Worst Stadium You Have Seen (inspired by the Vols)
I am down in Knoxville visiting family and wandered over to University of Tennessee's football stadium today. I have to say I was shocked by how run down and ugly it is. I have been to most stadiums in the Big Ten (still need to visit Wisconsin and Minnesota) plus ND. Neyland Stadium is by far the worst that I have seen. It reminds me of the final days of Tiger Stadium with all of the rust and peeling paint. Total erector set POS. Have you been similarly surprised by any of the stadiums you have seen?
...so you're saying the Metrodome is a lot like the basement of the Blind Pig?
despite their "upgrades" is still gross. But by far the worst I've been to is the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. It's in a bad part of town and is just nasty
Tropicana field is a real piece of shit.
Holy crap, that place is a joke. It could not be any further from the correct feel for a baseball game. Their Marlin brothers down south in newly named Sun Life Stadium (or Landshark Stadium, or Dolphin Stadium, or Pro Player Stadium, or Joe Robbie Field) is also a craphole. At least they have a new stadium on the way, though.
It may be a POS, but it is POS in a way that gives a great advantage to the home team. The lighting is dismal, thus affecting hitting, and the catwalks often come into play on fly balls.
As a resident of the area, I do sort like it when other teams struggle there. Also, the ambiance of the "party deck" truly makes up for most of the stadium's flaws if you like being around a bunch of beer-swilling louts.
I'm a pretty big baseball fan, but I can't bring myself to go to any Rays games. I've been to one in the three years I've lived here. It's just too damn far away and no easy way to get there. They need to build a new place in Tampa, or one of it's neighboring cities to the east, like Brandon. Also, that is the only dome I've ever been to, and I hate them. But, you can't really do anything else. I'd rather sit in the A/C, then roast.
for Spartan Stadium. They tacked on a shiny press box and suites, but that's just sitting on top of a dump. I've been there a couple times to photograph the MHSAA football all-star game, and aside from the nice grass field (which you'd expect), it's just not attractive. One time I started walking through the ground-level concourse on the press box side of the stadium, and I honestly thought I was walking through a maintenance hallway or something. It didn't feel like a place the public should be walking.
Also, since I was shooting from the sidelines, I entered and exited through the tunnel. That, too, is nothing special.
I must say, though, that I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Silverdome. Talk about a soulless concrete box...
but it has been out of commission for so long I think it's out of the running. Had some fun times there though, and when the Lions were in their heyday of mediocrity it was a pretty intimidating place for visiting teams.
Man, I loved the Silverdome during the Barry Sanders years. I used to go on Thanksgiving all the time and when Barry got rolling the place was thunderously loud (I used to wish M played there in fact). It also had a pretty crazy crowd, I remember lots of fights too. And in the old smoking days, there would be a huge hazy fog hanging in the building by the third quarter.
Williams-Brice Stadium(South Carolina) is an absolute dump. I really like Columbia, but the stadium is garbage. For some reason, their lighting system has always bothered me. It just looks...dumb.
Doak-Campbell isn't necessarily bad, but your expectations are not met after you walk around it. The outside of the stadium is gorgeous. Quite possibly one of the coolest stadiums in CFB based on the outside but the inside doesn't match it. Like I said, its not bad but just disappointing I guess.
I've been to Oakland Alameda Coliseum / McAfee Stadium and it is by far the biggest cement ash tray I have ever seen. Get off the BART in the a less than desirable part of town with nothing around it pre/post game. It smells like an outhouse in the concourses and it's one of those terrible circular late 60s cement multipurpose stadiums. Fans are a colorful bunch though.
sitting in the bleachers on a sunny day with $3 beers at the Coliseum made up for some of the lack of atmosphere.
the orange bowl was the nastiest most run down place i've been, but it was kind of awesome for it...as opposed to someplace like the kingdome that just sucked
ohio stadium was actually the worst i've been to, but that was before all the renovations they did in the 90s. it (and the fans) smelled like piss and felt like it was going to collapse
Nothing had been done to it for 60 years.
It was something out of a black and white movie. I expected sports writers with big flash-bulb cameras, and all the men to be wearing Fedoras.
The Orange Bowl
everthing was falling apart...
Were terrible in the mid-90's. Have those places undergone any renovations? Illinois especially was a disappointment.
Illinois was ugly before their renovation. I went to a Purdue-Illinois game there.
from the Illinois stadium has more enthusiasm.
Is anything less attractive then that old Dyche...Stadium?
I'm pretty sure they still play there, but they've changed the name to Ryan Field. I went to the 2003 game there. I wouldn't say it was a dump, but it's so small it hardly feels like a college stadium.
Ryan Field is definitely not a dump, but it's certainly not an amazing facility, either. It only holds 45,000 or so, and when I went in 2007 it was only about 3/4 full (with at least 45% Michigan fans).
I do kind of like how they have the north side open with Welsh-Ryan Arena right there.
I agree. It seems pretty well maintained. I definitely wouldn't call it a dump. NW is actually a quite a fun road trip being so close to the train and Chicago.
Basically the Little House with wooden seats and no jumbotron. Couldn't see a damn thing and couldn't tell what was going on, though i went in 08 so i wasn't missing much.
Spartan Stadium wasn't all THAT bad. then again i was on the field and didn't have to deal with the upperdeck that everyone hates.
Ohio State, sure, the amount of teeth in that stadium is way less than most places in the country, but that The Game there is still quite a spectacle.
Penn State has pretty good atmosphere as well, though I was about to shoot myself because they play the lion's roar after every damn play.
The Lion roar is bad, but nowhere near as bad as when MSU plays the line from 300 on every 3rd down.
due to the program's legal turmoil, word on the street is they're going to drop the line from 300 and start playing the line from the previews for the new Robin Hood movie: "I declare him, from this day forth, to be an outlaw!"
without question. And as such, I have burned every Michigan football victory onto DVD since 2003. When my buddies are over the night before a game, I really enjoy playing the "big moments" for everybody.
