Football stadiums and stands - the good and the bad...

inforfun

brinty wrote: »

Believe its Royal Antwerps new stadium...

Yep, it is
AKA De Bosuil

Jelle1880

Sorry, should have made that clear probably.

Used to hold 60.000+ and host Belgium - The Netherlands games.

Ulysses Gaze

Third_Echelon wrote: »

There are some good urban exploration videos on YouTube of the Pontiac Silverdome. Place is in absolute bits! Such a shame to see it left to ruin like that!

I read online that the city of Pontiac turned down an offer of $20 million for the Silverdome once the Lions moved to Ford Field. They then sold it at auction for $500k a few years later.

I saw a plan where they were going to build a two storey mixed use venue.On the top storey, a 30k soccer stadium for an MLS franchise.Underneath, a concert hall.

Now it will be demolished.

In terms of US College Football Stadiums I'd like to visit?

The Big House!

brinty

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

I read online that the city of Pontiac turned down an offer of $20 million for the Silverdome once the Lions moved to Ford Field. They then sold it at auction for $500k a few years later.

I saw a plan where they were going to build a two storey mixed use venue.On the top storey, a 30k soccer stadium for an MLS franchise.Underneath, a concert hall.

Now it will be demolished.

In terms of US College Football Stadiums I'd like to visit?

The Big House!

I'm going to the Darrell K royal stadium next week for Texas longhorns v Oklahoma state cowboys then onto Dallas to visit the Dallas cowboys stadium

Third_Echelon

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

I read online that the city of Pontiac turned down an offer of $20 million for the Silverdome once the Lions moved to Ford Field. They then sold it at auction for $500k a few years later.

I saw a plan where they were going to build a two storey mixed use venue.On the top storey, a 30k soccer stadium for an MLS franchise.Underneath, a concert hall.

Now it will be demolished.

Yeah I read those plans too. Looked like a cool idea!

Ulysses Gaze

brinty wrote: »

I'm going to the Darrell K royal stadium next week for Texas longhorns v Oklahoma state cowboys then onto Dallas to visit the Dallas cowboys stadium

The Longhorns would be great to see at Darrell K. Royal.

Also LSUs stadium, Death Valley, is meant to be the loudest, most intimidating atmosphere in the SEC. And in College Football.

Lucas Hood

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

I read online that the city of Pontiac turned down an offer of $20 million for the Silverdome once the Lions moved to Ford Field. They then sold it at auction for $500k a few years later.

I saw a plan where they were going to build a two storey mixed use venue.On the top storey, a 30k soccer stadium for an MLS franchise.Underneath, a concert hall.

Now it will be demolished.

In terms of US College Football Stadiums I'd like to visit?

The Big House!

Vw still have 9000 cars parked in the Silverdome car park after the were returned after the emissions scandal a few years back.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

One from the past I always liked, Charlton's the Valley once held over 75,000 and was one of the largest grounds in Britain, and they even managed to fill it between the wars. A dug out quarry with massive terracing and 2 small stands...



Some of the terracing survived into recent decades. The pic below gives an idea of how big it once was.

Jelle1880

I love those massive terraces from ages ago. Villa's Holte End decades ago was equally impressive.



Or Sheffield Wednesday:

inforfun

When full, those stands are fantastic. But there isnt any sight more depressing then 500 people occupying such a huge stand.

I think only the old Sparta stadium had anything coming close to that in The Netherlands, with the old Schietribune:



But after people started to stay away there, not for a small part thanks to a change of population in the area where the stadium is, that stand was more an eyesore than anything else during matches:



And then a storm came and took half the roof and it was never rebuilt.
Scaled down to a 12500 seat stadium with a plastic pitch and only the main entrance reminds to the history of the oldest professional club in The Netherlands.

Jelle1880

Our stadium (posted earlier) also had that back in the day, when Belgium - The Netherlands games were played there every year, or Antwerp - Real Madrid.



But yeah, after it becomes a crumbled mess and with less people showing up it's depressing as hell,

Shedite27

Jelle1880 wrote: »

But yeah, after it becomes a crumbled mess and with less people showing up it's depressing as hell,

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

BonnieSituation

Yup. Shopping Centre end.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Jelle1880

Shedite27 wrote: »

I actually quite like that

Stade Joseph Marien in Brussels still has a very old terrace like that, which is still in use (well sort of, they relocated to the national stadium for a while until renovations in their home ground are done).



Decades ago the dressing room was up that hill to the right, players then had to walk down between the fans through the forest to the pitch :pac:

inforfun

Was that on the "Bring your own zimmer frame to the stadium"- day?

Jelle1880

Almost finished... :cool:

inforfun

https://twitter.com/ajc/status/932678261791969288/video/1

So you are setting up to broadcast the demolition of a stadium....

