Stadium/Arena Fun Facts

[sc49erfan15]

This 881-seat monolith is home to a Division 1 NCAA basketball team:

I've been here 2-3 times and I absolutely love this place. It can get absolutely rocking when it's sold out.

[drdougfresh]

Northern Arizona's J. L. Walkup SkyDome is two interesting things:

- the second largest clear-span timber dome (Tacoma Dome is #1)

- the second highest playing surface at 6,980 ft (War Memorial at WYO is #1)

[mjrbaseball]

In 1975, Shea Stadium was home to two baseball teams and two football teams, making for an incredibly crowded schedule.

[Funky Bunky]

This 881-seat monolith is home to a Division 1 NCAA basketball team:

I've been here 2-3 times and I absolutely love this place. It can get absolutely rocking when it's sold out.

There's some private high schools I've been to that have nicer gyms.

[Cosmic]

This 881-seat monolith is home to a Division 1 NCAA basketball team:

I've been here 2-3 times and I absolutely love this place. It can get absolutely rocking when it's sold out.

There's some private high schools I've been to that have nicer gyms.

Heck, my high school gym was bigger and at least as nice and it was a public school with only 1,000 students. I bet it's cool watching a game there, though.

[sportstar1212]

Yeah, that looks like my schools gym.

[walby2]

I'm not sure how widely known this is - I just heard about it for the first time a couple of years ago myself.

Apparently Arrowhead Stadium's distinctive upper deck lines resulted from plans for a rolling roof that never materialized. Judging by this image, it appears that the rolling roof would have also offered protection to Kauffman Stadium too:

[crashcarson15]

I'd have to go back and check this, but I'm just about positive that the playing court in the old Market Square Arena (which as we all know no longer exists) was actually elevated directly above Market Street in downtown Indianapolis...not unlike the way the Artsgsrden of the Circle Centre Mall is elevated directly above the intersection of Washington & Illinois Streets. Also, fun factoid: the arena was designed by college students...in an architecture program up at Ball State. I wanna say that Market Street in those days also ended pretty much right at the arena. Don't ask me why I remember all this, though.

(Bonus fun fact: the Circle Centre Mall itself is built into parts of four different buildings that all corner that same aforementioned intersection, all linked by said Artsgarden—and yeah that's how they spell it too. Don't ask me why.)

Pretty sure everything in here is accurate FWIW.

[thespleenenator]

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)

That's wrong, because that's assuming that all people in the Stadium are not already residents of Anne Arbor.

[HedleyLamarr]

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)

That's wrong, because that's assuming that all people in the Stadium are not already residents of Anne Arbor.

It's feasible.

If Michigan is anything like Georgia, you'll get plenty of non-city residents coming to town on gamedays (even if they don't have tickets to the game) that enjoy participating in the pre-game tailgates and post-game festivities in town and near the stadium.

Football games are day-long and weekend-long events in these big-time, long-established college towns.

[MadmanLA]

I'm not sure how widely known this is - I just heard about it for the first time a couple of years ago myself.

Apparently Arrowhead Stadium's distinctive upper deck lines resulted from plans for a rolling roof that never materialized. Judging by this image, it appears that the rolling roof would have also offered protection to Kauffman Stadium too:

They tried something similar in 2006 back when Kansas City residents were voting for tax measures to gather funding for renovations to Arrowhead and Kaufmann. Of course, the tax measures passed, but the rolling roof portion failed at the polls. It would have gave Kansas City a chance to host Super Bowl XLIX (that game will be played in Glendale, AZ).

[Sport]

I remember thinking what a great idea that would've been. Covers for both stadiums and then they could hold events under in the middle.

[charger77]

I'm not sure how widely known this is - I just heard about it for the first time a couple of years ago myself.

Apparently Arrowhead Stadium's distinctive upper deck lines resulted from plans for a rolling roof that never materialized. Judging by this image, it appears that the rolling roof would have also offered protection to Kauffman Stadium too:

They tried something similar in 2006 back when Kansas City residents were voting for tax measures to gather funding for renovations to Arrowhead and Kaufmann. Of course, the tax measures passed, but the rolling roof portion failed at the polls. It would have gave Kansas City a chance to host Super Bowl XLIX (that game will be played in Glendale, AZ).

I read (and saw pics) that Pontiac had the same plan after the Lions came in an attempt to lure the Tigers (FYI Pontiac almost got the Wings too)

[njmeadowlanders]

I never thought about why Arrowhead was shaped the way it was. Makes sense now.

If you have one of those upper deck seats in the later rows though and you're not in the end zone, oh boy...

[Graham_Clayton]

The St Lawrence Cricket Ground at Canterbury in England has a large tree located inside the boundary:

It was considered part of the boundary. The tree was uprooted during a storm in early 2005, and replaced. The new tree was only 6 feet high,

so it will take a while for it to grow to the height of its predecessor.

[NoHoJoe]

As for antiquated video boards, Shea Stadium (TM Tank) had this when it opened in 1964:

It had the picture of the player batting, could show "instant" replays, and during rain delays it showed movies. They actually found the old projector when they tore everything down in 2008 rotting and rusting away after it had been forgotten and covered up with advertising a fe

w decades prior.

Also note the lower right corner: "Colts Here, Tues. 8 PM"

A good Tank's NY/NJ SB XLVIII Trivia Factoid

[Craegus]

The above is a photo of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The cream coloured seat is not a replacement, but the mark of where the largest 6 ever hit at the ground landed (by Simon O'Donnell). There was also (not sure if it still exists) a red seat in the members area at the opposite end of the ground for a 6 hit by Peter King as can be seen below;

[Evil G]

Barclays Center looks like 2 pancakes.

[dbadefense1990]

Barclays Center looks like 2 pancakes.

To me, it looks like an egg sandwich on rye bread, mushed over when stuffed inside someone's jeans.

[B-Rich]

In this day of corporate arena naming (Staples Center, Target Center, Arco Arena, Philips Arena) I fondly recall in the mid-70s when a whole lot of arenas had unusual, "out-there" names:

The Omni ( Atlanta)

The Summit (Houston)

The Cow Palace (San Francisco)

The MECCA (Milwaukee; actually this was an anagram, but still...)

The Spectrum (Philadelphia)

The Scope (Norfolk)

The Myriad (Oklahoma City)

The Checkerdome (St.Louis: actually this was a corporate tie-in as well to Ralston-Purina...)

Any others come to mind?