Stadium

HISTORY

The word stadium is a Latinized form of the Greek 'stade,' a distance roughly equal to 600 feet (180 meters). The course for the only foot race at the ancient Olympic Games was exactly one stade long. Gradually the name for the measure was transferred to the place where the event occurred.

The oldest known stadium is the one in Olympia, in the western Peloponnese, Greece, where the Olympic Games of antiquity were held from 776 BC.

In the 17th century, the word stadium began to be used in English for the arena itself.

In ancient Greece a hippodrome (literally, a horse run) was a stadium designed for horse racing and chariot racing. It was a U-shaped arena with seats on higher ground around it.

In Rome the hippodrome was named the Circus (circle) Maximus. It was one of the biggest sports arenas ever constructed, and its outlines can still be seen today. It, too, was a U-shaped structure with seats on three sides.

When built in the 1st century BC, the Circus Maximus had a seating capacity of 150,000. It was enlarged during the 4th century AD by Constantine to a capacity of 250,000 - as large as any stadium built since.

One of the largest hippodromes in the ancient world was in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). It was completed in AD 330 with a capacity of around 100,000.

The worst sports disaster took place in 29 AD in a cheaply built wooden amphitheater constructed by an entrepreneur named Atilius, which was located in Fidenae, 8 miles north of Rome. It collapsed during a crowded gladiator game and killed at least 20,000 people out of an audience of 50,000. The Roman Senate responded by requiring that future stadiums be inspected and certified. 

The world's first purpose-built boxing stadium, Figg's Amphitheatre, was constructed just north of Oxford Street in London in 1719. Its creator was bare knuckle fighter and English champion James Figg.

No significant modern stadium was built from Roman times until 1896. Then, to correspond with the revival of the Olympic Games, a new one was built in Athens, Greece, on the site of an ancient arena. It had a seating capacity of 66,000.

Other arenas built during the 19th century were mostly in Spain or Mexico for bullfighting.

Nearly every country that has hosted the Olympic Games has erected at least one stadium for the event. The first modern stadium built for a full range of Olympic events was constructed in London in 1908. The spectator stands were partly roofed, and there were seats for more than 50,000 people.

Labatt Park is a baseball stadium in London, Ontario, Canada. It is widely recognized as the oldest continually operating baseball grounds in the world. The stadium was opened on May 3, 1877, and has been used for baseball ever since. It is currently home to the London Majors of the Intercounty Baseball League.

Labatt Park is a beautiful and historic stadium. It has a classic wooden grandstand and a natural grass field. The stadium is located in the heart of London, and it is a popular destination for baseball fans.

Old Trafford, a football stadium in Greater Manchester, England, hosted its first match between Manchester United FC and Liverpool FC on February 19, 1910. Manchester United lost by one goal, with the final score standing at 3-4 to Liverpool.

The Stretford End before its redevelopment in the early 1990s

Increasingly larger crowds for American college and professional football inspired a new stadium design--the elliptical bowl. This design was simply a modification of the old U-shape -it was U-shaped at both ends. The first stadium of this kind was the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut, completed in 1914.

Wembley Stadium, one of the most famous football stadiums in the world, was built in Wembley in north-east London in 1923. The stadium was demolished from 2002–2003 and re-opened in 2007. It now has a capacity of 90,000 and is used for a wide range of other occasions, such a pop concerts.

The first baseball game to be played at Yankee Stadium in the Concourse neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City was on April 18, 1923. The game was between New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox 4-1 with over 74,000 fans attending.

Babe Ruth, who had recently been traded to the Yankees from the Red Sox, hit the first home run in the stadium's history during this game. The Yankees won the game 4-1, and the stadium went on to become one of the most iconic and storied sports venues in the world.

Yankee Stadium was the home of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973, and then again from 1976 to 2008, before the team moved to a new Yankee Stadium located across the street from the old one. The original Yankee Stadium was demolished in 2010.

Aerial view in August 2002. By Severin St. Martin 

Thomas Edison hoped to make furniture, refrigerators, and pianos using the concrete he had developed but it was instead used to make the Yankee Stadium.

The Yankee Stadium was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees, one of the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises, from 1923 to 1973 and then from 1976 to 2008. A new arena, built in public parkland adjacent to the stadium, opened in 2009, adopting the "Yankee Stadium" moniker.

The Strahov Stadium in Prague was finished in 1934 for a gymnastics exhibition. When it was an active sports venue, it had a capacity of around 250,000, making it the largest stadium in the world.

Hampden Park in Glasgow was first opened on October 31, 1903. Hampden was the biggest stadium in the world when it was opened, with a capacity in excess of 100,000. This was increased further between 1927 and 1937, reaching a peak of 150,000. The record attendance of 149,415 spectators, for a Scotland v England match in 1937, is the European record for an international football match. Its capacity is now 52,000.

Honduras and Morocco in the 2012 Olympics, played at Hampden. by Daniel from Melrose, 

Tokyo was to host the Olympics in 1940. They wanted a wooden stadium as metal was needed for the war in Manchuria.

The largest crowd ever in sporting history was for the 1950 World Cup Final. 199,854 fans watched the Uruguay defeat Brazil 2-1 in the World Cup soccer finals at Rio de Janeiro's Estádio do Maracanã stadium on July 16, 1950.

Opening game of the Maracanã Stadium, shortly before the 1950 World Cup.

Barcelona's Camp Nou, currently the largest stadium in Europe with a seating capacity of 99,354, opened in 1957.

The world's first retractable-dome stadium, the Civic Arena, opened in Pittsburgh in 1961.

The Beatles played to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City in 1965, an event later regarded as the birth of stadium rock.

The Houston Astrodome located at 8400 Kirby Drive, Houston, Texas, opened on April 9, 1965. It had a seating capacity of 66,000 - more than triple that of a large indoor arena. In the sense that it was built for baseball and football - games previously played outdoors - it was the first weather-free stadium in the world. Spectators at the Astrodome were completely protected from weather by a dome of plastic panes with a span of 642 feet (196 meters) rising to 208 feet (63 meters) above the playing field. The interior was climate-controlled at 74 degrees F (23 degrees C).

Houston Astrodome stadium in 1999 By (Bill and Mavis) - B&M Photography

The Astrodome was declared non-compliant with fire code by the Houston Fire Department in 2008 and parts of it were demolished in 2013 after several years of disuse. In 2014 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

FUN STADIUM FACTS

The Dallas Cowboys stadium uses more electricity than all of Liberia.

The Minnesota Vikings' new stadium cost more than a NASA mission to Pluto.

The Rungrado 1st of May Stadium was completed on May 1, 1989 in North Korea capital Pyongyang with a capacity said to be 150,000. It was the world's largest sports stadium until a 2014 remodel which included the replacement of some bench seating with individual seats, reduced its capacity to approximately 114,000.

Sheffield's Bramall Lane stadium, built in 1855, is the oldest in continuous use in the world.

The Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, north Wales has hosted more Wales home international matches than any other stadium. It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home international match in 1877. 

Within 6 months of the 2016 Rio Olympics; the Maracana Stadium was abandoned, had its power cut off, was invaded by worms and was missing nearly 10% of the stadium's 78,000 seats.

Ireland’s biggest stadium, Croke Park in Dublin, uses Harris hawks to control the skies so seagulls won’t enter the stadium during the matches or after the clean up.

The Estádio Milton Corrêa is a multi-purpose stadium located in Macapá, Brazil. Its midfield line is supposedly located exactly on the equator making each team defend one hemisphere.

Sources Daily Express, Compton's Encyclopedia, Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999