Aloha Stadium also suffers from corrosion due to use of weathering steel construction in a very humid environment. This is also the same issue that doomed the Omni in Atlanta. It was also built as a multi-purpose stadium, designed to host both baseball and football, using stands that rotated, The end zone sections were originally fixed in place and were behind home plate and center field, but the sideline stands would rotate for baseball. Ultimately, this arrangement ended when the sideline sections were locked into place.
honestly, i would of thought they would make the top level a mall or food court, the second level stores or in stadium homes, third be for additional homes, and the field level be parking and stuff
@@0fficialdregs No you can't. Its full of asbestos which needs to be disposed of before anything can be done. Whether you renovate it or tear it down, that must happen, and Harris County won;t pay for that, so the astrodome sits unused.
True. That's a better definition of useless. Stadiums that don't get any use at all. Most of the stadiums on his list are used, even though the use has ended up being different from the original intended use for said stadium (MLB stadium turned XFL or smaller college football stadium)
Although I hate to say it. You missed a big one. The Astrodome. Yes, the "8th wonder of the world" is now an abandoned shell of itself rotting away unused. Nobody wants to tear it down because it "historic", but there is no money , and frankly no use for it, to pay to renovate to a usable state.
They can't blow it up because in Texas there are laws that if the state makes a building a historical building you can't blow it up, I found that out about 10 years ago when a lot of people in Houston wanted to have it removed and the county commissioner let that be know and another reason is that if blow up it up you would damage the NRG stadium nextdoor because the Astro Doom was built so deep into the ground and built so strong that if you tried to demolished if you would destroy half of NRG stadium
I couldn't disagree more. Turner Field and Arlington have been repurposed and have multiple tenants. It's great that these old ballparks can still be used. Sounds like the Alamodome gets a lot of use. The Citrus Bowl has hosted everything from the Olympics and World Cup to Wrestlmania and rock concerts. There's more to entertainment than just the major team pro sports.
@Eragor Eaglor the Alamo Bowl is a prime example of being a backup venue in case something happen in other sports cities. if a team cannot play a home game because of bad weather, im sure the bowl could be open and used by them until their home venue is cleaned and repaired
Atlanta is doing exactly what they pledged to do with Turner Field when they originally built it for the Olympics: seeing that the facility gets 50+ years of usage. Donating it to a local university is exactly what Los Angeles and Salt Lake City did with their Olympic facilities.
@@54raynor i think the LA coliseum was always meant to be for the Trojans and i might be wrong. I cannot wait to see how they rebuild the walls of Turner to fit the football team.
@@0fficialdregs The Coliseum was built in the 1920s, long before LA got it's first Olympiad, so, yes the Trojans played there before there ever was an Olympics there. The first ND-USC game occured there before the Olympics ever came to LA. Also, USC doesn't own the Coliseum, they are the primary tenant, but the LA Sports and Exhibition Authority owns the place.
@@Cmoney903 Battle of the bands, monster truck shows, music concerts, home and auto shows, wedding conventions, the list goes on and on . We're definitely getting our money's worth over time.
The “Edward” Jones dome (no S) is at America’s Center which is a convention center. It’s a show floor for the convention center so while it might get renovated or updated, it’s unlikely to be razed anytime soon.
Most of these stadiums are getting a good use from the XFL. Good Crowds in Choctaw stadium, Alamodome, Dome at America Center, and Camping World Stadium.
Independence Stadium in Shreveport could be an honorable mention it hosts the Independence Bowl and seats 63,000 but outside of that it's an alternate for Louisiana Tech
About 30 years ago San Antonio and St. Louis were among the favorites to get an NFL expansion team to start in 1995, which is why those stadiums was built. The Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995, but returned to LA 21 years later.
@@willp.8120 there were a ton of cities pushing to get expansion teams around that time. Baltimore, St Louis, Charlotte, Jacksonville, Memphis, Nashville, and San Antonio all wanted teams
@@Gage_Brumley There were those cities. I think they were going to be the St. Louis Stallions, Memphis Hound dogs, etc. that said, they apparently weren't the favorites as they selected Charlotte and Jacksonville.
If I recall, one of the issues regarding Aloha Stadium is that it wasn't built properly to account for the Hawaiian weather. The rain in Hawaii has more salt content and whatever rust/salt proofing they did when they build it wasn't good enough.
To this day, I don't understand why the builders of the Alamodome thought they could bring an NFL team to San Antonio. Two words sum up why they never had a chance-- Jerry Jones. He would NEVER allow that. Yes, Houston has had the Oilers and now the Texans, but their fanbase is mostly in the greater Houston area. Most of the rest of the state is diehard for Dallas and having a team in the San Antonio/Austin area will take away from that. A recent example of this happened a few times when Marc Davis looked to move the Raiders to San Antonio and a few calls from Jerry Jones (as I understand) put a stop to that quickly so as not to risk losing Texas market share. Yes, the Cowboys are known as 'America's Team', but Jerry will not allow anything to jeopardize a lack of butts in the seats of AT&T Stadium. That's why I'm confident that though the NFL can support it, there will not be a third team in Texas in my lifetime.
Which makes Jerry such am evil, but genius businessman and marketer. An NFL team in San Antonio or Austin might not even do well, since Tejanos love the Cowboys, despite Dallas being many hours away from the Rio Grande Valley and despite Houston being closer to The Valley. Raiders might have done well in San Antonio, but an expansion team or another team would not.
Oh, if Jerry could, he would have kept Houston from getting an NFL team too, but the NFL never gave him the territorial rights that used to belong to the Titans. It's really sad about San Antonio though. In 2009, I drove from Montgmery County just north of Washington, D.C. to Montreal, which is about 500 miles. Took FOREVER to get there---but it would have been a much LONGER drive if I actually had to drive from Arlington, TX to San Antonio.
Imagine that. In football-crazy Texas, there is no team in San Antonio. Only two teams in the whole state where football is a religion. Jerry Jones definitely controls NFL football in that state.
@@patrickr.5900 also affected semi pro football in the state too. A team wanted to be called the Desperadoes in texas and jerry jones blocked that, because ""too similar to the Dallas Cowboys".
There's another reason the Braves abandoned Turner Field -- money (and not just the cost of renovations). The Braves organization was unique in that they owned all of their minor league teams, and they started with their "A" level teams and worked their way up through AA and AAA, and finally to MLB, where they demanded new stadiums at each level -- along with a share of the concessions and parking, and several key weeks of the year so they could have events that they would profit at. Every one of the minor league teams were relocated because the cities involved wouldn't kowtow to the Braves' extortion process. I'm sure their new digs in the 'burbs was set up the same way.
A soccer stadium was built in Rochester, NY that opened in 2006. Not long after the team owners decided that they did not want to play in that part of town, so the team split. So I'm not sure what they are doing with that stadium now.
It's still getting used for college soccer, youth soccer games/practices, football, field hockey, and other chapionships/competitions. The stadium is now part of a community sports complex. Even though the original team doesn't play there anymore, it still has good usage.
Great video. I am an Orlando resident, and I can attest to the fact that Camping World Stadium is completely useless. Not only does it host a bowl game just once a year but it mostly only gets used for monster truck shows and the Florida A&M/ Bethune-Cookman game which are both also only once-a-year events. This stadium is in a really bad area of downtown Orlando, very high in crime, drugs, and prostitution. Plus, it is located nowhere near any dining, retail, office, or entertainment areas. And if that wasn't crazy enough, Florida Citrus Sports who owns the stadium submitted a proposal to Orange County in May of 2023 requesting $850+ million to gut the place and convert it into a retractable dome stadium. This is nuts. The revenues collected from the tourism development tax that Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld bring in need to be used for far better things than saving this structure. I pray to God the tourist tax oversight board rejects this proposal.
@@hockey8784 There's a big CFB regular season game happening at Camping World on a nearly annual basis. In 2023 it is FSU vs LSU, which looks to be a barn-burner (24-23 Noles last year on a blocked PAT with no time left). Camping World likely has a decade or so to go, now that UCF is a power conference school. It will be just a matter of time before the Bounce House gets a capacity upgrade, and Camping World will then be toast.
Aloha! I went to Hawaii in 2008 and stayed at my friend's place. Everyday I was there we would pass by Aloha Stadium. What a relic but it was that they took a fun event like the Pro-Bowl with NFL rules, except rushing the kicker on the extra point They took it from Hawaii and CHANGED the rules. Very sad but Aloha Stadium needs to go.
The Cotton Bowl gets used only a few times a year, most notably the Red River Shootout. It doesn't even host the bowl game named after the stadium itself anymore. They moved the Cotton Bowl game to AT&T Stadium.
