkner believes soccer is just a matter of local perspective.

“I don’t think people in this area understand how big it is in North America,” he said. “It’s already boomed. They sell out in Seattle and Toronto. The viewership for the World Cup doubled Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals and beat out the World Series, game by game. I believe it has arrived.”

AC Milan boasts a proud championship tradition and features a star-studded roster that many casual soccer fans, and even non-sports fans, know. Legendary Brazilian striker Ronaldinho, who was controversially left out of the World Cup, leads the team with tabloid superstar and soccer dignitary David Beckham and United States defender Oguchi Onyewu. More experienced fans will note defender Thiago Silva and forward Alexandre Pato are also on the club.

Come August 6, it will be looking to return to its glory days. It is now under new ownership, while at the same time being born again.

The Silverdome, once a holder of prime events, is looking to contend as a viable top-end venue to hold large events once again.