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The Stadium Collection
Posted by tgirsch

UPDATED 27 April 2008: Add Kansas City Royals.
UPDATED 20 May 2007: Add Philadelphia Phillies.

I’m a sports fan, and I “collect” stadiums (stadia?). Especially major league baseball, NFL football, and NHL hockey. My goal, before I die, is to see a baseball game in the home stadium of every MLB team. It would be an added bonus if I could do the NHL and NFL venues, but right now, I’m focusing primarily on baseball.

Problem is, I keep forgetting where I’ve been, and losing count. Therefore, mostly for my own reference (and because I expect few others to be interested), I’m posting a list of venues attended below the fold. I’ve ordered them in roughly the order in which I first visited them, to the best of my ability to recall.

However, if you have comments concerning favorite (or least favorite) venues, feel free to leave them.

MLB: (17 venues in 13 cities for 14 home teams [one since moved], 43% complete)

  1. Milwaukee County Stadium, Milwaukee Brewers (Defunct)
  2. New Comiskey Park, Chicago White Sox
  3. Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati Reds (Defunct)
  4. Bank One Ballpark, Arizona Diamondbacks
  5. Olympic Stadium, Montreal (Defunct)
  6. Miller Park, Milwaukee Brewers
  7. Coors Field, Colorado Rockies
  8. Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati Reds
  9. (Old) Busch Stadium, St. Louis Cardinals (Defunct)
  10. Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs
  11. Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay Devil Rays (Shithole)
  12. Ameriquest Field, Texas Rangers
  13. (New) Busch Stadium, St. Louis Cardinals
  14. AT&T Park, San Francisco Giants
  15. McAfee Coliseum, Oakland A’s
  16. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Phillies
  17. Kaufman Stadium, Kansas City, Royals

NHL: (6 venues in 6 cities, 6 home teams, 20% complete)

  1. The Arena, Carolina Hurricanes
  2. United Center, Chicago Blackhawks
  3. Fleet Center, Boston Bruins
  4. Gaylord Entertainment Center, Nashville Predators
  5. Air Canada Centre, Toronto Maple Leafs
  6. HP Pavilion, San Jose Sharks (Playoff game)

NFL: (6 venues in 5 cities, 4 home teams)

  1. Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans Saints (Pre-season)
  2. Milwaukee County Stadium, Green Bay Packers (Defunct)
  3. Tampa Stadium, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Defunct)
  4. Lambeau Field, Green Bay Packers
  5. Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati Bengals (Defunct)
  6. Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati Bengals (Pre-season)

NBA: (1 venue)

  1. Bradley Center, Milwaukee Bucks

IHL/AHL: (2 venues in 2 cities)

  1. Bradley Center, Milwaukee Admirals
  2. Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati Cyclones

PCL: (1 venue)

  1. Autozone Park, Memphis Redbirds

NCAAF Div 1: (1 venue, 0 home teams)

  1. Liberty Bowl (Southern Miss vs. Utah, and Boise State vs. Louisville)

NCAAF Div 3: (1 venue, 1 home team)

  1. Van Male Field, Carroll Pioneers

April 27th, 2008 Sports, I do too have a life, NFL, MLB, NHL | 10 comments

10 Comments »

  1. Kerry Woo writes:

    Very cool list - I use to coordinate stadium and arena events for Promise Keepers, so I got to see the underbellies of stadiums and arenas.
    I’ve been to Neyland Stadium back in 1997, but have never seen a UT game.
    My son & I are striving to see every NFL game/city.
    My favorites? Bank One Ballpark & Gaylord Entertainment Center.
    One that I like to visit: The Arizona Cardinals new stadium.

    Comment 9/27/2006

  2. wkmaier writes:

    Just a quick note about the NHL list: the Devils will be playing in a new arena next season, in Newark. It will be an amazing facility, but rumors are it will be sold out for the entire season. (insert joke here)

    Anyway, it will be MUCH MUCH easier to get to than the Meadowlands Arena, FYI. And don’t be afraid of Newark.

    Comment 5/8/2007

  3. Kevin writes:

    NEW Comisky isn’t defunct …

    Comment 5/8/2007

  4. tgirsch writes:

    Sure it is. They have something called “US Cellular” now. :)

    [Seriously, though, corrected.]

    Comment 5/8/2007

  5. Kevin writes:

    “They have something called “US Cellular” now.”

    You will never speak those words again :)

    Comment 5/8/2007

  6. Jeff writes:

    I can’t believe my eyes. Virtually zero Brewers blogging on LL … 6 straight wins … best record in MLB … the hottest team in baseball … and LL has nothing? Shame!

    Comment 5/9/2007

  7. tgirsch writes:

    I don’t want to jinx it! :)

    Comment 5/9/2007

  8. Jeff writes:

    Jinx?

    C’mon! Sagan followers don’t believe in jinxes. That is pseudoscience at best and baloney at worst! ;-)

    I think a post on a lifelong Brewers fan struggling with the success of the Brewers would make a compelling human interest story.

    Take a break from bashing evangelical Christian republican conservatives and give us your thoughts on how to cope with the fear of the Brewers success. :-)

    Comment 5/10/2007

  9. Steve Speir writes:

    Arrowhead Stadium in K.C. and Kaufman are hard to beat. And Yankee Stadium is unsurpassed.

    Also….is anyone else turned off by the increasingly of loud, numbing rock music between at bats and after each inning. The endless attempts to appeal to younger fans is ridiculous. This would not have appealed to me when I was 20 and running a record store. It is just annoying and greatly detracts from the game. St. Louis Cardinals are the worst offenders from what I have seen. N.Y. Mets are close behind. But the Cardinals will never see me again unless someone gives me a free ticket. Just blasting crap over and over. Isn’t enough just to have the best player in baseball (Pujois) to attract fans? Thank heavens Fenway and and Yankee Stadium limit the amount of loud droning music. It certainly doesn’t hurt the attendance of these two great franchises.

    Wonder how long the Astros will keep the annoying “Crawford boxes” in leftfield now that little Georgie has proved to be the worst President in American history? Since the Astros owner is a big Repub and religious fanatic he will probably never change. He is probably already planning a Falwell pavillion.

    Comment 5/20/2007

  10. digglahhh writes:

    The history of Yankee Stadium is great, but the place is an utter dump. I know it’s blasphemous to say that, but having been there countless times, and being completely secure in my baseball historian credentials, I feel comfortable calling out the elephant in the room. It’s the only stadium that has no open air on the concourse whatsoever - terrible for smokers. I fully appreciate the significance of the stadium, but in all honesty, being able to tell you who all the retired numbers represent, and knowing that Melky is combing the same CF as Dimaggio (well, 75% of it, [and then 75% of that], anyway) doesn’t actually increase my enjoyment of the game at hand. Once the novelty wears off, it’s just a dumpy stadium.

    Will Leitch, editor of Deadspin has a hilarious article in his book, God Save the Fan cataloging a typical journey to Yankee Stadium.

    I wish I could say better about Shea. The Mets are close to my heart, and the stadium close to my house. During the summers of my teenage years, Shea was like a second home for me - and it was kept just as clean as my room… Shea is a dump too, the seating arrangement at Yankee Stadium is steeper, so in the upper seats, you’re closer to the field at YS, than at Shea. If New Busch is worse than Shea when it comes to blaring music and gimmicky scoreboard nonsense, that is an accomplishment. The irony is that St. Louis and NY are known as two of the premier, pure baseball cities in the country.

    Comment 4/28/2008

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