I can see the Shootout getting moved to AT&T, soon also. Capacity might be smaller, but ticket prices will be higher and will mainly cater just to fans rather than students or alumni
@@djtrankilo231 my bad UCLA and USC going to the Big 10. Oklahoma and Texas going to the SEC maybe. honestly just like the family owned corporations being taken over by greedy corporations, the history and love is gonna be gone. smh
The AlamoDome is hardly a useless stadium. UTSA is a very growing football program which absolutely loves the Dome. One of the noisiest stadiums in college football in spite of crowds of about 30-40k. And with the conference move crowds will increase.
UTSA is what is RIGHT about CFB: Completely homegrown program that has risen rapidly, and may become a power conference school in the near future. They only started play in 2011. To describe this rise as meteoric would border on understatement.
Been to three of these stadiums. Stationed in Hawaii in the early 90’s. Used to go to Hawaii home games. Even then it was rough. Most of the concession stands were closed. You could see rust everywhere. Now called the Dome in St Louis. It was never renovated while the Rams were there. That breeched the contract they had with the Rams. Allowed them to end the lease and start the process to move. Everyone blames Kroenke. But the team friendly lease they had, they didn’t have to pay for renovations. So when the Owners didn’t renovate, they violated the lease. Last one was Choctaw Stadium. Went the last season it was used for the Rangers. I actually liked that stadium.
I feel bad for those involved in the Hawaii stadium. It seemed like the stadium worked well for Hawaii, the Aloha Bowl, the Pro Bowl etc, but now that it has rust issues, it's obsolete. They're working on a new stadium, seating about 35,000, which is about right for a MWC school, but they're hoping to have it done by 2027, they haven't made as much progress as you would hope.
I was in Hawaii 1977 and they kept running ads on TV for their baseball team, the PCL Islanders. They kept saying that the first 30K fans would get a (can't remember...towel? Hat?). I was kinda wondering if they actually got that many fans period. As for the Pro Bowl, the players thought of it as a free vacation to Hawaii. They would make deals with the hotel to accommodate their families. After a few major injuries, some of the players would get to Hawaii, and then have a hammie or something go out on them and didn't end up playing. It's no wonder the NFL did away with going there.
Bro, I’m a big fan of your channel I watch all of your videos. But this is the dumbest one I’ve seen. How is the stadiums useless where they’re actually being used?. Especially the Georgia State aspect where they are selling pretty good and actually growing into the stadium. Just think this was the wrong title. Especially where there are stadiums, such as the Astrodome just not really being used at all.
I assumed he meant useless since their original tenants are no longer using them especially with the baseball teams but even so, at the very least most of them have different tenants or events to help fill in the gap the original tenant had. Unlike say Hawaii which is vacant completely. Or the Astrodome for example.
Ballpark in arlington is such a sad story. it was/is so beautiful. grew up there from 03 to 18. used to see the rangers get destroyed by the A's as a kid all the time, my late grandpa loved it and even got us a behind the scenes tour of it.
Yep The only issue with St Louis, is Edward Jones now has so much competition for general events. City Park and Busch Stadium are amazing stadiums and located in good areas to draw performers and other events. Enterprise Center is only a short hop from Busch and also is a good event space to attract events. Edward Jones really just needs a renovation, and with the XFL they have a good chance to really bring in the attention and funds to maybe make that finally happen.
i'd hate to see camping world get demolished. my first every football game ive ever been too was the notre dame vs lsu citrus bowl in 2018. that stadium definitely holds a special place in my heart.
The TWA/EJ Dome is part of the convention center, and its used more now than before, since the NFL had them block every week to use. So its actually doing better now.
they could redo the interior of the old texas rangers stadium to make it suitable for soccer and football. It may need a few hundred million to redo the seating configuration, but its definitely doable.
Big miss on this video. The Dome At Americas Center is used now, more than when the Rams where in St. Louis. Between concerts, conventions, the XFL, Monster Jam, etc, it is used now more than ever. Along with many of these other stadiums. Just because a pro team left, doesn't make them useless. Being repurposed for other teams and events show just how well the stadiums can adapt and be used for other entertainment purposes.
That beyonce concert will draw more than the rams did and generate more money than an NFL games as well. Plus getting back that Mizzou/Memphis game will fill that.
It's simple (I worked in the Rangers front office at the time) the world was infatuated with Camden yards in the time span leading up to when the stadium was built, and the retro nostalgia theme was the only way that anyone was interested in discussing. At the time, the Skydome was the only example of a retractable roof and nobody wanted to consider astroturf as an option. We were years away from the blended style of Arizona, Houston, and other stadiums that made it work.
I would recommend the Oakland Coliseum as a useless stadium, even though the Athletics are still playing games there this season. Definitely will qualify the second they leave. Other than the condemned Aloha Stadium and the Orlando stadium, at least the others have college and minor league/sport clients, so they're not always sitting idle. I'd love to see a list like this for "useless" arenas, like old NBA venues and such. Quite a few of those around, like the San Diego Sports Arena(Pechanga Arena), and the formerly Fabulous Forum in LA/Inglewood. Even the Oakland arena might fit that list...tough times in Oaktown! Thx for the entertaining content! Keep an eye on Vegas...gonna be interesting!
Honestly, if i was the city i would tell the team if we could tear down the stadium, rebuilt to what it used to look like for the team with modern features, would you stay.
I remember watching the Pro Bowl and I thought it was almost as entertaining as the Super Bowl because the players were there just having fun, that was until Goodell took it away from Hawaii and now has it in different places like the Super Bowl and it’s become a shell of it’s former self
What about Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama? It is too big and outdated for its current use, seating 71,000. It was formerly used by the University of Alabama for their home football games and was the permanent site for the "Iron Bowl" games between Alabama and Auburn.
@@fishingthelist4017 the Magic City Classic, which is like the Iron Bowl of HBCU schools. We also had some USFL games played there last year and the World Games Flag Football competition
According to this table (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area), the combined populations of San Antonio and Austin metropolitan areas is over 5 million and the cities are about 80 miles apart. It would be wise to build a large stadium midway between two cities, along I-35, so about 40 miles from each major city. This is not much further than the distance between Boston and Foxborough (about 30 miles) and driving time would be comparable, as one can drive faster in Texas than in Massachusetts.
Playing 25 years at the Ballpark in Arlington is not "very little short life" as you like to put it. The Rangers should have known better to build an air conditioned roofed stadium instead of an open air stadium with no protection from the scorching heat.
The Rangers have played Sunday evening games for most of the season, not necessarily in April thru early May, since the Senators moved to Arlington. It was the players association and the league's Sunday night television package that forced the Rangers to play Sunday afternoon games. The other teams did not like playing extra inning games beyond midnight and thus creating late chartered flights in the wee hours of the morning to their next city on the road or back home for a game on Monday. Rangers fans didn't attend day games in the numbers they did for night games in the very hot Texas heat during the dog days of summer. Which did hurt Rangers annual attendance numbers. Many Rangers fans with a double header on Sunday would attend the evening second game and miss out the rain check for the earlier afternoon game. Of course if the stadium had been built with the field facing the northeast instead of the southeast, there would have been much more shade in the grandstand on the south side of the stadium, but as the stadium was situated the west side and north side had the grandstand around the infield. The north side got the heat stroke sunshine. Furthermore, one couldn't enjoy an ice cream helmet or a cup of iced cold soda in the sunshine either as they both melted very quickly, much less drinking a warm beer... Imagine drinking a warm beer watching a game in Texas during August on Sunday afternoon? Imagine forking over 40 bucks a seat for that privilege? Imagine MLB not allowing you to bring a cooler of ice into the stadium? Stupid is as stupid does, dumb MLB...
Man when I lived in Dallas I saw a couple of games at Rangers Ballpark and that was awesome. Both games were at night so we avoided the sun, but it was awesome and very beautiful. We never sat at our assigned seats either- we went to the Mezzanine in center- right and enjoyed the benefits of having plenty of seating available due to the fact that the Rangers were one of the worst teams.
Your research falls short my guy. Hearing you say "Edwards Jones Dome" multiple times just made me cringe. As stated in many comments down below, many of these stadiums are being used as much as ever.
Independence Stadium, in Shreveport, Louisiana, is also another useless stadium because it’s known for hosting one bowl game (the Independence Bowl) once a year, but also will a host a big high school football game or two. Other than, it’s completely useless. It hosted a minor league football team in 1999, at the stadium. Very old stadium. Has gone through renovations to be able to keep hosting the Independence Bowl.
This is why arenas are better. You can host hockey, basketball, car shows, rock concerts and many other events. An arena can be occupied more than half a year, and for a quarter the price of a football stadium.
The Edward Jones stadium, really has the difficulty to differentiate itself now that City Park exists. XFL is using it, which is good. But CityPark stadium is so much more modern, and even Busch Stadium and Enterprise Center cannibalize events that could go to Edward Jones. With that being said, XFL did a good job of promoting the stadium in and around St Louis, so there still is life to the stadium but it does need a rehaul to attract other users or make it a generel event space.