BonnieSituation

CAme across this slideshow on Getty. Should interest some here.

http://www.gettyimages.ie/album/and-the-crowd-goes-quiet-abandoned-sports-venues--RVqFifyzUUC_LLyYWS8Drg#english-football-the-valley-lies-derelict-after-charlton-athletic-picture-id184058786

dan1895

BonnieSituation wrote: »

CAme across this slideshow on Getty. Should interest some here.

http://www.gettyimages.ie/album/and-the-crowd-goes-quiet-abandoned-sports-venues--RVqFifyzUUC_LLyYWS8Drg#english-football-the-valley-lies-derelict-after-charlton-athletic-picture-id184058786

Shocking the amount of stuff there built this century.

inforfun

From that gettyimages link.

This one is in use again. Vitesse had their training camp there last summer

https://twitter.com/MijnVitesse/status/887715957615022081

Lucas Hood

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-42216297/pontiac-silverdome-stadium-fails-to-implode-in-detroit

Silverdome fails to implode.

Collie D

Lucas Hood wrote: »

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-42216297/pontiac-silverdome-stadium-fails-to-implode-in-detroit

Silverdome fails to implode.

Wouldn't fancy being the one to go in and reset the charges.

salmocab

Lucas Hood wrote: »

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-42216297/pontiac-silverdome-stadium-fails-to-implode-in-detroit

Silverdome fails to implode.

Hilarious it actually looked like nothing had happened at all

inforfun

Feyenoord stadium in the snow today.

BonnieSituation

That's stunning

inforfun

Same stadium, different extreme weather

https://twitter.com/fr12nl/status/883082663258726402


This was nice too.
1st match Tonny Vilhena (nr 10) played after his mom passed away

inforfun

Last one

For now....

Fitz*

Real Socidead have completed their stadium redevelopment and it looks so much better now that they have removed the running track. They added around 10,000 seats also.

SEANoftheDEAD

Spain must be nearly ready to host a World Cup. Big stadium upgrades happening over there in recent years.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

SEANoftheDEAD wrote: »

Spain must be nearly ready to host a World Cup. Big stadium upgrades happening over there in recent years.

Maybe a Euros would be better?

I'm glad Ireland gets to host some games for the upcoming competition. But having it so spread out will certainly take away some of that special feeling surrounding a tournament held in the one area. Seeing a sea of whatever country's supporters all in the one country is fantastic. Especially since hooliganism has been dealt with so well over the past 20+ years.

*Qatar will be terrible but for different reasons.

Cookiemunster

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

Maybe a Euros would be better?

I'm glad Ireland gets to host some games for the upcoming competition. But having it so spread out will certainly take away some of that special feeling surrounding a tournament held in the one area. Seeing a sea of whatever country's supporters all in the one country is fantastic. Especially since hooliganism has been dealt with so well over the past 20+ years.

*Qatar will be terrible but for different reasons.

Running street battles in France during the Euros. England fans baton charged in Portugal during the summer. It's rarer than it was 20 years ago, but it's happening more often again in recent years.

Zebra3

FitzShane wrote: »

Real Socidead have completed their stadium redevelopment and it looks so much better now that they have removed the running track. They added around 10,000 seats also.

According to Wiki, the redevelopment cost just €47M!!

NIMAN

That's a great job Sociedad made.

Running tracks, making football stadia soulless since ...... always.

Pauliedragon

SEANoftheDEAD wrote: »

Spain must be nearly ready to host a World Cup. Big stadium upgrades happening over there in recent years.

The days of one country hosting I'd say are over. Spain France could prob do it. Morocco have been after it for ages so Spain and Morocco maybe.

Hulk Hands

Socidead stadium is making the best of a bad situation. Still doesn't make it a good stadium though. The problem is that most of the seats are in the same position, still miles from the pitch, especially in the 'upper' tier, although the stadium is essentially just one big tier around. The upper needs to be as close to above the lower as possible to work properly in any stadium. Fans in the upper will have the same experience as before, bar a few fans are now seated where the running track is, improving atmosphere slightly. It's the same in West Ham's stadium, even if they did eventually sort the running track, the structure still means seats being ridiculously far from the pitch at a poor angle.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

Pity Ireland couldn't get to co host the Rugby World Cup. South Africa won the right to host it over us. But it is a really rough place. The thought of getting the GAA stadiums around the country up to a certain standard would have been great for us.

I think a Rugby World Cup would work out just fine with our stadiums. But what can you do?

Fr Tod Umptious

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

Pity Ireland couldn't get to co host the Rugby World Cup. South Africa won the right to host it over us. But it is a really rough place. The thought of getting the GAA stadiums around the country up to a certain standard would have been great for us.

I think a Rugby World Cup would work out just fine with our stadiums. But what can you do?

Thanks be to God they did not get it.
And it was France that ended up winning the bid in the end by the way.

