Stadium/Arena Fun Facts

[njmeadowlanders]

So I was at the Rangers/Montreal game tonight and heading up to our seats were two Montreal fans in front of us. They were wondering what the heck was going on with all the escalators and where on earth they were going. I explained to them that the arena floor is actually on the fifth floor of the building itself (meaning when you're watching a Ranger or Knick game on TV or whatever, that's being played 5 stories above the street), that the lower concourse is on the sixth floor, and that the upper concourse, brand new for this season, is now on the 8th story of the building. The first four are the theater (where the NFL draft used to be held as well as countless other plays/concerts/etc.) so to get up to your seats you need to ascend all those escalator banks. They were in awe of that.

So what non-obvious little fun facts do other arenas & stadiums have that aren't possibly well known?

[LMU]

Dodger Stadium

*The only stadium to have parking on every seating level due to the stadium being carved into a ravine

*The hitter's eye was actually brought to the stadium from the Coliseum when the Dodgers moved in

[ninersdd]

North of Sleep Train Arena, there is a partially built baseball stadium. Apparently, the funding ran out and it wasn't finished. Obviously, it won't ever be thanks to the presence of Raley Field across the river.

[BigEd76]

Philly is the only city where all four pro sports teams play within half a mile/kilometer of each other

[dfwabel]

North of Sleep Train Arena, there is a partially built baseball stadium. Apparently, the funding ran out and it wasn't finished. Obviously, it won't ever be thanks to the presence of Raley Field across the river.

The foundation and concrete seen from aerials shows what would be the dugout areas, but the original purpose for the facility was still going to be football.

[ninersdd]

North of Sleep Train Arena, there is a partially built baseball stadium. Apparently, the funding ran out and it wasn't finished. Obviously, it won't ever be thanks to the presence of Raley Field across the river.

The foundation and concrete seen from aerials shows what would be the dugout areas, but the original purpose for the facility was still going to be football.

I just went by with what wikipedia said about it being a baseball stadium. I had no clue about it being for football.

[Funky Bunky]

Dodger Stadium

*The only stadium to have parking on every seating level due to the stadium being carved into a ravine

I've always thought that aspect of Dodger Stadium was really neat. There's gotta be very few other stadiums built like that, if any.

[RyanMcD29]

The Carrier Dome has no air conditioning.

[dfwabel]

North of Sleep Train Arena, there is a partially built baseball stadium. Apparently, the funding ran out and it wasn't finished. Obviously, it won't ever be thanks to the presence of Raley Field across the river.

The foundation and concrete seen from aerials shows what would be the dugout areas, but the original purpose for the facility was still going to be football.

I just went by with what wikipedia said about it being a baseball stadium. I had no clue about it being for football.

Newballpark.org* has a story about it last March.

*-You might want to wait until they get rid of the infected warning to view it.

[bosrs1]

North of Sleep Train Arena, there is a partially built baseball stadium. Apparently, the funding ran out and it wasn't finished. Obviously, it won't ever be thanks to the presence of Raley Field across the river.

The foundation and concrete seen from aerials shows what would be the dugout areas, but the original purpose for the facility was still going to be football.

I just went by with what wikipedia said about it being a baseball stadium. I had no clue about it being for football.

Newballpark.org* has a story about it last March.

*-You might want to wait until they get rid of the infected warning to view it.

The site is clean. Talked to the admin just now. They got a false positive on linking to "malware" from Google when they ran their most recent Google Crawl over the weekend. Google has confirmed the site is clean but it'll take a while to propagate. Don't let the warning scare you off.

[dfwabel]

Back to sport:

Notre Dame Stadium- While there are ads on the concourse level for sponsors/concessions, i.e. the company who owns the pouring rights, inside the stadium bowl, there is just one advertiser...NBC Sports.

Michigan Stadium-Concourse ads are there, but there are no ads inside the stadium bowl or on the HD screens.

Augusta National: The only logo seen is of Augusta National or The Masters Tournament itself.

If you get concessions, nothing is branded. Either you buy a Domestic Beer for $3 or an imported Beer for $3.75.