Love your videos man.I just was watching the one about Cleveland renovations smh.Progressive Field.I 💯 agree that the restaurant in a long third base,left field line is cool 😎 and they want to put open seating and patio.I mean renovations will be okay,not sure,like you said what they going to do earlier in season when not as many folks don't attend games with all "that open space"is it going to look crappy with low attendance lol.
The Alamodome has been the most useless stadium in America since the day it opened. I remember seeing a documentary about it on ESPN back in the 90s about how useless it was, and that was back when it was still pretty new; and it's situation never changed.
How about the Cotton Bowl, which is still one of the ten largest stadiums in the US (92k+ capacity) and gets used for what, a couple of neutral site football games a year?
This is why stadiums shouldn't be built specifically for any team. Such a larger expense should have many purposes since they sit empty MOST of the year. Engineers are smart enough to come up with multiple uses including multiple sports, concerts, events, etc.
Out of all of these stadiums, the Camping World in Orlando stadium is the most viable. I lived in the Orlando area from '94 to '06, and one of my first jobs was working concessions at the '94 world cup. I remember thinking that with a few modifications, it could be an NFL stadium. They do have the Pro Bowl there. It seems to have gotten better, and it could totally be the Jags home while they're renovating the Gator Bowl or whatever. Ballpark at Arlington is really nice, and it's a shame they had to move to a domed stadium but it's understandable.
I’m from San Antonio and you are Wrong regarding the Alamodome. Although San Antonio did not get an NFL team, as you mentioned the Alamodome has been used for several other events and sports. The Final Four is a huge sports event and the NCAA loves San Antonio. The Alamo Bowl has been a success for years. The dome is also a certain sell out when the National Soccer team of Mexico plays an exhibían in San Antonio. In Boxing JC Chávez vs Pernell Whitaker was the third largest crowd in Boxing history at the time. Canelo Álvarez attracted over 40, 000 for a fight. De La Hoya fought at the Alamodome. The NBA played an All Star game at the Dome and the Spurs won their first NBA Title playing home games there. The Spurs played all of their home games at the Alamodome during the mid and late 90’s. This was free publicity for San Antonio. Before the Alamodome San Antonio was a growing city. The success of the Spurs, the Final Fours, the huge Boxing events and the free publicity to the city during the 90’s contributed to the explosion in the growth of the city. If there was not Alamodome to host those events in San Antonio. The Spurs probably move and San Antonio remains a dusty town in between Dallas or Houston and Mexico. The Alamodome has played a major role in the growth and economy of the city….. We love football in San Antonio and the Alamodome was originally built for an NFL team. The San Antonio region has the resources to support an NFL franchise. The Spurs dominate South Texas, and have many fans in Mexico, Austin, and West Texas. That is the NBA though. The same San Antonio fan region is also Dallas Cowboys country and Jerra Jones was not about to risk a potential rival for fans in what is Cowboys territory. I did say the San Antonio region has the resources to support an NFL franchise however that does not mean the region would support a new NFL team or any other NFL team not named the Cowboys or Oilers. The huge loyal Cowboys fan base is not switching over night and a new NFL team or NFL team moving to SA would be tough a sell.
Living here in Hawaii I can tell you one of the biggest problems is getting the funding. Hawaii football left because the decision was made to stop repairing Aloha Stadium and tear it down to build the replacement stadium + entertainment district. Hawaii Football was to play just temporarily at the Athletic complex on campus (which looks like the size of a d2 stadium) while the new one was built. Then COVID happened and as usual the initial budget plan was totally wrong (go look up the Hawaii rail project, it’s laughable). Now we’re stuck because they can’t agree on what the new stadium/entertainment district will look like, and the budget for it continues to get slashes (meaning more things eliminated from the project), meanwhile Hawaii football is forced to play at the grossly small on campus complex. I don’t think it even seats 10,000 there. The sad/funny part…our rail currently still isn’t finished and the spot where it DOES end right now drops people off at Aloha Stadium, where there’s not much of anything lol. The part about Aloha Stadium being multipurpose is true but over the last 20 years it didn’t matter as much because baseball events were held pretty much anywhere except Aloha Stadium. Hawaii has a pretty decent on campus baseball field (Les Murakami Stadium), and Hans L’Orange field seemed to be a favorite place for baseball events (Hawaii Winter Baseball).
As someone who finally got to drive on H3 after the Odyssey-level difficulty in getting it finished, I say finish what you start. For the record, I was completely against the idea of a rail system from the very beginning, but if we *are* going to have one, it should serve some real purpose. Given how our football team _looks_ like a D2 squad sometimes, I can't justify diverting anything toward a stadium unless it's going to have a _lot_ of utility in the offseason.
@@hawaiidkw1 shutting down Aloha Stadium felt like such a trap coming. I just had a feeling the entire thing would go bad, and I was right. And it reached the point couldn’t reverse course because the cost to repair Aloha Stadium was too great too.
The entire new stadium discussion is rapidly being rendered moot by the realignment frenzy in CFB. It looks like UH will be left out in the cold, in most plausible scenarios. As painful as it may be to read, for the locals, it is nearing the time where UH may have to drop football altogether, purely for economic reasons.
You know, you keep using young and old, but I don't think you know what they mean. You described Choctaw Stadium (opened in 1994) as young, but Dome at America Center (opened in 1995) as old, and Turner Field (opened in 1996) as young.
Personally, I think Camping World Stadium would make a good neutral site to host a Super Bowl one year, since Orlando is currently the largest market in the US without an NFL team
No NFL-level infrastructure around it. The Superbowl is all about synergy around the venue, these days. Gotta have something for those fat cats coming in private jets to have for a playground.
In addition to hosting the Pro Bowl and the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, Aloha Stadium also know for the Hula Bowl (a college all-star game), and the Aloha Bowl (a college bowl game, played on Christmas Day or sometime close to that). Good times.
Im in San Antonio and i can say the alamodime seemes to get used a little more than you would expect. They are supposed to do some renovations on it to try and attact a final 4 and perhaps one of the national college 🏈 championship game
At the rate major CFB is going, the Alamodome might be deemed too small for a CFP game, BUT (and it's one that Sir Mixalot would like), it might be the perfect venue for a possible Group of 5 title game, should the B1G and SEC do what many suspect, and break away from the rest of FBS. That was one helluva sentence.
How did Cotton Bowl stadium not make the list? The only game played there is the annual Red River Rivalry. Hell, even the actual Cotton Bowl game is played at Jerryworld.
1. It was the Edward Jones Dome, not the Edwards Jones Dome. 2. You say it is too old,yet it is the same age as a couple of others that you said were young in stadium years. That said,it sucked even when it was new, so whatever.
I went to plenty of daytime games at The Ballpark in Arlington in July and August and seen big crowds there with me. Unfortunately the players got weak and spoiled and the politicians wanted a new money magnet. Now Arlington has its fancy indoor stadium and higher taxes.I will always miss the Ballpark at Arlington and those hot summer games.
I went to that Rangers stadium for an early afternoon game. Got a great deal on seats. Luckily it was a section that was shaded, and I had access to an air-conditioned restaurant. It was only about $45/seat day of the game.
I never understood why they didn't build a retractable roof on the ball park in arlington back in 94. That never made any sense to me. It's not like the Rangers hadn't been in Arlington for years prior to building that stadium.
Ok...re Choctaw (Nee The Ballpark in Arlington; then Ameriquest Field; then Rangers Ballpark in Arlington; THEN Globe Life Park and NOW Choctaw. I used to work there as an usher AND a tour guide. The vid is right, they didn't play day games there in June, July and August...until ESPN required that NO other teams play during Sunday Night Baseball. So then they are playing Sunday day games with 25-30k tickets sold...key word there is SOLD. That includes season tickets and so many people did not bother to show up. The ones that did (if they didn't have seats in the shade - so, the last 8 rows on the lower bowl and those on the first base side plus some that were shaded on the upper deck and even a few on Club level. The rest either poached shady seats or hung out in the bars or sat out on the shady and somewhat cooler concourse. And, now, since we have Sunday day games, other teams (and sometimes the Rangers themselves) would ask for 'getaway days' on Wed/Thurs when one or both teams wanted to arrive at their next city at a reasonable time. I still got to work there after the Rangers moved. I worked 3 Renegades games until Covid blew that up. After Covid was less of a thing, I worked numerous high school football games-kept me busy during the fall of 2020. They looked into retro fitting it with either a dome, retractable dome or by extending the upper deck roof (the latter REALLY wouldn't have solved the problem) at a cost of $300-500K. At the time, it was 2x that to build a new stadium with a dome/retractable roof. They REALLY wanted to still have outdoor baseball so the opted for the retractable roof. The next problem was grass. Baseball was meant to be played on grass - until 2020. Scott's had developed a grass that could withstand 5days of nonstop shade. And originally they were going with that. Then an Atlanta based company, Shaw introduced what I call '3rd gen artificial turf'. The original AstroTurf was just rolled out on the ground. 2nd gen stuff (FieldTurf, SportsTurf) had a rubber pad underneath and had rubber pellet 'fill'. Shaw had a much thicker rubber pad (that they spent years perfecting to simulate the ground under grass) and a natural (mostly coconut fiber) fill. So, now the roof can stay closed from June through Aug without needing to recool the place.