GAA stadiums are fine for what they are used for.
Places like Castlebar or Killarney get filled once or twice a year at most on big championship days, other than that they are half empty for county championship matches.

There are already too many GAA vanity projects out there, we did not need to waste collosal public money on turning them into complete white elephants.

And that's coming from a GAA fan.

irishguitarlad

SEANoftheDEAD wrote: »

Spain must be nearly ready to host a World Cup. Big stadium upgrades happening over there in recent years.

They are going to do a joint bid with Portugal for the 2030 World Cup.

topmanamillion

irishguitarlad wrote: »

They are going to do a joint bid with Portugal for the 2030 World Cup.

It'd be a phenemonal World Cup.
There'll surely be a redeveloped 100,000 seater Camp Nou and a redeveloped 80,000 seater Bernabeau at that stage.

Backed up by quality 50,000+ seater stadia like the Estadio da Luz, Estadio Jose Alvalade, Estadio do Dragao, Metropolitano Stadium, plus the Nou Mestalla due to open next year.
Spread across great football mad cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia Lisbon and Porto. All easily accessible from Dublin.

FIFA will owe us this one after that sh1t show in Qatar.

NIMAN

Great memories of being in Germany too.

Tournaments are better when hosted by proper footballing nations with the correct pedigree and stadia.

NIMAN

NIMAN wrote: »

Great memories of being in Germany too.

Tournaments are better when hosted by proper footballing nations with the correct pedigree and stadia.

In football, you can hardly get more "correct pedigree" than Brazil!

Strumms

Stade De France - due to living in Paris and having connections to the city that have often given me reasons to return I’ve probably been in this stadium 15 times and never get sick of it. Every seat has a stunning view, even the cheapest, easy enough to procure drinks, get to a bathroom and from final whistle to getting a train about 25 minutes thanks to the station by the stadium.

San Siro - only there the once but impressed by the enormity and how actually steep the stands are. Up top is nosebleed dot com. Great atmosphere and sound though.

Old Trafford - good seats are great seats and you can get pretty close to the pitch and the action but the top tiers in any of the stands are uncomfortable, lacking in atmosphere and a bit of a waste of time unlike in Milan..

Stadium of Light - brilliant, nice atmosphere, great views, we had a corporate box though but the grub, service and friendliness was top notch, people there were superb. Absolute big fûck off fridge with complementary beers and wine but if you wanted draught you rang a bell and you could get it, comp again.

~Rebel~

sugarman wrote: »

Yeah being in Germany during the 2006 World Cup was class, even without us being there it was a great experience. Extremely well organised with top notch facilities in great cities, with great fans and great beer ...and very accessable. I'd expect similar with Spain.

Was in Austria for the 2008 Euros, and that was brilliant too - still can't get over the organisation! I was close to Innsbruck in Neustift (where Spain were based), and expected the whole bus network down to the city to be crammed and chaotic around matches, but everything still ran perfectly on time despite the whole region being full of fans. Fan zones were brilliant craic, fantastic atmosphere around the place. Everything just top notch.

irishguitarlad

topmanamillion wrote: »

It'd be a phenemonal World Cup.
There'll surely be a redeveloped 100,000 seater Camp Nou and a redeveloped 80,000 seater Bernabeau at that stage.

Backed up by quality 50,000+ seater stadia like the Estadio da Luz, Estadio Jose Alvalade, Estadio do Dragao, Metropolitano Stadium, plus the Nou Mestalla due to open next year.
Spread across great football mad cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia Lisbon and Porto. All easily accessible from Dublin.

FIFA will owe us this one after that sh1t show in Qatar.

Don't forget the Villamarín;-) 58,000.

NIMAN

Deleted User wrote: »

In football, you can hardly get more "correct pedigree" than Brazil!

But not as easy re: travelling to. For us anyway!

Let's be honest, Europe is the spot for hosting a tournament. I travelled to Euro96 and WC2006, but wouldn't ever have considered travelling to Brazil or South Africa.

Cookiemunster

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Socidead stadium is making the best of a bad situation. Still doesn't make it a good stadium though. The problem is that most of the seats are in the same position, still miles from the pitch, especially in the 'upper' tier, although the stadium is essentially just one big tier around. The upper needs to be as close to above the lower as possible to work properly in any stadium. Fans in the upper will have the same experience as before, bar a few fans are now seated where the running track is, improving atmosphere slightly. It's the same in West Ham's stadium, even if they did eventually sort the running track, the structure still means seats being ridiculously far from the pitch at a poor angle.

Bit of an over exaggeration there. Most of the seats are not in the same position. The whole lower tier and everything behind the goals was demolished and rebuilt with the pitch lowered by 2m. The upper tiers on either side of the pitch are the only original parts of the stadium left, but it's not a huge stadium so they're not ridiculously far from the pitch.

NIMAN

Love that the seats still have the wrappers on.