Future Report Cards

Last week, I was accepted into Florida State University, so naturally, the best part will be posting stadium report cards for you all. Here are just the major facilities that will soon have a post about them.

Doak Campbell Stadium

 Dick Howser Stadium

 Donald L. Tucker Center(Basketball)

National Stadium: Warsaw

 Poland's new National Soccer Stadium is almost done! The opening game of Euro 2012 will take place at Warsaw’s new 58,000 capacity National Stadium, now almost completed. It will also host two other group matches, a quarter-final and a semi-final.

 The outdoors is paneling that make the Poland flag. Which is really nice for the new National Stadium. Even though it's very similar to the new major stadiums popping up in Europe, and the renovations at BC Place stadium in Vancouver

There are some additional pictures over at Stadium Porn, which you should look through!

BBVA Compass Stadium

Major League Soccer sources told Houston’s FOX 26 Sports the financial institution, BBVA Compass, has acquired the naming rights to the Houston Dynamo’s new downtown soccer-specific stadium. League sources also confirmed the Dynamo’s naming rights deal with BBVA Compass is for 10 years and is worth $20 million.

The Dynamo’s stadium, is scheduled to open on May 12, 2012 when the Dynamo play their first home game of the upcoming season.

Since their move from San Jose, the Dynamo have been playing at  the Houston Cougars' football stadium. But following everybody else, they got the soccer specific stadium they've been dreaming of. They have one of the best fans in the MLS, and they will be very great full.

Wrigley Field Triangle Building

A proposed idea for the triangle lot adjacent to Wrigley Field along the 3rd base grandstand - a thesis project developed with the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. Really dig the ideas, renderings, floor plans, and elevations for this Triangle Building to enhance the Wrigley Field experience.

 The main idea is to liven up the Wrigley experience, since the stadium is starting to ware down. It features a lot of things such as a Cubs Museum, Pro Shop, and a deck at the very top that connects.

It's a proposal, but it looks VERY nice.

Read more about the project here, and look at more views here.

Report Card-less Venues

I'm up in Greensboro, NC visiting family for the holidays. My dad and I were driving around downtown and I wanted to go by the Greensboro Coliseum, because I'm a stadium nerd. He last lived up here in 1975, when he was at NC State, so he hasn't been to some newer stadiums. I asked him, "Have you ever been to a game there?" He told me he would go to basketball and hockey games when he lived here, and it sat about 8,000. Then I remembered, I've been to a game there! Obviously, it was a long ass time ago, so I can't remember much, but here are some stadiums that I haven't been since I've been really into stadiums.

Greensboro Coliseum- Greensboro Prowlers-Roanoke Steam 

 Victory Field x2- Indianapolis Indians- Rochester/Toledo

 Germain Arena- College Hockey Tournament/ BC-Cornell

Homestead-Miami Speedway- 2003 Ford 400

Daytona International Speedway x2- Daytona 500 qualifying, Pepsi 400 qualifying

 Capital City Stadium- Columbia Blowfish-Some team

I wish I could remember these enough to report! But those are the ones I've been to. I went to Wrigley one time, after 5th grade, but I didn't think I'd post it here because Bmac did a report card for us. 

Caesar's Palace

Yes, you're seeing that right. During the 1991 NHL Preseason, the Kings and Rangers faceoff'd at an outdoor rink at Ceasar's Palace. The Las Vegas strip provided the background for the first ever NHL exhibition game to be held outdoors. The Kings and the Rangers battled under the lights outside Caesars Palace - the first hockey game played in Las Vegas since 1968 - in mid-80 degree temperatures. The game drew a crowd of 13,000, most of whom wore shorts and t-shirts to take it all in.

I finally found pictures of this event, and that's why I'm showing you all. It all started with me posting my concept for a winter classic in Tampa, and people started discussing this. I knew about this, but I hadn't seen pictures. They had trouble with the ice cooling system, and had to slightly raise the temperature, and had to put water down and freeze it regularly.

But it wasn't the first event hosted at Caesar's Palace.

In 1981 and 1982, F1's American Grand Prix was on a circuit at the parking lot of the casino. Drivers hated the course because of the desert hear, and has been described as one of the worst F1 courses in history.

