Stadium/Arena Fun Facts

[charger77]

Joe Louis Arena:

Holds the unusual distinction of being the closest major American arena to a foreign country, as it is located across the Detroit River from Windsor Ontario.

I also believe that they forgot to install press boxes and they had to be put in after completion.

Well you guys are bad neighbors, then. The Sabres are the only team in the NHL (I assume in major sports) that plays the Canadian and American national anthems before every game. Their arena is a whole two miles from Canada.

On top of that, being literally less than a half mile from Canada they had the nerve to give itself the nickname and write "Hockeytown" at center ice.

[pianoknight]

The Husker's Memorial Stadium becomes the third largest city in Nebraska on game days.

95% of Nebraska's population is in the greater Omaha (~800k) and Lincoln (~300k) metro areas, so when 90,000 fans pack into their seats, it's 3x larger than the next largest city, Kearney, which has about 30,000 people.

[illwauk]

The population of Ann Arbor, MI nearly doubles during Michigan football home games.

Ann Arbor population = 114,925 (2011)

Michigan Stadium attendance = 114,804 (UM vs. ND, 9/10/11)

I see what you're going for...but how many of those Ann Arbor residents attend the games and thus would be counted twice?

I DO know that on gamedays, State College IS the 3rd most populated place in Pennsylvania (if you count all the folks who DON'T have tickets that still live there).

On that note, after renovation, Lambeau Field will become Wisconsin's 5th-largest "city" on game days, passing up Racine and trailing only Kenosha, Green Bay, Madison and Milwaukee.

Also, the borders the City of Green Bay are strategically placed on three sides of Lambeau. The fourth side (the east, IIRC) Is bordered by the suburb of Ashwaubenon. While scalping tickets is illegal in Green Bay, Ashwaubenon has no such laws, meaning scalpers merely have to cross the street to sell tickets out in the open.

[B-Rich]

You're right - I meant movable, not temporary. I remember the bridges very well from sitting down in the plaza section from time to time. But how is it that seats were added by retracting the movable sections? That seems counter-intuitive.

Retracting can be taken the wrong way, I guess "sliding backwards" better conveys it. The seats themselves along the sidelines stayed the same, they just moved. Take a look at this crude comparison; this may help:

If you can see the numbers, in the football configuration on the right, sections 131, 132, 124, 125, 153, 152, 103 and 104 (shown in the baseball/ "big game football" configuration on the left) were pretty much eliminated as seating areas. Those sections were folded up against the wall (retracted?) to allow the sideline sections to move closer to the field.

I re-read the Dave Dixon book section on it last night, and that was the layout used ONLY in the 1st year of football (1975). That's probably when your photo was taken. Dixon even threatened a lawsuit on behalf of season ticket holders due to the bad sightlines, but he agreed to drop it if the Saints/Superdome went back to the regular football configuration the following year (which they did).

Speaking of Dome configurations, there was also this one in the late 70s:

Used for New Orleans Jazz games. The very center of one sideline would be moved all the way across the floor to create the opposite stands (left side of this picture). Look at the ticket prices!

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Well you guys are bad neighbors, then. The Sabres are the only team in the NHL (I assume in major sports) that plays the Canadian and American national anthems before every game. Their arena is a whole two miles from Canada.

Toronto Blue Jays, out of necessity because every game they play is against an American team.

Did the Jays ever play the Expos at home, or vice versa? I'm assuming they did, but am not sure on interleague timelines. Would they have played the American anthem at either?

[njmeadowlanders]

They did used to play one another. While I have no knowledge one way or the other with respect to the anthem however, you'd think that it was just O'Canada.

[Gothamite]

They did used to play one another. While I have no knowledge one way or the other with respect to the anthem however, you'd think that it was just O'Canada.

I remember the first time they played interleague (not just exhibition), and that's exactly what they did.

[BlueSky]

You're right - I meant movable, not temporary. I remember the bridges very well from sitting down in the plaza section from time to time. But how is it that seats were added by retracting the movable sections? That seems counter-intuitive.

Retracting can be taken the wrong way, I guess "sliding backwards" better conveys it. The seats themselves along the sidelines stayed the same, they just moved. Take a look at this crude comparison; this may help:

If you can see the numbers, in the football configuration on the right, sections 131, 132, 125,124, 125, 153, 152, 103 and 104 (shown in the baseball/ "big game football" configuration on the left) were pretty much eliminated as seating areas. Those sections were folded up against the wall (retracted?) to allow the sideline sections to move closer to the field.

I re-read the Dave Dixon book section on it last night, and that was the layout used ONLY in the 1st year of football (1975). That's probably when your photo was taken. Dixon even threatened a lawsuit on behalf of season ticket holders due to the bad sightlines, but he agreed to drop it if the Saints/Superdome went back to the regular football configuration the following year (which they did).

Speaking of Dome configurations, there was also this one in the late 70s:

Used for New Orleans Jazz games. The very center of one sideline would be moved all the way across the floor to create the opposite stands (left side of this picture). Look at the ticket prices!

