Boiled Sports Best Sports Venues (# 5-1)

We've addressed it before, but our Best Sports Venues has a few issues that are inherent that we can't overcome. First off, we haven't visited every park, arena and stadium in America. I think all of us have venues that we'd still love to visit. I'd like to see a football game at the University of Oregon as well as in the SEC, for instance. But, we scored the venues in multiple categories and tried to place venues at the top that were the best places to watch a contest.

Baseball parks dominate our top-5...My theory on why baseball parks are the best places to watch a sporting event is simple- The game is simply not as exciting and you'd better have a great place to enjoy it or no one will come. There's a Triple-A park here in Indy that's a lot like many of the parks across America. It's a family-first atmosphere, the views of the field are great from anywhere, it's clean, they have great concessions and broad concourses and the seats are comfy. A baseball game is a conversation event where you go to watch with someone you like being around. That's not necessarily the case for football or basketball because all of that pesky action gets in the way of your conversation.

So, do I agree with every choice in our top-20? No. But, I think the venues are all there for a reason. One or multiple members of the BS staff really liked watching a sports contest there...The top-5 are truly great places to watch a game.

5.
This arena was first built in 1967 and has a capacity of 14,123. Its first contest hosted the Lou Alcindor-led UCLA Bruins versus the home team and the last contest for this venue isn't going to be for a long time. Why? Because it will be drastically updated in about 2 years. This renovation will cost nearly $100 million once it's completed and will actually down size the capacity by about 800 seats. While it's not the greatest-looking facility from the outside, inside it is a great place to take in a college basketball game. The sightlines are excellent and the tunnels are wide for entry and exit. The concessions are a bit dated and the concourses also reflect the era in which the facility was built, but these pitfalls didn't keep it out of our top-5. Mackey Arena is also designed in a manner that the sound is directed at the court and opposing players have often said they can't hear their team mate next to them when the place is rocking.

4.
Another basketball arena is next up on our list. This venue has had four different buildings, but the current version was opened in 1968 and had a pricetag of $123 million. It's been the home of AHL, NHL, WNBA and most notably the New York Knicks. It's been called the greatest arena in the world...and according to the Boiled Sports staff, it's our highest-rated basketball arena as well. Madison Square Garden has a capacity just below 20,000 for basketball, over 18,000 for hockey, 20,000 for concerts and its adjoining theater can hold 5,600 spectators. As a WNBA facility, it will hold right around 5,000 burly ladies (due to heavy partitioning). MSG gets high marks for its tremendous location, great sightlines and gut feeling. Even as a guy who has no attachment to NYC and its sports teams, I still felt like it was a special place...and I don't even like the NBA.

3.
The next venue is probably the most interesting sports venue in our countdown. It's boasts of a train that runs on a wall in left field (that pays homage to the fact that it sits on the old Houston Union Station), a hill in center field, a retractable roof, and one of the oddest-shaped outfields in MLB. It was opened in 2000 and has a capacity of nearly 41,000. The layout of this ballpark is cozy in the fact that the fans are close to the action. It was originally called Enron...which I don't know why the name was changed. Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros replaced one of the eight wonders of the manmade world and still improved upon that engineering marvel. One more noteworthy feature of the field is the fact that it has a natural grass surface in spite of its retractable roof. The architecture is excellent, in my opinion, in the simple fact that they managed to make the building look attractive even though they roof is one of the largest superstructures I've ever seen in person.

2.
The next venue was opened in 1994 and has a capacity of over 43,000. This park, as referenced earlier in our countdown, helped revitalize a portion of its host city's downtown. We're not the only ones who find this park to be a great place to watch a game. Sports Illustrated called it the best park in the majors in 2008. No matter which name you call it, Jacobs Field, The Jake or Progressive Field, it's a great place to watch a game...even if the Indians are playing. Jacobs Field has a nice view of the city over the scoreboard in left field and doesn't have a red brick facade that so many of the new MLB parks seem to have right now. Instead, they built it with an aesthetically-pleasing external structure that looks like well-thought out scaffolding combined with yellow brick and stone. Its hosted an All-Star game as well as a couple World Series games. Comfort, atmosphere and amenities nearly earned this venue the number one spot on our list.

