It is primarily used as the home of the NAU Lumberjacks football and both men's and women's basketball teams of the Big Sky Conference.

[11] The architect was Wendell Rossman of Phoenix, also responsible for many other buildings on the surrounding NAU campus.

The Skydome is named after J. Lawrence Walkup (1914–2002), the president of NAU from 1957 to 1979, a period of tremendous growth for the university.

[16] The elevation at street level is 6,880 feet (2,100 m) above sea level,[17] the highest among NCAA Division I FCS football stadiums and second among NCAA Division I football venues only to an FBS venue, Wyoming's War Memorial Stadium, by 335 feet (102 m).

The scope of the project included bringing the fire, life, and safety up to code while remodeling the bathrooms, concourse, offices, suites, locker rooms, and press box.

The Walkup Skydome was formerly used by the NFL's Arizona Cardinals during their summer training camp, held at NAU.