MM's game-winning catch against Sparty in 2007 happened on a 3rd and long. I have had more drunken glee playing that highlight as the crowd chants "HUH, HUH" in the background after hearing the 300 quote than any other highlight.
It's so fucking beautiful. They show a happy crowd. A near boisterous rolick, if you will, cheering their squad . . . then . . . oh yeah . . . that part where we show what it means to have true elite talent.
The expression of that talent returns to Ann Arbor this fall.
Can you put this on youtube by any chance?
I am a nut job AND an idiot. I will try to get it up on youtube, but it'll take a while.
I am rapidly devolving in my ability to understand and appropriately use computers. It is only a matter of time until I won't touch a keyboard for fear that hitting "delete" will actually cause the computer to disappear.
I welcome every chance I get to visit it, but the Rose Bowl is a dump.
But isn't there some kind of renovation in the works? One problem I know they have is a lot of resistance from the surrounding community to any modernization. It is a "historic" structure, and of course the neighbors just don't additional activity.
Orange Bowl. It is a complete dump and in a very bad part of town. There is a reason the U has no tailgating...You are more worried about not getting shot in Little Havanna than tailgating.
1. It doesn't exist anymore.
2. The U has been playing at Landshark Stadium since before it was torn down.
Re: #1,
Should be pointed out for those above that Shea Stadium and old Yankee Stadium also don't exist anymore. Both teams are playing in nice parks now.
1. no duh, it existed when i was in Miami. Hence, the reason that shit hole was torn down.
2. No duh
Never actually been in it but it looks pretty nasty from the outside. Only mention it because it has been cited as somewhat of a contemorary of the Big House from back in the day, though without any of the improvements/enhancements.
The Yale Bowl is absolutely tiny, and definitely old and decrepit. That said, it is kind of cool in a turn of the century way. I have seen a lot of the Ivy League stadiums, and The Yale Bowl was probably Top 2 of the most interesting (along with Cornell).
Really, Cornell? I went to a Harvard-Cornell game a few years ago and I wasn't impressed. It wasn't a dump but nothing too memorable about it.
RFK Stadium in Washington DC. I caught a Tigers / Nats game there in 2008 and the whole place smelled like urine and vomit. It's also the poster child for why football stadiums make for horrible baseball stadiums.
As for college football venues, the Metrodome is a pit. Getting out of there was the best thing Minnesota could do to help their football program become competitive. MSU is also a horrible place to watch a football game. Amazing that they probably have one of the best basketball arenas in the game and their football stadium is a train wreck.
...built as a multi-purpose stadium for the Redskins and the Senators. It did fine for the Nats for two years until Nationals Stadium opened. While the DC Sports Commission has let RFK go somewhat, Washingtonians are very nostalgic towards it because of the success the Skins had in it. DC United is its primary tenant now and again, the team's fans have a love/hate relationship with the stadium. Love it because of the team's history of success, the bouncing stands that its supporter groups Barra Brava and the Screaming Eagles inhabit (they stand and sing throughout the entire game -- no bluehairs to worry about). Hate it because its a symbol of the frustrations the fans have with DC officials who keep putting up roadblocks with team ownership who want to build a new owner group owned stadium in the District. Hate it because of the crappy concessions and the leftover football markings from the EagleBank Bowl.
Anyhow, RFK is not long for this world. At some point it will be demolished because it's tired and its time has passed. Which is of course the fate of almost all stadiums.
The Rose Bowl is owned by the non-profit Tournament of Roses which is a part of the problem when it comes to modernization.
Most recently I was at the UCLA-Washington game last season and one portion of the endzone seating was actually enclosed in a chain-link fence.
Although the Rose Bowl is somewhat run down, the setting is so so so beautiful, that it's a great experience (even just for UCLA games). Going to the the Rose Bowl game itself is one of ten things every CFB fan should do. Especially, when M plays in it and wins it!
and the experience is overrated for UCLA games. going to the rose bowl however....dam thats impressive. the coliseum(thats how U$C spells it) is the biggest bowl of shit possible. quite literally. half underground bowl. i drive past it everyday to school. its pathetic. U$C should cut their pay roll for players and renovate it.
Shit hole pretty much sums it up. Went there in 4th grade with my buddy and his family because his sister went to school there. I was forced to watch an MSU-OSU game. Talk about being pissed. I obviously couldn't root for either team so i just stood there. Not to mention i was upper deck and thought the place was going to fucking collapse. On a positive note i have since converted that friend to a life long Michigan fan.
The incredible part about Spartan Stadium is that they've recently completed an expensive renovation of the facility and it's still a dump. It's just a crappy place to watch a football game.
in Bloomington is pretty darn pathetic. Awful seating and very little atmosphere.
The worst thing about Bloomington is the advertisements. Local companies sponsor 3rd down plays for crying out loud. Lame.
"The 3rd-Down Key Jangle is brought to you by Corky's Hardware, Where You'll Never Get Screwed®"
I am planning to get tickets to this year's game that so happens to be the conference opener. I was hoping it was as pathetic as I hAzily remember it when I went to LIttle 500 and got pretty wasted as a high school lad in the Breaking Away era. The bike race was cool and the chicks were hot.
First live M game since college so I am pretty excited. If anybody has advice about getting IU tickets or where to sit, please advise. Takin' it to the Streets. Doobie Bros rock.
is a large outhouse, however the weather in Hawaii makes it well worth the visit.
Is it really windy where that stadium is located, or are Hawaii fans just litterbugs? It seems like every time I watch a game there on TV, there's trash blowing around on the field.