Number One


If you're like me, and you've only seen this park from the outside, or if you're like J and Tim and have watched a game there, you know this park is noteworthy. It's location is great as it sits on the bay of its host city. Its architecture is retro, but not cliche and it can be easily reached by patrons via foot, car, train and even boat. It scored highly in every category except the fact that Tim and J had only visited it once. From sightlines, to location, to comfort to gut feeling, it earned its composite score of 43 out of 50. Like many of the newer venues on our list, it replaced a dog of a stadium (Candlestick) and San Francisco did it right when they built Pac Bell Park (now called AT&T). Everything was thought out, even the advertisement for Coke outside of left field is cool. It took three years for the park to be completed and unlike most parks built in the 2000s, was built without any public funds. There are statues all around the ballpark paying homage to Giant greats...the most noteworthy part of the park, its backyard is named after Willie McCovey (McCovey Cove). The park has hosted bowl games, XFL games (both with a screwy one sideline arrangement), an All-Star game, World Series games and even record-setting homerun games. The guy who set the home run record also has hit the most shots into McCovey's Cove...15 in all. The Giants won't be leaving this 41,000 seat venue for New York anytime soon; they signed a 66 year lease for their homefield when it was completed.

(This is the final installment of the Boiled Sports Best Sports Venue Series...But check back in for the Boiled Sports Readers Sports Venue Poll in the very near future.)

Boiled Sports Best Sports Venues (# 10-6)

We enter the top-10...But before we do so, here are some more extremely notable venues that didn't make our list, in spite of being visited:

-The Big House @ University of Michigan. Why? The seats have been re-painted too many times so you don't have a comfortable place to watch...and if you stand up, old guys behind you get peeved. Furthermore, the angle of the seating isn't steep enough, so it's easy to get blocked out. This venue is a classic reminder that less is often more.

-Yankee Stadium. Why? J gave it a high score because of atmosphere and gut feeling...afterall, it is his favorite team's park. But, Tim scored it a lowly 24...and because of the composite score, it didn't make the final 20.

-Ohio Stadium. Why? The atmosphere is pretty great because the fans are definitely there to watch a game. It's loud, hostile and intimidating for the opposing team (and no picnic for guys wearing the opposing team's colors either), but, despite it's large size it simply isn't that grand of a venue and the creature comforts weren't noteworthy. Keep in mind, I visited prior to its renovation about ten years ago.

-Fenway Park. Why? I gave it high marks because I liked the atmosphere and leg room has never been a problem for me...J gave it a fair score, but Tim's feelings about this old venue were similar to those of Yankee Stadium, except worse. Thus, its composite score left it out of the running.

10.
This venue ushered in a new era of ballpark and stadium architecture, and in 1992 set a new standard for what a ballpark is supposed to be. It combined the classic baseball feel along with an existing structure to create a great place to take in a game for nearly 49,000 patrons. It's in the heart of its host city and is very close to things to do and places to eat. The sightlines are good from about everywhere...I know as I had some cheap seats and could still see the game well. The concessions were also noteworthy as they had a wide selection of items and even some things edging toward gourmet without crossing the line. Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden Yards is the first entry to our top-10 simply because, even without having any emotional connection to the park and the product on the field being pretty lousy, it's still tough not to love this venue.

9.
The next venue is the home to both an AHL team as well as an NBA franchise...it enters our countdown as an NBA facility. It's the only venue in our list that had predecessor also make our top-20. Billy Joel opened up the facility with a concert back in 1994...and as a bunch of 30-somethings and 40-somethings rocked their asses off to Uptown Girl, Cavs fans were chomping at the bit to watch their favorite team in what later became known as "The Q". Quicken Loans Arena, or Gund Arena as it was originally called, seats over 20,000 fans and has nearly 100 luxury boxes. It was paid off with the so-called sin-tax and was one of the lynch pins, along with Jacobs Field, that was built in an effort to revitalize the south of Cleveland. The effort succeeded. The effort succeeded as Gund Arena has hosted a slew of high-level events in its brief 14 years in existance. Building amenities, overall comfort and sightlines all boosted its score to get into our top-10.