[OnWis97]

I think I once heard that the Seahawks stadium is the only US major league stadium/arena to have a soft drink contract with someone other than Coke or Pepsi (Jones?)

[Kevin W.]

I think I once heard that the Seahawks stadium is the only US major league stadium/arena to have a soft drink contract with someone other than Coke or Pepsi (Jones?)

Yes, it's Jones, aka the greatest soda known to man.

[dfwabel]

I think I once heard that the Seahawks stadium is the only US major league stadium/arena to have a soft drink contract with someone other than Coke or Pepsi (Jones?)

Yes, it's Jones, aka the greatest soda known to man.

No.

That partnership ended in 2010. They nearly went out of business because of that deal for pouring rights.

Jones overextended themselves when they rolled out nationally with no real distribution system, but to pay beer distributors or pay more to Coke or Pepsi bottlers.

Sorry.

[dbadefense1990]

Dodger Stadium

*The only stadium to have parking on every seating level due to the stadium being carved into a ravine

I've always thought that aspect of Dodger Stadium was really neat. There's gotta be very few other stadiums built like that, if any.

The parking and ravine aspects are actually not as glamorous as they're advertised. For starters, in that photo, the lots adjacent to the ballpark are premium parking, $35-40 on game day. The regular parking, $10, requires you to hike up and down slopes, providing pain and misery to your ankles and thighs by the time you reach the stadium.

And this is if you're seated in Field or the Pavilion sections. If you start from the Golden State or Academy gates and you're in Reserved or Top Deck seats, the flight of stairs to take up is sheer hell. All in all, the parking system at Dodger Stadium is terrible, knowing it usually takes 45 minutes to 1 hour from any gate to get to your seat.

Situations like these make me wish the city of Los Angeles expanded their rail service to a Dodger Stadium stop.

*sigh*

[Kevin W.]

I think I once heard that the Seahawks stadium is the only US major league stadium/arena to have a soft drink contract with someone other than Coke or Pepsi (Jones?)

Yes, it's Jones, aka the greatest soda known to man.

No.

That partnership ended in 2010. They nearly went out of business because of that deal for pouring rights.

Jones overextended themselves when they rolled out nationally with no real distribution system, but to pay beer distributors or pay more to Coke or Pepsi bottlers.

Sorry.

Whoops, I missed the date on my article.

[dfwabel]

I think I once heard that the Seahawks stadium is the only US major league stadium/arena to have a soft drink contract with someone other than Coke or Pepsi (Jones?)

Yes, it's Jones, aka the greatest soda known to man.

No.

That partnership ended in 2010. They nearly went out of business because of that deal for pouring rights.

Jones overextended themselves when they rolled out nationally with no real distribution system, but to pay beer distributors or pay more to Coke or Pepsi bottlers.

Sorry.

Whoops, I missed the date on my article.

Jones owning pouring rights did not last long due to that decision to go national. ARAMARK is their service provider at the stadium, but they have no interest in who had the soft drink contract, they are just going to pour it.

Retrospect on what went wrong with Jones.

The story on Reed's soda buying Jones for only $10 million in 2010.

[ElwoodCuse]

I think I once heard that the Seahawks stadium is the only US major league stadium/arena to have a soft drink contract with someone other than Coke or Pepsi (Jones?)

Consol Energy Center has Snapple/7up/RC Cola

Jeff Samardzija is the only person to play at PNC Park and Heinz Field

The Three Rivers Stadium website still exists http://www.3riversstadium.com/

[cmm]

The urinals at the Prudential Center are etched with the Devils logo. Because they're number one, I guess.

[dfwabel]

I think I once heard that the Seahawks stadium is the only US major league stadium/arena to have a soft drink contract with someone other than Coke or Pepsi (Jones?)

Consol Energy Center has Snapple/7up/RC Cola

Not that rare. Soldier Field is now a Snapple/7Up building as will be the new SJ Earthquakes stadium and other major venues. And in Texas, most venues have Dr. Pepper as a drink while pouring rights are with Coke/Pepsi as the official "cola". They sign Dr. Pepper as a non-cola, yet will allow Sprite/Sierra Mist to be the lemon-lime soft drink.