jray21 Posted December 18, 2018 Share Posted December 18, 2018 Great report of my home stadium! I have so many memories from that stadium. It was such an awesome stadium back in the heyday of the A's. Mount Davis was such a terrible addition, and such a waste. I'm really looking forward to a new stadium for the A's, if they can ever figure one out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted December 19, 2018 Author Share Posted December 19, 2018 Great report of my home stadium! I have so many memories from that stadium. It was such an awesome stadium back in the heyday of the A's. Mount Davis was such a terrible addition, and such a waste. I'm really looking forward to a new stadium for the A's, if they can ever figure one out. If it happens, the art for the stadium looks real cool. And they'd redevelop the site of the coliseum, keeping the baseball diamond as a public park while re-purposing Oracle Arena into a concert only venue (like the Forum in LA). Where they get the cash for that and overcome the crappy infrastructure (bad location for traffic & BART station about a mile away) of the Howard Terminal site I do not know... I hope this is all not just a ploy to say "see, we tried" and ship the team off to a city desperate for a team like Montreal. There's even rumors of a private company buying the Rio in Vegas for an MLB stadium... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 Great photos. That place always seemed like the biggest shithole in sports ever since the Vet closed down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted December 19, 2018 Author Share Posted December 19, 2018 (edited) Great photos. That place always seemed like the biggest shithole in sports ever since the Vet closed down. Never made it to the vet, so my only other experience with multi purpose stadiums was San Diego. Went to one baseball game there as a kid and multiple Holiday Bowls...I will be glad when that era of stadiums officially ends. Though cities did have the right idea back then, only getting ripped off once by pro teams instead of multiple times. Side note: San Diego deserves a team. Great city. We don't want the Chargers here anyways. Oakland will be paying $25 mil/year for "Mt. Davis" until 2025. You will be paying for the Raiders stadium anytime you visit Vegas in the form of increased hotel tax, and Vegas is banking on there not being a recession so they collect enough cash from that to service the $645 million in bonds they issued... Edited December 19, 2018 by Jew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 It's absolutely amazing to me that cities are so willing to fork over money for stadiums and that they continue to fall for the "just increase the hotel taxes so it's paid for by tourists and not locals" line. It's honestly refreshing when cities tell sports teams to piss off but those instances are few and far between. On that note: Keep up the good work, Anaheim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 It's absolutely amazing to me that cities are so willing to fork over money for stadiums and that they continue to fall for the "just increase the hotel taxes so it's paid for by tourists and not locals" line. It's honestly refreshing when cities tell sports teams to piss off but those instances are few and far between. On that note: Keep up the good work, Anaheim. I don’t believe cities should contribute anything more than un-used land, a quick permitting process, and perhaps a reasonable tax break. When cities get into the business of owning the stadium and renting back to a teamor issuing a large amount of bonds, they always lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted March 19, 2019 Author Share Posted March 19, 2019 (edited) It’s alive! Starting my coaster/sports travels in 2019 with Amalie arena in Tampa bay. It just so happened that the kings (lose for Hughes!!!) were in town on my days off from work, so why not an Orlando weekend? Definitely a nice hockey building. In the heart of the city, but easy and cheap parking. Concourse inside was wide with plenty of tables for food... He was good at hockey and bringing hockey to Tampa bay. One knock on the building: beer prices are insane. I thought dodger stadium was bad, and this matches them. Bar in Lexus club. Very bare, but all included! This one is on the event level (Lexus club.). Beer was Heineken and cocktails well quality booze, but still worth the price. Obligatory exterior shot I never got a good photo of it in action, but the building has two telsa coils as part of intermission show package It’s also obligatory that NHL teams have some sort of lighting package for intermissions ending. They have a large courtyard outside for pregame festivities and sponsor activations. What I loved is they opened up their team office lobby to have somewhere inside to wait for doors in the Florida heat. Also had a trophy case that displayed the “team sized” (mini) versions of all the teams awards. They have fared much better than my kings had as an expansion team ...you have accesss to two clubs that offer all you can eat and drink (booze included). This one is the chase club. My seats were not terrible. A bargain at $200 because... Fantastic scoreboard. I like this style more than the round ones. Giant too. That also had charging stations. Should be a requirement in all sports venues at this point. One other thing I enjoyed is having the organist be a feature of the arena with a deck fans can hang out on. Edited March 19, 2019 by Jew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 I've always been impressed with Amelie when I've been for concerts,wrestling, basketball and other events but have never been to a Hockey Game there. I'll have to get to a hockey game there sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 I've always been impressed with Amelie when I've been for concerts,wrestling, basketball and other events but have never been to a Hockey Game there. I'll have to get to a hockey game there sometime. Splurge on those glass seats! Totally worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted December 21, 2019 Author Share Posted December 21, 2019 (edited) Bringing this back from the dead! In April I visited the new comiskey park and hung out with Zach. The stadium is very bland and was devoid of energy since the white sox suck, but it had a great view of the city. The exterior was trying to go for that "classic, but modern" look that was all the rage in the 90s stadiium building spree. Second