So that's just some quick history of Las Vegas's Caesars Palace sporting events. O fcourse they've had boxing and poker, but these are much cooler.

Renovated St. Pete Times Forum

Last month, I went to the newly renovated St Pete Times forum for the Tampa Bay Lightning-Philadelphia Flyers. Here is some photos, starting with banners!

 View from the new party deck

 The new pipe organ bar

 A view from the bar

 Just a picture from down low

 Post game

 And the piece-de-resistance, the Tesla Coils!

The future of the Ti-Cats

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats will have a new stadium ready for the 2014 season. Thing is, it's not that easy. After about 2 years of debates and arguing, they decided on the new stadium. The stadium will be a part of the Toronto Pan American Games, just 40 miles down the road.

 The team and the city couldn't come to an agreement on where they would put the new building. The city wanted it near the water, the team wanted it in the suburbs. But they decided on putting them in the same location as the current stadium. The problem with that, is that they wont have a stadium. For 2013, the Tiger-Cats will potentially be a traveling team. But it's better than losing the team. The stadium's capacity has dropped to around 28k, but whatever works. They won't be in the 80 year old Ivor Wynne Stadium much longer.

New Blue Bombers Stadium

In honor of the Grey Cup today, I will make some posts about the new era in CFL stadiums!

Tonight's game is at the renovated BC Place, which hosted it's first game in September. It is the first step into making the CFL more modern. The BC Lions are playing the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, which are getting a new stadium next season.

I've had my eyes on this for a while, because they've had this plan for a few years. However they revised the plans, and dropped the arches. The stadium of 34k will be like a miniature version of a stadium like LP field or Raymond James. Upper decks on the sidelines, with a lower bowl on the endzone.

There was an option to view a virtual stadium on their website, but it isn't working now. They do have this demo video, which shows it pretty good, minus the overhangs.


The Bombers are one of the teams with a stadium well overdue to be replaced. Built in 1957, Canad Inns Stadium is part of the stadium trend being phased out for the better.

Later tonight, I will post about the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' situation.

New Baylor Plans?

A few weeks ago, Baylor announced the plans of building a new on-campus state of the art football stadium. The stadium will replace Floyd Casey Stadium. Floyd Casey is off campus, and one of the smaller ones in the Big 12 at 50,000 seats. This whole thing was being led by head coach Art Briles, who wants the hot Bears to have an on campus stadium so their students can be closer to games.

A few things. The open ended stadium will have a view of the river, and campus. There will be a pedestrian bridge from Baylor, across the river to land that the University purchased from the city of Waco. Pedestrian bridges are great, any Titans fans would know. You park once at a major location(ie Baylor, Nashville), and walk to the stadium. After the game, you walk back, without having to move your car.

Lastly, it will be roof, which very few teams have. But some shade in September in the middle of Texas isn't a bad thing.

Populous does the best work on stadiums, no denying that.

Cal Bears Stadium

For the 2011 season, the Cal Bears have been playing at the Giants' AT&T Park. The reason for this is, one, they're renovating their own stadium. And two, it is the only professional stadium not currently in use. Since 1923, Memorial Stadium hasn't been renovated. It's stood the same, for nearly 90 years. They finally decided to make minor updates and turn this...

Into this.

The first part of the renovation was to redo the student facilities and locker rooms. Next, they redid both endzones, and pressbox side. The west side was completely demolished, except for the outer wall and redone. Also, they put expansion joints on earthquake safe blocks because in 1923, they built the stadium on a fault line... But it's all good and it's a nice renovation to one of those old Pac 10 stadiums you see in California.

#HailState

Who likes twitter? Mississippi State does. In an attempt to get a trending topic, they put #HailState in the endzone, hashtag and all. Anyway to draw attention between the match up between the 5-6 Bulldogs and the 2-9 Rebels. The nameplates will also have HailState on them. No word on hashtags for that one.

Here's my personal twitter if you want it.
https://twitter.com/#!/MichaelDanger94

IT WORKS.