Seams like Rangers ballpark, they could have surrounded the existing structure with a retractable roof building. You would get a "building in a building" may have been cheaper? As I recall, Turner Field, though built for the Olympics, was designed from the start to convert it to a Baseball stadium after the Olympics. It wasn't an after thought to convert to baseball. Aloha Stadium should be the permanent location for the Supper Bowl, end the rotation. Local fans cant really go anyway, its all corporate these days. Rebuild it at make Hawaii the Super Bowl State.
Rangers looked into the possibilty of adding a roof to the ballpark, but concluded it would cost just as much as it would to build a brand new stadium.
Almost every one of the facilities you deem "useless" in this video is one that, if you asked someone who lived in the area? They'd argue your assessment. Let's review... Arlington - Admittedly not including a roof was a mistake, and they knew it was a mistake as they were building it. But they did what they could with the public subsidization they could get, from a group of politicians who thought climate change was just God hugging Texas a little tighter than the rest of the country each summer. Atlanta - It was conceived as a stadium that would host a two-week event (the '96 Olympics) and then immediately be converted to host Braves baseball. It was still quite serviceable in that regard but Braves ownership decided they wanted ancillary revenue streams beyond what the current stadium could provide. So they sold it to Georgia State, which made another wholesale conversion to the facility, this time to facilitate their various outdoor collegiate events. If anything, rather than "rotting" or a "sad situation," it's now hosting more events, and getting better maintenance, than it did during the Braves days. San Antonio - The Alamodome was admittedly built on spec in hope of luring an NFL franchise, but going into its fourth decade it's still the crown jewel among San Antonio's sports facilities, hosting roughly 150 events a year along with the Alamo Bowl and being among few facilities of its type in which (a) all the debt service is paid off, and (b) the place makes money. St. Louis - Yeah. That one I'll not argue about. They built the place as part of a commitment to try and land an NFL expansion franchise but got lucky when Georgia Frontiere decided she wanted to move back east, taking the Rams with her. It's not exactly old, but St. Louisians are reluctant to implode facilities that aren't truly old and decrepit (example: The Checkerdome). Orlando - The former Tangerine Bowl (sorry, but unless a company is paying ME to say their name? I don't say it) is an 87 year old stadium site that has been completely renovated not once, not twice, not three times, but SEVEN times in its history. The most recent overhaul occurred THREE years ago. It's another place that hosts around 150+ events a year and is a centerpiece of the area. Honolulu - It's coming down. As in, now, as I write this. They held an "Aloha to Aloha" event a few months ago, let the public go through the place, roam the field, even take some seats with them provided they brought their own tools to disconnect them from the concrete. It may not be completely gone yet, but if a place no longer exists, is it useless? 🤷♂
UT Arlington should consider bringing back football. They have a ready to use stadium if they do and they would be in the FCS WAC/Atlantic Sun Alliance so they wouldn't struggle the way they did the last time they had football.
How can you say The Alamodome is useless as it hosts UTSA and almost sells out and is hosting multiple Final Fours? You don't need an NFL or MLB team to be usefully. Camping World in Orlando hosts a ton of events.
I'm not shedding any tears over the ruination of our old stadium. It served its purpose, It had some good moments, nothing lasts forever. The University of Hawaii has never been within a light year of a football powerhouse... we just don't have those kind of priorities!... so we don't need some big fancy football palace anyway. If anything, what I'd like is a fully weatherproof dome which can seat more than Blaisdell Arena, but ONLY if our tax dollars aren't paying for it. We're strapped enough as it is.
They are probably discussing the unthinkable, behind closed doors at the UH. Like the Universities of Chicago (founding Big Ten member) and the Pacific, we may see UH chose to drop football.
You make it sound like the Texas climate suddenly got hot in 1994 and took the Rangers by surprise! They used to play at Arlington Stadium and simply played almost all of their games at night. No big deal. The Rangers just got greedy and wanted a more glitzy ballpark with a roof so they'd make more money, and threatened to move if they didn't get it. The taxpayers paid the price. It's ridiculous that the Rangers only used it for 24 years!
Aloha Stadium also suffers from corrosion due to use of weathering steel construction in a very humid environment. This is also the same issue that doomed the Omni in Atlanta.
It was also built as a multi-purpose stadium, designed to host both baseball and football, using stands that rotated, The end zone sections were originally fixed in place and were behind home plate and center field, but the sideline stands would rotate for baseball. Ultimately, this arrangement ended when the sideline sections were locked into place.
Defn agree w/ the last stadium, a condemned stadium is pretty useless 😂
You missed the big one: the Astrodome. Can't use it, can't tear it down, can't renovate it. Can't do anything but sit there.
honestly, i would of thought they would make the top level a mall or food court, the second level stores or in stadium homes, third be for additional homes, and the field level be parking and stuff
So it's like Olympic stadium in Montreal
@@samelmudir you can somewhat fix that stadium...somewhat
@@0fficialdregs No you can't. Its full of asbestos which needs to be disposed of before anything can be done. Whether you renovate it or tear it down, that must happen, and Harris County won;t pay for that, so the astrodome sits unused.
True. That's a better definition of useless. Stadiums that don't get any use at all. Most of the stadiums on his list are used, even though the use has ended up being different from the original intended use for said stadium (MLB stadium turned XFL or smaller college football stadium)
Although I hate to say it. You missed a big one. The Astrodome. Yes, the "8th wonder of the world" is now an abandoned shell of itself rotting away unused. Nobody wants to tear it down because it "historic", but there is no money , and frankly no use for it, to pay to renovate to a usable state.
@Anthony Rivera that is planned to be demolished. There are no plans for the Astrodome
They can't blow it up because in Texas there are laws that if the state makes a building a historical building you can't blow it up, I found that out about 10 years ago when a lot of people in Houston wanted to have it removed and the county commissioner let that be know and another reason is that if blow up it up you would damage the NRG stadium nextdoor because the Astro Doom was built so deep into the ground and built so strong that if you tried to demolished if you would destroy half of NRG stadium
Nah. /
ASTRODOME IS A DUMP..
The city of Houston WON'T tear it down either. They say it is NOW a protected landmark.
I couldn't disagree more. Turner Field and Arlington have been repurposed and have multiple tenants. It's great that these old ballparks can still be used. Sounds like the Alamodome gets a lot of use. The Citrus Bowl has hosted everything from the Olympics and World Cup to Wrestlmania and rock concerts. There's more to entertainment than just the major team pro sports.
The arlington ballpark could easily be renovated to fit its new purpose just given some funding, similar with turner field.
@Eragor Eaglor the Alamo Bowl is a prime example of being a backup venue in case something happen in other sports cities. if a team cannot play a home game because of bad weather, im sure the bowl could be open and used by them until their home venue is cleaned and repaired
Atlanta is doing exactly what they pledged to do with Turner Field when they originally built it for the Olympics: seeing that the facility gets 50+ years of usage. Donating it to a local university is exactly what Los Angeles and Salt Lake City did with their Olympic facilities.
@@54raynor i think the LA coliseum was always meant to be for the Trojans and i might be wrong. I cannot wait to see how they rebuild the walls of Turner to fit the football team.
@@0fficialdregs The Coliseum was built in the 1920s, long before LA got it's first Olympiad, so, yes the Trojans played there before there ever was an Olympics there. The first ND-USC game occured there before the Olympics ever came to LA. Also, USC doesn't own the Coliseum, they are the primary tenant, but the LA Sports and Exhibition Authority owns the place.
Battlehawks were getting 36k for their home games so the St Louis stadium may have a bit if life yet.
just gotta renovate it a little more to fit the new tenant
NOT the Edwards Jones dome. Try saying Edward next time!
The Alamodome isn't useless though. It's used quite frequently throughout the year. I drive by it all the time and there are always events.
He's got a bone to pick... unless the stadium itself hosts a major league team, it's obviously useless.
It literally hosts a FBS college football team, US Army HS All American Game, and Alamo Bowl, and in 25 the Final four.
And let's not forget the UIL boys and girls basketball state tournament
@@Cmoney903 Battle of the bands, monster truck shows, music concerts, home and auto shows, wedding conventions, the list goes on and on .