favorite part of stadium: looks like they took an underutilized club space and opened it up to everyone as the Revolution Brewery club. Good food and beer. And covered seating on a first come first serve basis was great since it rained! As a Dodger fan, this statue makes me mad. But it's par for the course for the Dodgers to give up on eventually Hall of Fame talent...Adrian Beltre, Pedro Martinez, Paul Konerko... Outside there was a monument to the great moments in their history Good beer selection too One of the highlights is the great view of the Chicago skyline from the top deck And the parking lot where the former Comiskey Park stood notes its former location with the infield as part of the pavement. New for last season was this Goose Island bar and section. Loved the train car theme. Obligatory overview photo For most of you, public transportation to your local stadium is normal. For me in LA, it's not. So I appreciated having the train be able to take me from my airpot hotel, to the stadium, and then on to my airbnb in Wrigleyville with ease. As part of the Goose Island sponsorship, they added this premium section. Probably the most unique thing about the stadium. Obligatory concourse photo. Can't tell it apart from any others. Edited December 21, 2019 by Jew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted April 25, 2020 Author Share Posted April 25, 2020 Since sports are currently on hiatus, I figured I’d catch up with The one TR I didn’t do from last season yet:Wrigley Field. It definitely lives up to the hype. We went for opening day and the energy was incredible. The area around the stadium (Wrigleyville) is nothing but bars and restaurants too, with the streets shutting down for game day. Amenity wise it’s pretty bare ones given the stadium is so old, but the atmosphere is great. The famous manual scoreboard The famous rooftop bleachers The famous entry sign As you can imagine, concourse was cramped. But the recent renovations made for plenty of food and drink options to keep lines short The famous bleachers View from our seats The famous press box where special guests sing take me out to the ballgame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan the Coaster Man Posted June 30, 2020 Share Posted June 30, 2020 This is a pretty nice thread. Similarly, I like seeing stadiums and experiencing games, even if I do not see my favorite team playing. Of the experiences on this thread, I have been to Camelback Ranch, Fenway Park, Chase Field, Guaranteed Rate and Wrigley. As a Chicagoan and White Sox fan, Camelback might be better than GR. Nothing is inherently bad about GR, but it is extremely plain and there is not much of an atmosphere. At least it is cheap. Fenway is awesome and my favorite baseball stadium, but Chase was cool too. Every MLB stadium is "cool" after going to GR my whole life. Some of my favorites I have been to are Allen Fieldhouse for the atmosphere, Fiserv Forum for the physical stadium, and Fenway for an overall experience. PNC Park is on the top of my bucket list right now, and I want to start going to some CFB games with rowdy fans (PSU whiteout, FSU, LSU, UGA) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted May 15, 2021 Author Share Posted May 15, 2021 Sports took a year off with fans, but now it’s back! And so is this thread! First up, the braves new stadium, Truist park. It’s about 10ish miles outside the downtown area in the middle of a business complex, but they built a nice “citywalk” style place outside to give fans and locals more reason to visit. It’s not going to be memorable as a classic stadium, but it does pack all the modern amenities in to make for a nice experience. a staple of every stadium is statues honoring their teams great players. Atlanta is no exception. Probably the coolest thing in the stadium is they did a version of “monument park” inside the concourse featuring all the teams greats and showcasing the teams history terrapin has a brewery on site as part of the shopping center where they brew some beers exclusive to the stadium. With covid protocols, only this stand was open and not the whole restaurant inside every modern stadium also needs a kids play area. This one had a whole midway of carnival games and even a small zip line ride. every seat on the lower level had mesh (much needed for summer heat) and a club to go to to purchase food and drink. My seats had the chipper jokes club, which due to covid just functioned as a normal snack stand and not full club menu. ...but the concourse did have a 2ft burrito for sale, so naturally I had that. Barely finished it. some overview shots. Definitely a nice place to catch a game, but not a place that will be remembered as an all time great stadium. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted September 3, 2021 Author Share Posted September 3, 2021 next up on the “check out baseball during the pandemic tour” was T-mobile park. Dodgers were in town for a day game and I work graveyard, so timing worked out perfect to hop on a flight and make it back on time. Like so many other stadiums, you can get from airport to stadium with ease on public transportation (looking at you Dodgers and Angels…) it’s conveniently located right next to the football stadium as well. T-mobile has the traditional faux modern brick rotunda entrance from the street and a giant retractable roof that is built over train tracks on the backside. obligatory overview. Great view from the top with the football stadium and downtown skyline so much of the stadium was closed (I went in April), I didn’t get to really explore like I normally would…but I found good beer and ding tai fung, so all is still well! just in case you wondered how they enforced social distancing ticket pods when that was a thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan the Coaster Man Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 Cool pics! The outdoor Seattle parks look awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted February 18, 2022 Author Share Posted February 18, 2022 Resurrecting this thread because there was a football game this past Sunday! If you weren’t aware, the NFL completely takes over a stadium before the game and transforms it. Amongst the other changes is moving the entrance gates out into the parking lots and filling the parking lots up with mostly very expensive paid tailgates and a free one with some music acts. They also add their own graphics package to the entire stadium. Barely any of the stadiums existing signage remains for the event. They also have to build temporary broadcast booths to accommodate all the broadcasts throughout the world. the flyover doesn’t really work when the stadium has a giant roof over it (but it’s still open air at the ends), but here it was from the outside! the iPhone wide angle lens takes my favorite photos of the stadium! Photo of the setting up of the halftime show. It’s definitely a made for TV production since the buildings were only open on one side. I watched from the scoreboard. The rams lining up for the winning play! Rams win! They are the first team in history to host the conference title game and super bowl in the same season and second team in a row to win at their home stadium after having that never happen prior to the Bucs last season. …and the Fans storm the field to celebrate! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 Great pictures man, were you working the event? Either way pretty awesome to get to attend a super bowl. Sofi looks incredible, would love to make it out there for a game one of these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan the Coaster Man Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 looks awesome! My uncle was there, while my other uncle was throwing beers on the 16th hole green at the TPC... jealous to say the least Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted February 19, 2022 Author Share Posted February 19, 2022 13 hours ago, Hilltopper39 said: Great pictures man, were you working the event? Either way pretty awesome to get to attend a super bowl. Sofi looks incredible, would love to make it out there for a game one of these days. Define work (but yes, I was) There’s no bad seat at sofi thanks to being in LAX flight path, which means the field is 100ft below sea level. so definitely PM me if you visit. I want to do the Jacksonville pools! Even if I wasn’t working, would recommend any football fan attend. The vibe is just on a different level. Im glad the game came down to the end, definitely added to the energy in the building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan the Coaster Man Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 SoFi looks great, makes me wonder if Chicago would ever get anything like it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted February 20, 2022 Author Share Posted February 20, 2022 5 hours ago, Dan the Coaster Man said: SoFi looks great, makes me wonder if Chicago would ever get anything like it... Every new stadium since Jerryworld has really followed that same template in terms of amenities (clubs and suites everywhere, field suites, ridiculous scoreboards, open spaces on the ends for SRO/additional seats), but each offering their own design quirks unique to their cities. I don’t believe you’ll see another sofi since digging so far down is more expensive, but I can see another stadium sticking with the giant canopy roof idea and replacing YouTube theater with additional shopping/dining instead underneath the canopy. Chicago, Buffalo, Washington will all be begging for money for new stadiums soon, so it will be fun to see the next evolutions of the template. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan the Coaster Man Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 The "problem" with Chicago is that the city is torn between inside vs outside stadium. Some people think its the bears identity and advantage to play in the cold/wind/snow and that a move indoors would kill the team and fanbase. Others like me don't care and think an indoor stadium would be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 On 2/20/2022 at 12:55 AM, Jew said: Chicago, Buffalo, Washington will all be begging for money for new stadiums soon, so it will be fun to see the next evolutions of the template. You can add Jacksonville to that list. I believe the current lease expires in 2030 so there's already talks about whether or not they're goin to renovate the existing venue or build a new stadium. I hope that they'll go with an upgrade to the existing stadium with a massive shade structure similar to Miami, but we'll see where the negotiations go, and how much the city is willing to put in. But yeah Sofi looks amazing, we try to make it to one Jags road game a year, and we're at the Chargers next season so LA may be in play with travel restrictions and everything getting back to normal (hopefully). I kind of prefer to visit cities with the stadium downtown so we can get a hotel and not leave the area for a few days, that worked well for us in Cincy and Nashville the past couple of years. The horror stories from LA with traffic and parking and location and all that kind of scare me away but Sofi might be worth the inconvenience for a trip. Especially if the game is the right time of year and I can do a day at Scary Farm. Just gotta wait until April and make some travel plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted February 24, 2022 Author Share Posted February 24, 2022 On 2/21/2022 at 5:39 AM, Hilltopper39 said: You can add Jacksonville to that list. I believe the current lease expires in 2030 so there's already talks about whether or not they're goin to renovate the existing venue or build a new stadium. I hope that they'll go with an upgrade to the existing stadium with a massive shade structure similar to Miami, but we'll see where the negotiations go, and how much the city is willing to put in. But yeah Sofi looks amazing, we try to make it to one Jags road game a year, and we're at the Chargers next season so LA may be in play with travel restrictions and everything getting back to normal (hopefully). I kind of prefer to visit cities with the stadium downtown so we can get a hotel and not leave the area for a few days, that worked well for us in Cincy and Nashville the past couple of years. The horror stories from LA with traffic and parking and location and all that kind of scare me away but Sofi might be worth the inconvenience for a trip. Especially if the game is the right time of year and I can do a day at Scary Farm. Just gotta wait until April and make some travel plans. You can stay downtown and take the metro to a stop a couple miles away and there’s a free shuttle the rest of the way (long term plan is a automated peoplemover from a closer still under construction station to connect to sofi/forum/new clipper arena by 2028 for the Olympics) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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