Whats in your opinion the visually ugliest stadium out there?

[Davidellias]

I went to Ann Arbor when I was 11 or 12 expecting to see the biggest stadium anyone has ever built. My dad didn't tell me they built it in a hole. From the outside it's very unimposing and little McCarthy was unimpressed.

Neyland Stadium in Knoxville sounds like the stadium for you. It's pretty gigantic on the outside.

Here's a pic I took a couple days ago driving by Neyland. Honestly the stadiums kind of boring IMO, even with the recent upgrades. Also it's surrounded by tallish buildings, so you can't really get a good look at it untill you're right up on it.

[KDubK414]

As much as I loved and cherished the place, and if we are counting places that are no longer around. I would say County Stadium was pretty bad towards the end. It was even more evident with Miller Park being completed in the distance. I'm talking the outside and on the concourses. The stadium bowl and field looked absolutely gorgeous on a very bright sunny day.

[dfwabel]

Lego Stadium has the same problem that's always bugged me about Philips Arena and Ford Field - they cram all of the suites onto one side rather than spreading them around the space so it creates this massive wall of suites on one side of the field/court/ice.

The wall of suites at Levi's, Ford Field, La Bombonera, and Philips Arena serve a purpose.

It allows the upper seating deck to be much closer to the court/field than if the club and suites encircled the facility. Generally, it's cheaper to plumb too.

[Sport]

Lego Stadium has the same problem that's always bugged me about Philips Arena and Ford Field - they cram all of the suites onto one side rather than spreading them around the space so it creates this massive wall of suites on one side of the field/court/ice.

The wall of suites at Levi's, Ford Field, La Bombonera, and Philips Arena serve a purpose.

It allows the upper seating deck to be much closer to the court/field than if the club and suites encircled the facility. Generally, it's cheaper to plumb too.

It's also cheaper to plumb my house if I put my toilet in the kitchen, but that doesn't mean it looks good.

and to your first point - that goes both ways. In Philips, Ford Field etc most of your big dollar suites are now farther away from the action than if it'd been built the normal way.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I mentioned earlier in the thread, but when I was in London earlier this year, I was taken aback by White Hart Lane. I'm not a Hotspur fan, so I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't expecting this:

[Gothamite]

I actually like the rather unassuming nature of old English football stadiums.

As for County Stadium, they really let it go as soon as they decided to fight for a new park. All it needed was a little upkeep, and it could have been as classic today as Dodger Stadium is.

[The_Admiral]

I don't know about that one. Dodger Stadium has something uniquely beautiful about it. Maybe more like Angel Stadium.

[Morgan33]

If you want Lego Stadium, try Max Bell Centre in Calgary. I hate it because there is no pattern to it. Just yellow and red where ever they felt like it.

Somewhat surprised to see this here but I'm in full agreement. When it comes to ugly stadiums, Max Bell really does take the cake... The yellow and red tiles are just putrid.

[Gothamite]

I don't know about that one. Dodger Stadium has something uniquely beautiful about it. Maybe more like Angel Stadium.

Having spent a whole lot of time in both parks in the 1970s and 1980s, I always saw Dodger Stadium and County Stadium as sort of fraternal twins. They both came from the same era, and they both had the same aesthetic. Dodger had a very few design flourishes County didn't, like the wavy roof over the bleachers, but other than that the overall effect was shockingly similar. Had County Stadium been maintained the way Dodger Stadium was, it could have become viewed as the same kind of midcentury classic, elegant in its simplicity.

[FiddySicks]

I don't know about that one. Dodger Stadium has something uniquely beautiful about it. Maybe more like Angel Stadium.

Yeah Dodgers Stadium had a TON of problems before the remodel and was one of my least favorite venues in baseball. Since the renovation, though? It's breathtaking. Second only to AT&T IMO.

But if we're talking about stadiums that no longer exist. The last version of Yankee Stadium was an absolute toilet by the end. Probably the worst stadium I've ever been to. Maybe second to Aloha Stadium in Hawaii. The new place is gorgeous, though.

[TheOldRoman]

I don't know about that one. Dodger Stadium has something uniquely beautiful about it. Maybe more like Angel Stadium.

Having spent a whole lot of time in both parks in the 1970s and 1980s, I always saw Dodger Stadium and County Stadium as sort of fraternal twins. They both came from the same era, and they both had the same aesthetic. Dodger had a very few design flourishes County didn't, like the wavy roof over the bleachers, but other than that the overall effect was shockingly similar. Had County Stadium been maintained the way Dodger Stadium was, it could have become viewed as the same kind of midcentury classic, elegant in its simplicity.

It would have its own charm, but I don't think it would be near what Dodger Stadium is, especially with the recent renovations and returning to the classic color scheme. Plus, you can't beat the view beyond the outfield.

Your feelings on County Stadium are like mine on Comiskey Park. When current Sox ownership took over, they started angling for a stadium shortly thereafter, and there was never consideration given to renovating it. That's partially because we weren't yet in the era of neoclassical stadiums and appreciating landmark stadiums, and also because the park was in such poor condition. For the better part of 50 years, the stadium wasn't maintained that well because the team had no money. White Sox ownership was always flat broke and practically pawning off office furniture to make payroll. Veeck sold the team because he was broke, the Allyn family lost their asses on it, then Veeck bought it back to keep it in Chicago, losing even more money before selling. Ownership never really had the money to do the substantial upkeep needed, so a potential restoration in the mid '80s probably would have cost more than the new park. Plus, it wouldn't have given them the luxury boxed they wanted without drastically altering the park.