We're definitely getting our money's worth over time.
You missed a big one. “Jerry’s world” in Dallas. That stadium is useless. Keeps housing the same underachieving, overrated team year after year.
That's not the fault of the Stadium, that is the fault of the person who wanted it built!😉
The “Edward” Jones dome (no S) is at America’s Center which is a convention center. It’s a show floor for the convention center so while it might get renovated or updated, it’s unlikely to be razed anytime soon.
Most of these stadiums are getting a good use from the XFL. Good Crowds in Choctaw stadium, Alamodome, Dome at America Center, and Camping World Stadium.
Independence Stadium in Shreveport could be an honorable mention it hosts the Independence Bowl and seats 63,000 but outside of that it's an alternate for Louisiana Tech
True
About 30 years ago San Antonio and St. Louis were among the favorites to get an NFL expansion team to start in 1995, which is why those stadiums was built. The Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995, but returned to LA 21 years later.
Evidently not, as Charlotte and Jacksonville were chosen.
@@willp.8120 there were a ton of cities pushing to get expansion teams around that time. Baltimore, St Louis, Charlotte, Jacksonville, Memphis, Nashville, and San Antonio all wanted teams
@@Gage_Brumley There were those cities. I think they were going to be the St. Louis Stallions, Memphis Hound dogs, etc. that said, they apparently weren't the favorites as they selected Charlotte and Jacksonville.
Cotton Bowl. Such a mint stadium. Too bad the Cotton Bowl classic moved to that glorified sports bar known as AT&T stadium.
If I recall, one of the issues regarding Aloha Stadium is that it wasn't built properly to account for the Hawaiian weather. The rain in Hawaii has more salt content and whatever rust/salt proofing they did when they build it wasn't good enough.
They used weathering steel, turns out it didn't work! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weathering_steel
@@JKSmith66 is that where it oxidizes and is supposed to seal itself? They tried the same concept with The Omni in Atlanta. Didn't work there either.
@@JKSmith66 is that where it oxidizes and is supposed to seal itself? They tried the same concept with The Omni in Atlanta. Didn't work there either.
@@JKSmith66 is that where it oxidizes and is supposed to seal itself? They tried the same concept with The Omni in Atlanta. Didn't work there either.
@@donkraemer50 yes!
To this day, I don't understand why the builders of the Alamodome thought they could bring an NFL team to San Antonio. Two words sum up why they never had a chance-- Jerry Jones. He would NEVER allow that. Yes, Houston has had the Oilers and now the Texans, but their fanbase is mostly in the greater Houston area. Most of the rest of the state is diehard for Dallas and having a team in the San Antonio/Austin area will take away from that.
A recent example of this happened a few times when Marc Davis looked to move the Raiders to San Antonio and a few calls from Jerry Jones (as I understand) put a stop to that quickly so as not to risk losing Texas market share. Yes, the Cowboys are known as 'America's Team', but Jerry will not allow anything to jeopardize a lack of butts in the seats of AT&T Stadium.
That's why I'm confident that though the NFL can support it, there will not be a third team in Texas in my lifetime.
Which makes Jerry such am evil, but genius businessman and marketer. An NFL team in San Antonio or Austin might not even do well, since Tejanos love the Cowboys, despite Dallas being many hours away from the Rio Grande Valley and despite Houston being closer to The Valley. Raiders might have done well in San Antonio, but an expansion team or another team would not.
@@djtrankilo231 which i find curious as to why the raiders are popular in texas
Oh, if Jerry could, he would have kept Houston from getting an NFL team too, but the NFL never gave him the territorial rights that used to belong to the Titans. It's really sad about San Antonio though. In 2009, I drove from Montgmery County just north of Washington, D.C. to Montreal, which is about 500 miles. Took FOREVER to get there---but it would have been a much LONGER drive if I actually had to drive from Arlington, TX to San Antonio.
Imagine that. In football-crazy Texas, there is no team in San Antonio. Only two teams in the whole state where football is a religion. Jerry Jones definitely controls NFL football in that state.
@@patrickr.5900 also affected semi pro football in the state too. A team wanted to be called the Desperadoes in texas and jerry jones blocked that, because ""too similar to the Dallas Cowboys".
Another one you missed was the cotton bowl. Outside of the red river shootout, it's a 92,000 seat high school stadium.
Makes one wonder how soon till the shootout gets moved to Jerry World?? You know Jerry's gonna persuade both schools and the NCAA to do it.
Funny that the Cotton bowl is no longer played in the Cotton bowl
@@DMS-pq8 Can't play a night bowl game there with no permanent lights.
Was going to mention this too. How did he miss this one.
They play one bowl game there too.
There's another reason the Braves abandoned Turner Field -- money (and not just the cost of renovations). The Braves organization was unique in that they owned all of their minor league teams, and they started with their "A" level teams and worked their way up through AA and AAA, and finally to MLB, where they demanded new stadiums at each level -- along with a share of the concessions and parking, and several key weeks of the year so they could have events that they would profit at. Every one of the minor league teams were relocated because the cities involved wouldn't kowtow to the Braves' extortion process. I'm sure their new digs in the 'burbs was set up the same way.
I think the mayor in Cobb County who approved the stadium deal got recalled as well
A soccer stadium was built in Rochester, NY that opened in 2006. Not long after the team owners decided that they did not want to play in that part of town, so the team split. So I'm not sure what they are doing with that stadium now.
It's still getting used for college soccer, youth soccer games/practices, football, field hockey, and other chapionships/competitions. The stadium is now part of a community sports complex. Even though the original team doesn't play there anymore, it still has good usage.
Football
Great video. I am an Orlando resident, and I can attest to the fact that Camping World Stadium is completely useless. Not only does it host a bowl game just once a year but it mostly only gets used for monster truck shows and the Florida A&M/ Bethune-Cookman game which are both also only once-a-year events. This stadium is in a really bad area of downtown Orlando, very high in crime, drugs, and prostitution. Plus, it is located nowhere near any dining, retail, office, or entertainment areas. And if that wasn't crazy enough, Florida Citrus Sports who owns the stadium submitted a proposal to Orange County in May of 2023 requesting $850+ million to gut the place and convert it into a retractable dome stadium. This is nuts. The revenues collected from the tourism development tax that Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld bring in need to be used for far better things than saving this structure. I pray to God the tourist tax oversight board rejects this proposal.
Agree jeff but they do host two bowl games
@@hockey8784 There's a big CFB regular season game happening at Camping World on a nearly annual basis. In 2023 it is FSU vs LSU, which looks to be a barn-burner (24-23 Noles last year on a blocked PAT with no time left). Camping World likely has a decade or so to go, now that UCF is a power conference school. It will be just a matter of time before the Bounce House gets a capacity upgrade, and Camping World will then be toast.
hey, love your videos! can u do a video on why the montreal expos moved to washington and how they built the Washington stadium?
The Expo stadium is ready for the shitter
It actually was ready for that when opened for the Olympics
Aloha! I went to Hawaii in 2008 and stayed at my friend's place. Everyday I was there we would pass by Aloha Stadium. What a relic but it was that they took a fun event like the Pro-Bowl with NFL rules, except rushing the kicker on the extra point They took it from Hawaii and CHANGED the rules. Very sad but Aloha Stadium needs to go.
The Cotton Bowl gets used only a few times a year, most notably the Red River Shootout. It doesn't even host the bowl game named after the stadium itself anymore. They moved the Cotton Bowl game to AT&T Stadium.
I can see the Shootout getting moved to AT&T, soon also. Capacity might be smaller, but ticket prices will be higher and will mainly cater just to fans rather than students or alumni
@@djtrankilo231 then another relic is gonna be torn down and just a memory. Also i heard some Big 12 teams might be going to the Big 10 as well.
@@0fficialdregs not a surprise. After that, the Power 5 conference will do what the European Super League couldn't do and split from the NCAA.
@@djtrankilo231 my bad UCLA and USC going to the Big 10. Oklahoma and Texas going to the SEC maybe.
honestly just like the family owned corporations being taken over by greedy corporations, the history and love is gonna be gone. smh
The AlamoDome is hardly a useless stadium. UTSA is a very growing football program which absolutely loves the Dome. One of the noisiest stadiums in college football in spite of crowds of about 30-40k. And with the conference move crowds will increase.
plus its a backup stadium for nearby teams to play in until their own venues are rebuilt, construction completed or renovated.
And with XFL Brahmas, the Alamodome gets packed and loud
UTSA is what is RIGHT about CFB: Completely homegrown program that has risen rapidly, and may become a power conference school in the near future. They only started play in 2011. To describe this rise as meteoric would border on understatement.