8.
A surprise, to me after collecting and assessing all of the scores was this next entrant on the countdown. Its the home arena of one of BS' recently transplanted writers and was simply a solid-scoring venue from sightlines to location to amenities to gut feeling. This 18,000-plus seat arena was opened in 2003. Since then, its received accolades from a lot of groups from the NBA to Pollster's Magazine to even the Harlem Globetrotters. It's acoustics are excellent for concerts, its sightlines are great for sporting events and its architecture is noteworthy in the fact that it actually is a good-looking basketball arena from the outside. What the Toyota Center lacks in history, it makes up in overall event watching delicious satisfaction.
7.
The next venue is the only one of its kind in our top-20. It's by far the largest venue in our top-20 and is also the oldest. At its inception, its surface was dirt, then it was replaced with brick and is now paved with the exception of a three-foot strip of bricks that still remain. Unlike every other venue in our countdown, it's impossible to see the entire sporting event from your seat at this storied, old speedway. The largest crowd for a race is rumored to be right around 500,000 spectators, but there is no way to know exactly how many people are actually in the infield in what was once known as the Snakepit. Currently, there are 287,000 permanent seats and over 100,000 general admission and lawn tickets are typically sold for the Indy 500 each year. It's location is pretty poor in that it's not located near too much that's positively noteworthy, but the gargantuant facility is constantly being updated and modernized in order to keep up with the multiple types of racing that take place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Its history, size and spectacle of the events it hosts put it into our top-10.

6.
The final entrant before we head into our top-10 is another Indianapolis gem. Much like the aforementioned Camden Yards, its retro-feel helps set it apart in the world of sports venues. It first opened in 1999 and right away was noteworthy around the NBA because it simply doesn't look like any other venue in the league. Its architecture is clearly not modeled at all after modern arenas, but instead has the look of an old fieldhouse from the early 1900s. This theme continues inside as even the advertisements on the wall and the museum in the concourses refer to an age of short shorts and vulcanized basketball shoes, but it's capacity of over 18,000 is definitely modern. Its name, Conseco Fieldhouse also references the way it pays homage to old basketball venues. The sightlines in the arena are good but it's arrangement is extremely steep...In fact, I feel like I'm going to tumble to the court each time I have tickets in the upper level. Its amenities, proximity to entertainment and restaurants, feel, and architecture all helped earn it high marks on our countdown.

Boiled Sports Best Sports Venues (# 15-11)

Onto Stanza Deuce...

15.
In 2001, this park opened and honestly, about anything would have been an improvement to its predecessor. That said, the park is a good one when compared to about anything. In a trend seen in the last decade, the host city decided to exchange an old multi-purpose facility for two new venues with lots of bells and whistles. This one, of the baseball variety, boasts of a great view of the city along with a re-painted bridge that looks like a movie set from certain angles. With water just beyond the wall in right field, but not as close as McCovey's Cove in San Francisco, the 443 foot shot became a focus of local media following PNC Park's opening. The first "Allegheny Splash" was smacked by Darryl Ward during the 2006 All-Star Game's Home Run Derby and others have done so as well since. Building amenities, great sightlines and overall comfort got PNC into our top-15.

14.
The next entry in the contest is the second-oldest park in the majors. This park gets very high marks for its location since its close to restaurants and things to do. It also has a pretty special feeling despite the fact that it has some of the inherent problems found in venues from the early 1900s. It opened back in 1914 and had a lofty price tag of $250,000 when it was built. It'll hold just over 41,000 fans...and most games every seat, including the bleachers are full (with a bunch of bandwagoners and fair weather fans), even during afternoon contests. This year, Wrigley Field is especially energetic as the Cubs are playing good baseball and have the league's best record. Oh yeah, don't forget to get a Chicago-style dog if you're in Wrigley, but as for me, I'll pass on the ice-cold Budweiser or Old Style...call me a beer snob, I don't care.

13.
I think if you stop by BS often, you know that we're pretty fair and call it as we see it. Sure, we love our Boilers, but we try not to be homers. For that reason, it may not be surprising that this venue checks in outside of the top-10. Granted, all three of us love coming back to our alma mater to take in a game at this beloved and recently-renovated stadium, but Ross Ade Stadium has plenty of cons to go along with the good feelings that we have about it. The new concourses and improvements to the press box and luxury seats made the stadium respectable, because the old Ross Ade wouldn't have come close to making our countdown. That said, I've been going to football games in West Lafayette since Young prowled the sidelines...and my two cohorts have been doing the same since Coletto was the man in charge. Classic victories of the Brees era along with upsets over various Notre Dame teams and even a Michigan team during our four years on campus definitely don't hurt the rating of Ross Ade...But the South end zone seats and a bevy of horrible losses in our collective consciousness kept the scoring relatively low.