But it's a damn shame, though. Comiskey was a great park. I only went there once (I think I was 5 or 6), but I remember it well. And it was intimate for such a big park. In fact, like with many new parks, the last row of the upper deck in Comiskey I was closer to homeplate than the first row in the upper deck of Comiskey II.

[goalieboy82]

Soldier Field "The Mistake by the Lake"

pre or post renovation. are we including the memorial part or just the stadium part. looking at the stadium today, it looks bad.

[pmoehrin]

Its a damn shame what happened with Old Comiskey.

The place was getting somewhat depilated towards the end of its run, but you could have definitely done something with that place to bring it up to modern standards, especially after seeing what the Red Sox did with Fenway which was in just as bad if not worse shape before the renovations started in the early 2000's.

Instead Jerry Reinsdorf and company traded in one of the all-time classic ballparks in baseball history for one of the bottom five parks in baseball today.

[goalieboy82]

speaking of Chicago

[MJWalker45]

I mentioned earlier in the thread, but when I was in London earlier this year, I was taken aback by White Hart Lane. I'm not a Hotspur fan, so I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't expecting this:

I had the same reaction when I saw Highbury. You have that one side that is dolled up for everyone to see and the other three look like public housing. Which is funny when you consider that the cheapest apartments there now cost around $750,000.

[OnWis97]

I don't know about that one. Dodger Stadium has something uniquely beautiful about it. Maybe more like Angel Stadium.

Having spent a whole lot of time in both parks in the 1970s and 1980s, I always saw Dodger Stadium and County Stadium as sort of fraternal twins. They both came from the same era, and they both had the same aesthetic. Dodger had a very few design flourishes County didn't, like the wavy roof over the bleachers, but other than that the overall effect was shockingly similar. Had County Stadium been maintained the way Dodger Stadium was, it could have become viewed as the same kind of midcentury classic, elegant in its simplicity.

It would have its own charm, but I don't think it would be near what Dodger Stadium is, especially with the recent renovations and returning to the classic color scheme. Plus, you can't beat the view beyond the outfield.

Your feelings on County Stadium are like mine on Comiskey Park. When current Sox ownership took over, they started angling for a stadium shortly thereafter, and there was never consideration given to renovating it. That's partially because we weren't yet in the era of neoclassical stadiums and appreciating landmark stadiums, and also because the park was in such poor condition. For the better part of 50 years, the stadium wasn't maintained that well because the team had no money. White Sox ownership was always flat broke and practically pawning off office furniture to make payroll. Veeck sold the team because he was broke, the Allyn family lost their asses on it, then Veeck bought it back to keep it in Chicago, losing even more money before selling. Ownership never really had the money to do the substantial upkeep needed, so a potential restoration in the mid '80s probably would have cost more than the new park. Plus, it wouldn't have given them the luxury boxed they wanted without drastically altering the park.

But it's a damn shame, though. Comiskey was a great park. I only went there once (I think I was 5 or 6), but I remember it well. And it was intimate for such a big park. In fact, like with many new parks, the last row of the upper deck in Comiskey I was closer to homeplate than the first row in the upper deck of Comiskey II.

Along with Tiger Stadium, man do I wish I'd have had the chance to go to Comiskey Park. Well-maintained or not, it looked like it was just dripping with the Deadball Era. I've been to over 20 MLB parks (current and defunct) but even just typing this, it frustrates me that I can never go to those two places.

[goalieboy82]

would say old wembley stadium

[The_Admiral]

One of the great ironies of Reinsdorf's ownership was that he said he wanted to attract higher-class people to Sox games and then proceeded to let Old Comiskey oompletely go to crap in order to get a new stadium, all the while making the experience that much less amenable to whatever he felt "higher-class" people were.

[pmoehrin]

Stadiums/Arenas I would consider ugly to the point of having little to no redeeming value as professional sports venues.

Dolphins/Joe Robbie Stadium for baseball

Exhibition Stadium

FedEx Field

Fulton County Stadium

The Kingdome

Meadowlands Arena

Nassau Coliseum (especially towards the end)

Oakland Coliseum after the construction of Mount Davis

Olympic Stadium (again especially towards the end of the Expos run)

The Omni

Richfield Coliseum

Three Rivers Stadium

Tropicana Field

Veterans Stadium

Some of the venues are on this list as much because of bad upkeep as bad design. I know with both Nassau Coliseum and the Vet you could just tell walking in that it had been at least 15 years since anyone gave a damn about how nice it looked.

I've heard similar claims about Cleveland Stadium. From everything I've heard something had to be busted beyond repair for Art Modell to do anything about fixing it. Forget upgrading anything or doing any type of repair beyond what was needed to get the building to pass inspection. The heat in that place was probably generated from pennies being rubbed together.

[1insaneguy]

FedEx Field

I prefer FedEx field over RFK Stadium.