The Tesla Coils at the St. Pete Times Forum got hooked up last weekend when the Buffalo Sabres came into town. Here is a sweet picture of one of them going off.

On a related note, since the St. Pete Times is being renamed to the Tampa Bay Times, the arena will have a new name starting early next year.

MSG Looking sharp

Madison Square Garden's $850 million second renovation will take place mainly over three offseasons. The more significant portion of it was set to begin after the 2009-10 hockey/basketball seasons, but was delayed until after the 2010-11 seasons. New features include a larger entrance that will include interactive kiosks, retail, climate controlled space, and broadcast studio; larger concourses; new lighting and LED video systems with HDTV; new seating; two new pedestrian walkways suspended from the ceiling to allow fans to look directly down onto the games being played below; more dining options; and improved dressing rooms, locker rooms, green rooms, upgraded roof, and production offices, among other upgrades.

The in-arena walkways will be eliminated, and portals will be installed between each section. The lower bowl concourse (to be known as the Madison Concourse) will remain on the 6th floor. The upper bowl concourse will be relocated to the 8th floor, and will be known as the Garden Concourse. The seventh floor will house the new Madison Suites. The upper bowl will be built on top of these suites. Existing 300 and 400 level seating will be combined to create the new upper bowl.

Construction of the lower bowl (Phase One) was completed for the 2011-2012 NHL and NBA seasons. An extended off-season for the Garden permitted some advanced work to begin on the new upper bowl, which is scheduled to be completed for the 2012–2013 seasons. This advance work includes the West Balcony on the 10th floor, taking the place of sky-boxes, and new end-ice 300 level seating.

 Plans are underway to relocate systems in the periphery of the arena to permit city views. Renovation will be done in phases with the majority done in the summer months to minimize disruptions and will remain operational throughout the NHL and NBA seasons. While the Rangers and Knicks will not be displaced, the summer-competing Liberty are playing at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey during the renovation. Because of the renovation, the Rangers will start the 2011-12 season with seven games on the road before playing their first home game on October 27.

I just copied that from Wikipedia, because I just wanted to get it out there. I did notice some differences about updates that I knew about. Just the atmosphere is better on TV. I remember watching Lightning games and the arena just seemed bleak. Here, compare last night's video

To this game last season.

So lets see, they redid the lower bowl, fixed the lighting, and redid the concourses!

St Pete Times Forum Update

Monday is the Lightning's home opener against the Florida Panthers. Well, other than being my team, the renovations are looking like they're coming along nicely. There's more to it on the inside, but where the ice is, that whole part should be done. They replaced every seat, redid the boxes, and took out a few sections for a pipe organ. OH YEAH. They also have f'ing Tesla Coils that will shoot off lightning every home goal.

They were saying how they might not be ready, and they want it to be perfectly completed instead of risking safety. The video above is a test. Imagine the goal horn and lightning going off at the same time. It should be a great atmosphere.

2005 New Orleans Saints

So I was on the Chris Creamer boards, looking at the "Best football fields" thread. This guy posted some oddities at LSU's Tiger Stadium. One of them, was this gem of the New Orleans Saints playing there after Hurricane Katrina.

I remember they did this. One of the 4 games they played there was against the Bucs. I remember, actually we were driving home somewhere going through St. Pete on the highway that passes the Trop. The announcer said  something to the effect of, "If anyone wants to come watch a game, there are a lot of seats left at Tiger Stadium." Obviously the stadium wouldn't be to capacity, and just now I'm seeing a picture of it. Well, in that game they're either playing Carolina or Miami. You can't make out details but it's an all light uniform set, and Chicago and the Bucs wear navy and pewter.

The team had 3 regular season home stadiums. The hurricane came the week after a preseason game at the Superdome vs the Ravens. But still recovering, in week 2 they played the Giants at the Meadowlands. Week 4 and 6, they played Buffalo and Atlanta at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The next 4 home games were at Tiger Stadium, then they rounded the season out back in San Antonio against Detroit.

Then they fixed the Superdome, and it still looks like a dump.

But there is your history lesson everybody!

Mini Jerry World

Remember the Super Bowl?