12.
Another college football stadium is up next on our countdown. This is currently the largest in America that often gets overshadowed by some of its in-conference counterparts. Over 107,000 can be seated in this venue...and unlike UM's stadium, each will actually get a seat. Originally opened in 1961 after literally moving the old facility from their old field across campus, Beaver Stadium was a 46,000 fan stadium. Unlike a couple of the larger venues we've visited, BS actually impressed the staff of BS with its decided homefield advantage as well as the setting. Not many college stadiums are nestled into the mountains...That's part of the reason Penn State's football stadium lands at number 12.


11.
Rounding out today's segment is another shiny, new park in the Northeast. Just as its counterpart in Pittsburgh had previously done, this ballpark replaced a decidedly-worse venue and has been a draw itself. With a capacity of nearly 44,000 and a ton of creature comforts, this park that was completed in 2004 was designed very well for watching a baseball game. The sightlines, atmosphere and comfortable feeling earned it high marks, but not quite high enough to get it into our top-10. Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies checks in at number 11.

(This is a part of the Boiled Sports Best Venues Series...The fact that three of the five in this group were in Pennsylvania is merely coincidental)

Boiled Sports Best Sports Venues (# 20-16)

Before I get to the meat of this tasty meal, I'll let you know a few of the "also rans" in our big contest. Busch Stadium in St. Louis finished just out of the money as did the Fleet Center and Market Square Arena. Around 80 venues have hosted the three BS staffers at one time or another...some of the venues have been visited once, others we have attended literally hundreds of times. Out of a possible 50 points, the highest-scoring venue was a composite 43...The lowest was a lowly 15...Now, for the results:

20.
This classic baseball park is in the shadows of downtown of its host city. It was built when its team moved across the country in 1962. Its max capacity is a respectable 56,000...but its parking lot only allows for 16,000 cars. That's a bit of a problem since the venue is in the center of a "car culture" where carpooling is encouraged, but isn't the norm. The stadium was built in Chavez Ravine just outside of the city near the freeway following a 1957 helicopter ride. The team owner Walter O'Malley asked the county supervisor if he could use that land...the supervisor responded, "No problem." Who'd have thought LA could have such easily obtainable real estate? If you make the trip to Dodger Stadium, make sure you try a Dodger Dog. At $3.50, this footlong frankfurter is a real bargain for LA LA land.

19.
Next up is a place near and dear to the BS staff hearts as we all visited there a few years ago. Also a West coast venue, this stadium is one of the largest in the land. I'll admit, I got goosebumps as I got to the end of the tunnel and watched Tim Stratton playing catch with other Boiler faithful in the end zone seats. The setting of this venue is fantastic as it's nestled in the hills of a wealthy SoCal neighborhood. That said, there's not much around the place except parking, which there is plenty of. My Dad visited this Grand Daddy of a venue the last time Purdue played there...too bad the wait was a mere 34 years. If it wasn't for the concourses and ridiculously narrow tunnels, the Rose Bowl definitely would have ranked higher simply because of its unique relationship to the Big Ten Champ.

18.
The next venue really surprised me that it ended up in the rankings. But, it was another special Purdue game that I attended when I was a Freshman back in 1994. The setting of this arena is quite nice on the banks of a river. The concourses are pretty wide and the sightlines are good, but the seats are pretty steep a la Conseco Fieldhouse. The record crowd in this arena is an eye-popping 25,000...pretty large for a uni-purpose collegiate basketball facility. I got to witness Glenn Robinson's last game for Purdue at Thompson Bowling Arena on the University of Tennessee's campus...that surely didn't hurt its ranking. That said, it was a pretty good place to watch a game despite the fact that my ticket was in the nosebleed section. TBA is simply awful looking on the outside, but awfully nice on the inside, where it counts.
17.
The next venue was the host of Tim's favorite NBA team. Unlike most NBA arenas, this place was not in the city of its team. Many said that hurt attendance. That said, in '93 & '94, the average attendance of a game in the Coliseum was 18,000. She was built in expectation of urban sprawl in the county just South of Cleveland near major interstates. She hosted an NBA All-Star game in 1981 and is probably most-remembered for hosting Jordan's shot over Ehlo in Game 5 of the first round of the 1989 NBA playoffs. The Cleveland Barons also played there for three seasons. The Coliseum at Richfield, while large, only had one concourse which made it feel much tighter than it actually was...this is probably why its life as an NBA arena was a mere 20 years when it was replaced by Gund Arena in 1995.