Been to three of these stadiums. Stationed in Hawaii in the early 90’s. Used to go to Hawaii home games. Even then it was rough. Most of the concession stands were closed. You could see rust everywhere. Now called the Dome in St Louis. It was never renovated while the Rams were there. That breeched the contract they had with the Rams. Allowed them to end the lease and start the process to move. Everyone blames Kroenke. But the team friendly lease they had, they didn’t have to pay for renovations. So when the Owners didn’t renovate, they violated the lease. Last one was Choctaw Stadium. Went the last season it was used for the Rangers. I actually liked that stadium.
I feel bad for those involved in the Hawaii stadium. It seemed like the stadium worked well for Hawaii, the Aloha Bowl, the Pro Bowl etc, but now that it has rust issues, it's obsolete. They're working on a new stadium, seating about 35,000, which is about right for a MWC school, but they're hoping to have it done by 2027, they haven't made as much progress as you would hope.
I was in Hawaii 1977 and they kept running ads on TV for their baseball team, the PCL Islanders. They kept saying that the first 30K fans would get a (can't remember...towel? Hat?). I was kinda wondering if they actually got that many fans period.
As for the Pro Bowl, the players thought of it as a free vacation to Hawaii. They would make deals with the hotel to accommodate their families. After a few major injuries, some of the players would get to Hawaii, and then have a hammie or something go out on them and didn't end up playing. It's no wonder the NFL did away with going there.
Why cities continued to be scammed by these venues is going to be one of the future mysteries that they’ll be trying to understand
Bro, I’m a big fan of your channel I watch all of your videos. But this is the dumbest one I’ve seen. How is the stadiums useless where they’re actually being used?. Especially the Georgia State aspect where they are selling pretty good and actually growing into the stadium. Just think this was the wrong title. Especially where there are stadiums, such as the Astrodome just not really being used at all.
He lists like 10 events the Alamodome is used for , then calls it useless 😅
Exactly
I assumed he meant useless since their original tenants are no longer using them especially with the baseball teams but even so, at the very least most of them have different tenants or events to help fill in the gap the original tenant had. Unlike say Hawaii which is vacant completely. Or the Astrodome for example.
Yep. Between that and the awful narration (Jesus, talk about repeating yourself endlessly), great point.
Ballpark in arlington is such a sad story. it was/is so beautiful. grew up there from 03 to 18. used to see the rangers get destroyed by the A's as a kid all the time, my late grandpa loved it and even got us a behind the scenes tour of it.
Most stadiums on this list aren't useless. Especially since San Antonio and St. Louis are high in attendance in XFL games.
Yep
The only issue with St Louis, is Edward Jones now has so much competition for general events. City Park and Busch Stadium are amazing stadiums and located in good areas to draw performers and other events. Enterprise Center is only a short hop from Busch and also is a good event space to attract events.
Edward Jones really just needs a renovation, and with the XFL they have a good chance to really bring in the attention and funds to maybe make that finally happen.
i'd hate to see camping world get demolished. my first every football game ive ever been too was the notre dame vs lsu citrus bowl in 2018. that stadium definitely holds a special place in my heart.
I'm surprised that that stadium is nearly 90 years old. It looks so modern
The TWA/EJ Dome is part of the convention center, and its used more now than before, since the NFL had them block every week to use. So its actually doing better now.
I live right by the dome. And you're right, it is constantly used. Every single weekend. The city is still making a lot of money from that place.
they could redo the interior of the old texas rangers stadium to make it suitable for soccer and football. It may need a few hundred million to redo the seating configuration, but its definitely doable.
Big miss on this video. The Dome At Americas Center is used now, more than when the Rams where in St. Louis. Between concerts, conventions, the XFL, Monster Jam, etc, it is used now more than ever. Along with many of these other stadiums. Just because a pro team left, doesn't make them useless. Being repurposed for other teams and events show just how well the stadiums can adapt and be used for other entertainment purposes.
they also convert it into a 5th-mile dirt track in December every year
That beyonce concert will draw more than the rams did and generate more money than an NFL games as well. Plus getting back that Mizzou/Memphis game will fill that.
As if the Rangers didn’t know it gets unbearably hot and humid in Texas?
It's simple (I worked in the Rangers front office at the time) the world was infatuated with Camden yards in the time span leading up to when the stadium was built, and the retro nostalgia theme was the only way that anyone was interested in discussing. At the time, the Skydome was the only example of a retractable roof and nobody wanted to consider astroturf as an option. We were years away from the blended style of Arizona, Houston, and other stadiums that made it work.
I would recommend the Oakland Coliseum as a useless stadium, even though the Athletics are still playing games there this season. Definitely will qualify the second they leave.
Other than the condemned Aloha Stadium and the Orlando stadium, at least the others have college and minor league/sport clients, so they're not always sitting idle.
I'd love to see a list like this for "useless" arenas, like old NBA venues and such. Quite a few of those around, like the San Diego Sports Arena(Pechanga Arena), and the formerly Fabulous Forum in LA/Inglewood. Even the Oakland arena might fit that list...tough times in Oaktown!
Thx for the entertaining content! Keep an eye on Vegas...gonna be interesting!
Honestly, if i was the city i would tell the team if we could tear down the stadium, rebuilt to what it used to look like for the team with modern features, would you stay.
I remember watching the Pro Bowl and I thought it was almost as entertaining as the Super Bowl because the players were there just having fun, that was until Goodell took it away from Hawaii and now has it in different places like the Super Bowl and it’s become a shell of it’s former self
Goddell 'took' it away because the Governor balked at paying for the event. Turns out, the Pro Bowl made more than it cost. Typical politician.
I remember when Aloha Stadium was a baseball only Stadium.
What about Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama? It is too big and outdated for its current use, seating 71,000. It was formerly used by the University of Alabama for their home football games and was the permanent site for the "Iron Bowl" games between Alabama and Auburn.
Who still uses Legion Field?
@@fishingthelist4017 USFL, I think.
@@fishingthelist4017 the Magic City Classic, which is like the Iron Bowl of HBCU schools. We also had some USFL games played there last year and the World Games Flag Football competition
@@c-dogg9188 do the local high schools use it, or do they have their own stadiums?
@@fishingthelist4017 yes some local high schools do play there sometimes 🙂
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all bowl games ONCE a year?
“The Ballpark in Arlington is so young built in 1994” later..”The Edward jones Dome is so old built in 1995”.
Don’t count on any accuracy from this guy. All his videos have many mistakes!
😂😅😂😅😂
According to this table (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area), the combined populations of San Antonio and Austin metropolitan areas is over 5 million and the cities are about 80 miles apart. It would be wise to build a large stadium midway between two cities, along I-35, so about 40 miles from each major city. This is not much further than the distance between Boston and Foxborough (about 30 miles) and driving time would be comparable, as one can drive faster in Texas than in Massachusetts.
Playing 25 years at the Ballpark in Arlington is not "very little short life" as you like to put it. The Rangers should have known better to build an air conditioned roofed stadium instead of an open air stadium with no protection from the scorching heat.
People weren't so soft back when the Ballpark was built
The Rangers have played Sunday evening games for most of the season, not necessarily in April thru early May, since the Senators moved to Arlington. It was the players association and the league's Sunday night television package that forced the Rangers to play Sunday afternoon games. The other teams did not like playing extra inning games beyond midnight and thus creating late chartered flights in the wee hours of the morning to their next city on the road or back home for a game on Monday. Rangers fans didn't attend day games in the numbers they did for night games in the very hot Texas heat during the dog days of summer. Which did hurt Rangers annual attendance numbers. Many Rangers fans with a double header on Sunday would attend the evening second game and miss out the rain check for the earlier afternoon game. Of course if the stadium had been built with the field facing the northeast instead of the southeast, there would have been much more shade in the grandstand on the south side of the stadium, but as the stadium was situated the west side and north side had the grandstand around the infield. The north side got the heat stroke sunshine. Furthermore, one couldn't enjoy an ice cream helmet or a cup of iced cold soda in the sunshine either as they both melted very quickly, much less drinking a warm beer... Imagine drinking a warm beer watching a game in Texas during August on Sunday afternoon? Imagine forking over 40 bucks a seat for that privilege? Imagine MLB not allowing you to bring a cooler of ice into the stadium? Stupid is as stupid does, dumb MLB...
Is it a dessert down there. Whats going on down there? You'd think Miami or Arizona but Texas?
I'm sure all the teams using these stadiums appreciated being described as useless and rotting.
Man when I lived in Dallas I saw a couple of games at Rangers Ballpark and that was awesome. Both games were at night so we avoided the sun, but it was awesome and very beautiful. We never sat at our assigned seats either- we went to the Mezzanine in center- right and enjoyed the benefits of having plenty of seating available due to the fact that the Rangers were one of the worst teams.
Considering how many Evangelical Christians live in Texas, how about simply installing a waterproof canvas over it, and turning it into a megachurch?