I'm not sure if this is awesome, or just really really sad, but this guy made a New Cowboy Stadium in his living room. COMPLETE WITH VIDEO SCREENS. I thought my stadi-bros would like this.

Keeping Stadium Neighborhoods Alive in the Off-Season

There’s only one thing more depressing come October than the end of baseball season: the sight of an empty ballpark. All those vacant seats, the hot-dog concessions closed, the field empty, and the gates padlocked until the following spring. It’s a bitter scene for baseball lovers.

But it’s an economic conundrum for cities, too.

 Progressive Field in Cleveland may have come up with the best solution yet to the empty ballpark. Last year for the first time, the team converted the field into a vast winter playground. The Indians laid an ice track around the field for skaters and built a snow-tubing hill from the bleachers onto the outfield. “Snow Days” drew to downtown Cleveland last winter about 50,000 people who otherwise would have been bundled up at home. And because Progressive Field sits nestled in the city’s downtown (when it was constructed in the early 1990s, planners intentionally spurned surface parking lots), the event fed into the surrounding entertainment district and restaurants.

  Here's the article.

Marlins Ballpark Update

The new ballpark in Miami is starting to come together. It looks really small, at 37,000 people, but I think it will look good in the end...

...other than the home run celebration thing...

Yeah, every home run hit by the Marlins, this thing will go off a-la apple at Citi Field. Here's a youtube video. Yuck. Hopefully Mike Stanton does his thing on the road.

BC Place for the Whitecaps

One little update on the last post, the Whitecaps tarped off the upper deck. I had to find this out after I called bullshit the picture below.

http://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/2011/10/vancouvers-bell-pitch-downtown-featured-fifa-12 The Whitecaps are saying that the new BC Place will be on Fifa 12. I saw it, and figured they had a generic stadium and called it BC Place because the upperdeck and windows weren't there. Turns out it's legit, and you can now play there on Fifa 12, the only MLS stadium in the game.

The New BC Place Stadium

This is actually pretty funny. I was looking at some stadiums on worldstadiums.com, and was looking at Vancouver. I knew they were renovating BC Place stadium, and so I looked it up. Turns out, the first game played there with the new renovations took place Friday. The BC Lions hosted Edmonton and won 33-24. Then the Vancouver Whitecaps hosted the Portland Timbers today, but lost 1-0.

The renovations took place from April 2010 to September 2011. All together, over $150 million took place in major renovations. These included seating replacements, washroom and concessions renovations, and replacement of the ETFE roof with a new retractable roof. The work was done in two phases. The first phase involved upgrades to seating, washrooms, concessions, and luxury suites, as well as the reinforcement of the existing ring beam at the top of the building and was completed in October 2009. Work on the retractable roof began in May 2010, shortly after the completion of the 2010 Winter Paralympics and the final deflation of the air-supported roof. 1,140 tv screens were added, and the second largest hanging video board is located hanging above the field(only Dallas has a bigger one.)

Originally built in 1983, it was one of those crappy generic domes like the SIlverdome, RCA dome, and Metrodome. In one of the videos below, the host said when he played, the air just seemed to sit and it felt like you were running through mud. The stadium was always known to be very loud, but it wasn't that state of the art. The Winter Olympic ceremonies took place there, which is probably the biggest moment. Unless you think 7 Grey Cups might contend. The dome actually collapsed Metrodome style in 2007, not because of snow however.

Empire Field is a temporary stadium that housed the Lions and 'Caps for the last two and a half seasons. They built it in... 3 months. Which is very speedy. Especially for a stadium with 27,500 seats. Sure, it probably wasn't that amazing, but it's impressive. The stadium will be torn down now that BC Place is all new and shiny. So from now on, the Lions and Whitecaps will play games at the new stadium, and it really looks great. The 2011 Grey Cup will be hosted there, and that should be very nice.

 Here are some videos on the renovations from the BC Lions' website.
Second level, concessions- http://bclions.com/video/index/id/21033
Fourth level, seating, presentation, and roof- http://bclions.com/video/index/id/20997
The field, and scoreboard- http://bclions.com/video/index/id/20971
Gates, and locker room- http://bclions.com/video/index/id/20949