16.
This stadium hosts a favorite team of mine as they A) seem to own Notre Dame & B) are located near one of my former places of residence. It was first built on the lower campus of the small Northeastern-based Jesuit college in 1957. Initially, the stadium had a track around the football field, but in 1994, it underwent major renovations that increased capacity to nearly 45,000. It's a very utilitarian-feeling venue in that it's a touch cold, but the sightlines are very good and the concourses are wide enough for BC crowds. Boston College's Alumni Stadium checks in at 16 simply because while it's not a particularly large venue, it's definitely one that is a good place to take in a college football game.
(This is a part of the BS Best Sports Venue Series...Check back for venues 15 through 11)

Worst Sports Venues

If there's going to be a best, there has to be a worst as well.

My two counterparts have visited quite a few baseball parks through the years in their many travels. But, Tim didn't have to go very far to find one of his least favorite- The Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Granted, by the time Tim witnessed contests there, she was an old girl...but her charm was outweighed by her crappiness. The Mistake by the Lake saw her last Indians game in 1993, and was built a mere 62 years prior to that. Both the Browns and Indians called her home...and she was even depicted in a movie by County Stadium in Milwaukee.

The Muni saw one World Championship and three additional American League Champs, but is probably remembered more for the Curse of Rocky Colovito and the 30+ year slump that ended the stadium's time above the Erie. The structure was put out of its misery in November of 1996. It wasn't a great place to watch games, but at least a lot of people could be uncomfortable there- She initially seated 78,000, but in her later days, she only sat just over 74,400...not that you'd need that many seats.

J Money's least favorite venue out of the 40 he's visited is my hometown's first professional football stadium, the Hoosier Dome. This venue, born in the middle 80's during the lousiest of all lousy eras for stadium design was later re-named the RCA Dome. This multi-purpose facility became a lynchpin for the city's convention traffic and also served as a Final Four venue multiple times for both NCAA men's and women's basketball. The best moment of the stadium's run, many say, was the Colts victory over Pats on the way to the Super Bowl in 2007...I'd argue Purdue's surprise win over Notre Dame back in '84 (which I attended) was her most glorious moment. Her capacity was right around 60,000 for a football game and right around 50,000 for basketball. While J thought the sightlines were lousy for the Dome, I found it to be completely bland- neither bad nor good...Which is why so many stadiums from this era have already gone the way of parachute pants and glacier glasses.

The worst venue I've ever visited, far and away, would have to be the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium. My hate affair with this place began when I first took my seats and realized I couldn't see the other sideline while sitting in my chair. My feelings only grew as I went to the men's room and took a leak on a black rock wall that they called the toilet. I was lucky enough to visit the stadium in the year that the Bears played there...so I saw her at her best; and she still smelled like the manure from UI's school of agriculture (which fittingly filled my nostrils for the entire contest. Her cost was a mere $1.7 million to be built back in 1923. Sadly, she still hosts Ron Zooks Illini each week and 71,000 can come to witness UI play there...too bad only about 50,000 will be able to see all of the action on the field. She is currently under renovation. Thank goodness.


(This is the intro to the Boiled Sports Best Sports Venue Series)

Best Sports Venue

This week, Boiled Sports will start a four-part series that rates the top-20 sports venues that we've personally attended. Some of the results may surprise you...others may not. Regardless, we think this is a pretty good way to burn up some time during the summer doldrums.

The venues were rated on the following categories:
-Number of times visited
-Sightlines
-Location/Setting
-Atmosphere
-Building Amenities
-Comfort
-Gut Feeling

D-I College football and basketball venues, and major professional sporting venues are all included in the poll of the places we've visited...Venues from California to Massachusetts have all been visited and rated by the esteemed BS staff, over 65 in all. Stay tuned.