Your research falls short my guy. Hearing you say "Edwards Jones Dome" multiple times just made me cringe. As stated in many comments down below, many of these stadiums are being used as much as ever.
Gonna have to add the Oakland Coliseum to that list, soon... pains me to say.
Independence Stadium, in Shreveport, Louisiana, is also another useless stadium because it’s known for hosting one bowl game (the Independence Bowl) once a year, but also will a host a big high school football game or two. Other than, it’s completely useless. It hosted a minor league football team in 1999, at the stadium. Very old stadium. Has gone through renovations to be able to keep hosting the Independence Bowl.
“Edward” Jones Dome
This is why arenas are better. You can host hockey, basketball, car shows, rock concerts and many other events. An arena can be occupied more than half a year, and for a quarter the price of a football stadium.
The Edward Jones stadium, really has the difficulty to differentiate itself now that City Park exists. XFL is using it, which is good. But CityPark stadium is so much more modern, and even Busch Stadium and Enterprise Center cannibalize events that could go to Edward Jones. With that being said, XFL did a good job of promoting the stadium in and around St Louis, so there still is life to the stadium but it does need a rehaul to attract other users or make it a generel event space.
Love your videos man.I just was watching the one about Cleveland renovations smh.Progressive Field.I 💯 agree that the restaurant in a long third base,left field line is cool 😎 and they want to put open seating and patio.I mean renovations will be okay,not sure,like you said what they going to do earlier in season when not as many folks don't attend games with all "that open space"is it going to look crappy with low attendance lol.
The Alamodome has been the most useless stadium in America since the day it opened. I remember seeing a documentary about it on ESPN back in the 90s about how useless it was, and that was back when it was still pretty new; and it's situation never changed.
Sadly, there's no volume level other than MUTE that I can listen to this guy's grating voice & syntax . . .
Then why are you here?
The dome in STL has a good amount of life
How about the Cotton Bowl, which is still one of the ten largest stadiums in the US (92k+ capacity) and gets used for what, a couple of neutral site football games a year?
This is why stadiums shouldn't be built specifically for any team. Such a larger expense should have many purposes since they sit empty MOST of the year. Engineers are smart enough to come up with multiple uses including multiple sports, concerts, events, etc.
How is a stadium "useless" when it is currently being used?
when are you gonna rank the mls stadiums ?
Out of all of these stadiums, the Camping World in Orlando stadium is the most viable. I lived in the Orlando area from '94 to '06, and one of my first jobs was working concessions at the '94 world cup. I remember thinking that with a few modifications, it could be an NFL stadium. They do have the Pro Bowl there. It seems to have gotten better, and it could totally be the Jags home while they're renovating the Gator Bowl or whatever. Ballpark at Arlington is really nice, and it's a shame they had to move to a domed stadium but it's understandable.
Can’t believe you didn’t say the Astrodome . It basically rotting away.
3:20 AKA "The Ted".
I’m from San Antonio and you are Wrong regarding the Alamodome. Although San Antonio did not get an NFL team, as you mentioned the Alamodome has been used for several other events and sports.
The Final Four is a huge sports event and the NCAA loves San Antonio. The Alamo Bowl has been a success for years. The dome is also a certain sell out when the National Soccer team of Mexico plays an exhibían in San Antonio. In Boxing JC Chávez vs Pernell Whitaker was the third largest crowd in Boxing history at the time. Canelo Álvarez attracted over 40, 000 for a fight. De La Hoya fought at the Alamodome.
The NBA played an All Star game at the Dome and the Spurs won their first NBA Title playing home games there. The Spurs played all of their home games at the Alamodome during the mid and late 90’s. This was free publicity for San Antonio.
Before the Alamodome San Antonio was a growing city. The success of the Spurs, the Final Fours, the huge Boxing events and the free publicity to the city during the 90’s contributed to the explosion in the growth of the city.
If there was not Alamodome to host those events in San Antonio. The Spurs probably move and San Antonio remains a dusty town in between Dallas or Houston and Mexico. The Alamodome has played a major role in the growth and economy of the city…..
We love football in San Antonio and the Alamodome was originally built for an NFL team. The San Antonio region has the resources to support an NFL franchise.
The Spurs dominate South Texas, and have many fans in Mexico, Austin, and West Texas. That is the NBA though. The same San Antonio fan region is also Dallas Cowboys country and Jerra Jones was not about to risk a potential rival for fans in what is Cowboys territory.
I did say the San Antonio region has the resources to support an NFL franchise
however that does not mean the region would support a new NFL team or any other NFL team not named the Cowboys or Oilers.
The huge loyal Cowboys fan base is not switching over night and a new NFL team or NFL team moving to SA would be tough a sell.
I predict that MLB will land in SA before the NFL, with the present-day Brewers being the likely franchise.
Living here in Hawaii I can tell you one of the biggest problems is getting the funding. Hawaii football left because the decision was made to stop repairing Aloha Stadium and tear it down to build the replacement stadium + entertainment district. Hawaii Football was to play just temporarily at the Athletic complex on campus (which looks like the size of a d2 stadium) while the new one was built. Then COVID happened and as usual the initial budget plan was totally wrong (go look up the Hawaii rail project, it’s laughable). Now we’re stuck because they can’t agree on what the new stadium/entertainment district will look like, and the budget for it continues to get slashes (meaning more things eliminated from the project), meanwhile Hawaii football is forced to play at the grossly small on campus complex. I don’t think it even seats 10,000 there. The sad/funny part…our rail currently still isn’t finished and the spot where it DOES end right now drops people off at Aloha Stadium, where there’s not much of anything lol. The part about Aloha Stadium being multipurpose is true but over the last 20 years it didn’t matter as much because baseball events were held pretty much anywhere except Aloha Stadium. Hawaii has a pretty decent on campus baseball field (Les Murakami Stadium), and Hans L’Orange field seemed to be a favorite place for baseball events (Hawaii Winter Baseball).
As someone who finally got to drive on H3 after the Odyssey-level difficulty in getting it finished, I say finish what you start. For the record, I was completely against the idea of a rail system from the very beginning, but if we *are* going to have one, it should serve some real purpose. Given how our football team _looks_ like a D2 squad sometimes, I can't justify diverting anything toward a stadium unless it's going to have a _lot_ of utility in the offseason.
@@hawaiidkw1 shutting down Aloha Stadium felt like such a trap coming. I just had a feeling the entire thing would go bad, and I was right. And it reached the point couldn’t reverse course because the cost to repair Aloha Stadium was too great too.
The entire new stadium discussion is rapidly being rendered moot by the realignment frenzy in CFB. It looks like UH will be left out in the cold, in most plausible scenarios. As painful as it may be to read, for the locals, it is nearing the time where UH may have to drop football altogether, purely for economic reasons.
You know, you keep using young and old, but I don't think you know what they mean. You described Choctaw Stadium (opened in 1994) as young, but Dome at America Center (opened in 1995) as old, and Turner Field (opened in 1996) as young.
Personally, I think Camping World Stadium would make a good neutral site to host a Super Bowl one year, since Orlando is currently the largest market in the US without an NFL team
No NFL-level infrastructure around it. The Superbowl is all about synergy around the venue, these days. Gotta have something for those fat cats coming in private jets to have for a playground.
Loved the Ballpark in Arlington!!! Beautiful stadium
In addition to hosting the Pro Bowl and the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, Aloha Stadium also know for the Hula Bowl (a college all-star game), and the Aloha Bowl (a college bowl game, played on Christmas Day or sometime close to that). Good times.
Great stuff, Ginger! How 'bout an entire retrospective on Minor league parks past and present?
How'd you miss the Astrodome?
Im in San Antonio and i can say the alamodime seemes to get used a little more than you would expect. They are supposed to do some renovations on it to try and attact a final 4 and perhaps one of the national college 🏈 championship game
At the rate major CFB is going, the Alamodome might be deemed too small for a CFP game, BUT (and it's one that Sir Mixalot would like), it might be the perfect venue for a possible Group of 5 title game, should the B1G and SEC do what many suspect, and break away from the rest of FBS.
That was one helluva sentence.
You could probably make a series of this one. I'd pitch Independence Stadium in Sheveport, LA. Big ole nothing bowl!
Drove past it and immediately googled what it was for lol. Essentially a 60k seat high school stadium
“A victim of the sun” as if designers were unaware of its existence when designed and built lol
More useless stadiums:
FedEx Field (D.C.)
Cotton Bowl Stadium (Dallas)
War Memorial Stadium (Arkansas)
Olympic Stadium (Montreal)
Sleeper - Grayson Stadium (Savannah, GA)
Agreed with Montreal’s Olympic Stadium
If you added arenas you could talk about the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
How did Cotton Bowl stadium not make the list? The only game played there is the annual Red River Rivalry. Hell, even the actual Cotton Bowl game is played at Jerryworld.