I'm not a basketball fan but I went to a few of those Jazz games. Probably the most memorable thing was the PA guy yelling "Pistollllllll Pete!" whenever Maravich would score. It was a little eerie though because basketball took up so little room that it was almost like you were in one corner of a big dark warehouse.

Just remembered another Superdome fun fact. Years after the Jazz left I was working as a sales rep and called on a company that used the old Jazz offices in the Superdome. Not only was the carpet still purple but just inside the front door there was a big Jazz logo inset in the carpet.

[bosrs1]

You're right - I meant movable, not temporary. I remember the bridges very well from sitting down in the plaza section from time to time. But how is it that seats were added by retracting the movable sections? That seems counter-intuitive.

Retracting can be taken the wrong way, I guess "sliding backwards" better conveys it. The seats themselves along the sidelines stayed the same, they just moved. Take a look at this crude comparison; this may help:

If you can see the numbers, in the football configuration on the right, sections 131, 132, 125,124, 125, 153, 152, 103 and 104 (shown in the baseball/ "big game football" configuration on the left) were pretty much eliminated as seating areas. Those sections were folded up against the wall (retracted?) to allow the sideline sections to move closer to the field.

I re-read the Dave Dixon book section on it last night, and that was the layout used ONLY in the 1st year of football (1975). That's probably when your photo was taken. Dixon even threatened a lawsuit on behalf of season ticket holders due to the bad sightlines, but he agreed to drop it if the Saints/Superdome went back to the regular football configuration the following year (which they did).

Speaking of Dome configurations, there was also this one in the late 70s:

Used for New Orleans Jazz games. The very center of one sideline would be moved all the way across the floor to create the opposite stands (left side of this picture). Look at the ticket prices!

I'm not a basketball fan but I went to a few of those Jazz games. Probably the most memorable thing was the PA guy yelling "Pistollllllll Pete!" whenever Maravich would score. It was a little eerie though because basketball took up so little room that it was almost like you were in one corner of a big dark warehouse.

Just remembered another Superdome fun fact. Years after the Jazz left I was working as a sales rep and called on a company that used the old Jazz offices in the Superdome. Not only was the carpet still purple but just inside the front door there was a big Jazz logo inset in the carpet.

That diagram doesn't do justice to just how bad that seating arrangement was...

[AlexWilson]

The Rogers Centre roof has a patent on it, making it impossible to copy. U.S. Patent #05167097.

[njmeadowlanders]

A) It's not impossible to copy with a patent. It'd just not be legal.

Under the current patent laws you have 20 years from the first filing date. So if that patent was filed in the mid 80's it'd have expired a few years back.

[bosrs1]

The Rogers Centre roof has a patent on it, making it impossible to copy. U.S. Patent #05167097.

Good thing it wasn't the best retractable roof design.

[njmeadowlanders]

Back to the original post, I was in the city for dinner and drinks last night, so coming out of Penn Station I took this to illustrate:

That's a lot of escalators...

[TBGKon]

Tropicana Field I believe is one of the only venues I can think of that has hosted baseball, football, basketball, and hockey in it's time.

[FrankCostanza]

Tropicana Field I believe is one of the only venues I can think of that has hosted baseball, football, basketball, and hockey in it's time.

The Alamodome will join them next month when the Rangers play the Padres there in a pair of exhibitions.

[AlexWilson]

A) It's not impossible to copy with a patent. It'd just not be legal.

Under the current patent laws you have 20 years from the first filing date. So if that patent was filed in the mid 80's it'd have expired a few years back.

The patent has been around since 1992, so the 20 years have passed, unless they renewed it.

[bosrs1]

A) It's not impossible to copy with a patent. It'd just not be legal.

Under the current patent laws you have 20 years from the first filing date. So if that patent was filed in the mid 80's it'd have expired a few years back.

The patent has been around since 1992, so the 20 years have passed, unless they renewed it.

I don't think you can renew a patent. Once your 20 years is up, it's up.

[NEW.ERA]

Tropicana Field I believe is one of the only venues I can think of that has hosted baseball, football, basketball, and hockey in it's time.

The Alamodome will join them next month when the Rangers play the Padres there in a pair of exhibitions.

They played Hockey there?

[rams80]

Tropicana Field I believe is one of the only venues I can think of that has hosted baseball, football, basketball, and hockey in it's time.

The Alamodome will join them next month when the Rangers play the Padres there in a pair of exhibitions.

They played Hockey there?

The San Antonio Dragons of the old IHL played some games there.

[FrankCostanza]

Tropicana Field I believe is one of the only venues I can think of that has hosted baseball, football, basketball, and hockey in it's time.

The Alamodome will join them next month when the Rangers play the Padres there in a pair of exhibitions.

They played Hockey there?

The San Antonio Dragons of the old IHL played some games there.

Also, the Alamodome is the only stadium to host NFL, CFL, NCAA and Arena Football.