1. It was the Edward Jones Dome, not the Edwards Jones Dome. 2. You say it is too old,yet it is the same age as a couple of others that you said were young in stadium years. That said,it sucked even when it was new, so whatever.
Turner Field was not built for baseball either.
Did you do any research for this? The Edward Jones Dome is a year younger than the old Rangers ballpark. Also, it's the Alamo.
I went to plenty of daytime games at The Ballpark in Arlington in July and August and seen big crowds there with me. Unfortunately the players got weak and spoiled and the politicians wanted a new money magnet. Now Arlington has its fancy indoor stadium and higher taxes.I will always miss the Ballpark at Arlington and those hot summer games.
The first 3 are far from useless . The Tacoma dome in Washington state has a similar setup and it makes bank just hosting random events all year
This video just proves that building these stadiums is a colossal waste of money.
I went to that Rangers stadium for an early afternoon game. Got a great deal on seats. Luckily it was a section that was shaded, and I had access to an air-conditioned restaurant. It was only about $45/seat day of the game.
Seeing the "CFL" beside the San Antonio Texans is so crazy to see as a Canadian.
Tropicana Field at Tropicana Hotel: How much will this Vegas ballpark really cost??? How useful will it really be???
I never understood why they didn't build a retractable roof on the ball park in arlington back in 94. That never made any sense to me. It's not like the Rangers hadn't been in Arlington for years prior to building that stadium.
Ice hockey and basketball teams can share arenas. Baseball and Football teams can share stadiums. Other combinations don't work as well.
Ok...re Choctaw (Nee The Ballpark in Arlington; then Ameriquest Field; then Rangers Ballpark in Arlington; THEN Globe Life Park and NOW Choctaw. I used to work there as an usher AND a tour guide. The vid is right, they didn't play day games there in June, July and August...until ESPN required that NO other teams play during Sunday Night Baseball. So then they are playing Sunday day games with 25-30k tickets sold...key word there is SOLD. That includes season tickets and so many people did not bother to show up. The ones that did (if they didn't have seats in the shade - so, the last 8 rows on the lower bowl and those on the first base side plus some that were shaded on the upper deck and even a few on Club level. The rest either poached shady seats or hung out in the bars or sat out on the shady and somewhat cooler concourse. And, now, since we have Sunday day games, other teams (and sometimes the Rangers themselves) would ask for 'getaway days' on Wed/Thurs when one or both teams wanted to arrive at their next city at a reasonable time.
I still got to work there after the Rangers moved. I worked 3 Renegades games until Covid blew that up. After Covid was less of a thing, I worked numerous high school football games-kept me busy during the fall of 2020.
They looked into retro fitting it with either a dome, retractable dome or by extending the upper deck roof (the latter REALLY wouldn't have solved the problem) at a cost of $300-500K. At the time, it was 2x that to build a new stadium with a dome/retractable roof. They REALLY wanted to still have outdoor baseball so the opted for the retractable roof. The next problem was grass. Baseball was meant to be played on grass - until 2020. Scott's had developed a grass that could withstand 5days of nonstop shade. And originally they were going with that. Then an Atlanta based company, Shaw introduced what I call '3rd gen artificial turf'. The original AstroTurf was just rolled out on the ground. 2nd gen stuff (FieldTurf, SportsTurf) had a rubber pad underneath and had rubber pellet 'fill'. Shaw had a much thicker rubber pad (that they spent years perfecting to simulate the ground under grass) and a natural (mostly coconut fiber) fill. So, now the roof can stay closed from June through Aug without needing to recool the place.
Edward Jones. Not Edwards Jones
Thank you. I don't know why that bothered me considering it's not even the name of the dome anymore, but it was just grating on the ear.
This was triggering AF
I moved to Orlando a few years ago and always wondered what camping world was for 😂 there’s some pretty cool concerts there though.
Seams like Rangers ballpark, they could have surrounded the existing structure with a retractable roof building. You would get a "building in a building" may have been cheaper?
As I recall, Turner Field, though built for the Olympics, was designed from the start to convert it to a Baseball stadium after the Olympics.
It wasn't an after thought to convert to baseball.
Aloha Stadium should be the permanent location for the Supper Bowl, end the rotation. Local fans cant really go anyway, its all corporate these days. Rebuild it at make Hawaii the Super Bowl State.
Rangers looked into the possibilty of adding a roof to the ballpark, but concluded it would cost just as much as it would to build a brand new stadium.
Turner Field was always intended to be the new stadium for the Braves. Centennial Olympic Stadium was designed with reconfiguration in mind.
Almost every one of the facilities you deem "useless" in this video is one that, if you asked someone who lived in the area? They'd argue your assessment. Let's review...
Arlington - Admittedly not including a roof was a mistake, and they knew it was a mistake as they were building it. But they did what they could with the public subsidization they could get, from a group of politicians who thought climate change was just God hugging Texas a little tighter than the rest of the country each summer.
Atlanta - It was conceived as a stadium that would host a two-week event (the '96 Olympics) and then immediately be converted to host Braves baseball. It was still quite serviceable in that regard but Braves ownership decided they wanted ancillary revenue streams beyond what the current stadium could provide. So they sold it to Georgia State, which made another wholesale conversion to the facility, this time to facilitate their various outdoor collegiate events. If anything, rather than "rotting" or a "sad situation," it's now hosting more events, and getting better maintenance, than it did during the Braves days.
San Antonio - The Alamodome was admittedly built on spec in hope of luring an NFL franchise, but going into its fourth decade it's still the crown jewel among San Antonio's sports facilities, hosting roughly 150 events a year along with the Alamo Bowl and being among few facilities of its type in which (a) all the debt service is paid off, and (b) the place makes money.
St. Louis - Yeah. That one I'll not argue about. They built the place as part of a commitment to try and land an NFL expansion franchise but got lucky when Georgia Frontiere decided she wanted to move back east, taking the Rams with her. It's not exactly old, but St. Louisians are reluctant to implode facilities that aren't truly old and decrepit (example: The Checkerdome).
Orlando - The former Tangerine Bowl (sorry, but unless a company is paying ME to say their name? I don't say it) is an 87 year old stadium site that has been completely renovated not once, not twice, not three times, but SEVEN times in its history. The most recent overhaul occurred THREE years ago. It's another place that hosts around 150+ events a year and is a centerpiece of the area.
Honolulu - It's coming down. As in, now, as I write this. They held an "Aloha to Aloha" event a few months ago, let the public go through the place, roam the field, even take some seats with them provided they brought their own tools to disconnect them from the concrete. It may not be completely gone yet, but if a place no longer exists, is it useless?
🤷♂
UT Arlington should consider bringing back football. They have a ready to use stadium if they do and they would be in the FCS WAC/Atlantic Sun Alliance so they wouldn't struggle the way they did the last time they had football.
They already have a stadium right on campus. Decent stadium that would be a lot more convenient for the students than driving several miles away
Dude…..UTSA is coming on strong and the fan base is becoming well known. Not useless.
How can you say The Alamodome is useless as it hosts UTSA and almost sells out and is hosting multiple Final Fours? You don't need an NFL or MLB team to be usefully. Camping World in Orlando hosts a ton of events.
Cowboys stadium is a good place to stay safe from tornados as there has never been an instance of a touchdown there.
How about legion field in Birmingham? Thats a great big 72000 seat white elephant right now.
Magic City Classic is making Legion Field useful 🙂
I'm not shedding any tears over the ruination of our old stadium. It served its purpose, It had some good moments, nothing lasts forever. The University of Hawaii has never been within a light year of a football powerhouse... we just don't have those kind of priorities!... so we don't need some big fancy football palace anyway. If anything, what I'd like is a fully weatherproof dome which can seat more than Blaisdell Arena, but ONLY if our tax dollars aren't paying for it. We're strapped enough as it is.
They are probably discussing the unthinkable, behind closed doors at the UH. Like the Universities of Chicago (founding Big Ten member) and the Pacific, we may see UH chose to drop football.
The Alamo Dome HAS hosted the Final Four. They hosted the 2008 FF when KU beat Memphis.😊
Is there a MLB rule that states that there must be day games? Why couldn't the Rangers schedule night games 81 days per season?
They used to. The front office gave up their objection to day games as a ploy to convince the fans to vote for a new stadium.
CenterParc Stadium is NOT sitting and rotting. It has many football games played in it annually.
You make it sound like the Texas climate suddenly got hot in 1994 and took the Rangers by surprise! They used to play at Arlington Stadium and simply played almost all of their games at night. No big deal. The Rangers just got greedy and wanted a more glitzy ballpark with a roof so they'd make more money, and threatened to move if they didn't get it. The taxpayers paid the price. It's ridiculous that the Rangers only used it for 24 years!