Stadium Central

I came across this link to a ranking of college football stadiums : Best College Football Stadiums.

Listings like this one are very difficult for most college football fans to digest in an objective fashion. One also needs to establish the justification for such rankings. Is it the best looking stadium? Best fans? Etc.

For me, a few things come to mind when discussing the best college football stadiums:

a) Visual appeal
This criterion is certainly subjective, but a stadium shouldn't be falling apart, the outside should present interesting architectural features, color schemes should be appealing, and the scale should fit in well with its surroundings.

b) Fan friendly
By this point, I don't mean that stadiums should have games for the kids to play...leave that to minor league baseball parks. This criterion indicates that a stadium should enhance the fan experience by creating an intimate setting that focuses attention on the field. Stadiums that jam fans in to super small seats as is common in many college stadiums do not score high on this point.

c) Setting and surroundings
While the previous point suggests that the stadium should help focus the fans' attention on the field, there is something to be said about a stadium that provides fans an interesting view outside the stadium. Additionally, I am fond of stadiums that blend well into their surroundings, ones that would pop up around a corner while walking through a bucolic campus. Stadiums sitting in the middle of parking lots, while providing prime tailgating opportunities, fail in providing a captivating setting for a stadium.

d) Quirks
With all due respect to my friends at Michigan, Notre Dame, and UCLA, I am not a big fan of the simple bowl shape for a football stadium. Functional, yes. Interesting, no. (incidentally, those three stadiums are all on my list of places at which I would love to see a game). Stadiums that have features that are unique, whether it be Howard's Rock at Clemson, the columns of Los Angeles Memorial Stadium, or the hedges around the University of Georgia's field add a level of interest.

e) A blend of classic history with modern amenities
One of the most interesting stadiums to me is Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. When standing on the field and looking towards one sideline, one sees a glimmering tower that contains the press box and luxury suites hovering over the field. Look the other way, and a classic two-tiered seating area with a ring of fame on the facade instills the history that has made Nebraska football what it is today. While the classic look and feel of old stadiums is charming, I also find new, modern, and cutting edge looks of today can make a stadium quite appealing. The blend of the two can lead to some interesting venues.

Note that size doesn't directly lead to a higher rating, but a large stadium certainly has an impressive aura to it that a 30,000 seat stadium cannot possess.

That being said, I will try to come up with some ratings of stadiums that I have seen. I really feel that a stadium can only be judged after being viewed in person, so I will stick to the stadiums that I have seen. I do reserve the right to change my criteria as I move through this exercise. :)

Here are the college football stadiums in which I have seen games:

Stadiums at which I have seen a college football game:
Alumni Stadium, Boston College
Bobby Dodd Stadium, Georgia Tech
Byrd Stadium, University of Maryland
Carter-Finley Stadium, NC State University
Doak Campbell Stadium, Florida State University
Groves Stadium, Wake Forest University
Kenan Stadium, University of North Carolina
Lane Stadium, Virginia Tech (** visited 9/30/06 **)
Lincoln Financial Field, Temple University
Memorial Stadium, Clemson University
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Naval Academy
Rutgers Stadium, Rutgers University
Scott Stadium, University of Virginia
Wallace Wade Stadium, Duke University

Stadiums that I have visited but at which I have not attended a game:
Aloha Stadium, University of Hawaii
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, University of Florida
Bill Snyder Family Stadium, Kansas State University
Boone Pickens Stadium, Oklahoma State University
Carrier Dome, Syracuse University
Falcon Stadium, Air Force Academy
Folsom Field, University of Colorado
Hughes Stadium, Colorado State University
Husky Stadium, University of Washington
Lavell Edwards Stadium, Brigham Young University
Memorial Stadium, Kansas University
Memorial Stadium, University of California
Memorial Stadium, University of Nebraska
Metrodome, University of Minnesota
Michie Stadium, Army
Orange Bowl, University of Miami
Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego State University
Raymond James Stadium, University of South Florida
Rice-Eccles Stadium, University of Utah
Ryan Field, Northwestern University
Sanford Stadium, University of Georgia
Spartan Stadium, San Jose State University
Stanford Stadium (old one), Stanford University
Sun Devil Stadium, Arizona State University
Trice Stadium, Iowa State University
University Stadium, New Mexico State University
Vanderbilt Stadium, Vanderbilt University
War Memorial Stadium, University of Wyoming

The saga surrounding the new Nationals stadium continues, as the Washington DC City Council and/or the proposed developer has scrapped plans for two large structures beyond the outfield that would contain apartments, condos, a hotel, retail establishments, and a parking garage. The wisdom of these buildings was questionable from the start. Part of the allure of the new stadium design was to provide views of the nation's capitol from the upper deck seats. These 13-story buildings, however, would have towered over the stadium and dominated the view from the seats. We're not talking about the charm of the warehouse at Camden Yards, but rather utilitarian structures aimed at providing a healthy revenue stream to the city.

The latest news from the Washington Post indicates that this development has been stopped, but, in order to meet the requirements of their agreement with MLB regarding parking, the stadium developers will be forced to leave several lots in the vicinity of the stadium vacant to accommoadte surface parking lots. These lots will definitely cut into the planned urban renewal for the area around the ballpark. This story will obviously continue, as the new owners of the Nationals, the Lerners have yet to comment on the latest developments, and quotes from DC officials suggest that they will continue efforts to seal an agreement with the proposed developer of those towers.

When images of the new stadium came out, there was great excitement about the uniqueness of the design and the way that it would blend into the rejuvenated neighborhood. Time will tell whether the stadium will stick out like a sore thumb amid parking lots and other piecemeal bits of urban renewal or will indeed serve as a catalyst for organic development in Southeast DC.

Washington Nationals Stadium designs
Washington Post Article
Washington Times Article

While the opening of Cardinals Stadium in Glendale, AZ has been the talk of the stadium world, another new football stadium is about to open in Palo Alto, CA. Stanford University will debut the new Stanford Stadium on Saturday September 16 in a game vs. the Naval Academy. The new stadium drops capacity for Stanford football games from approximately 85,000 to 50,000. From the pictures and images, the new stadium looks to be a much more intimate setting for a game and should allow the Stanford fans a much closer view of the action. The red seats are a nice touch in providing a coherent color scheme, especially when seats are empty. The columns under the scoreboard above the endzones are a unique feature that create an immediate connection between the stadium and the rest of the Stanford campus.

Stanford Stadium

As we start, let me point out a few of my favorite stadium sites. The first three deal with baseball, pro football, and college football stadiums, respectively:

www.ballparksofbaseball.com
www.stadiumsofnfl.com
www.collegegridirons.com

These three are quite well organized, providing pictures and relatively up-to-date news. Another site that has a fair amount of pictures but doesn't seem to be updated quite frequently:

www.ballparks.com

Some baseball sites...

A nice site that provides reviews of baseball parks, both major league and minor league is:

www.ballparkreviews.com

Another site that reviews baseball stadiums is Digital Ballparks. It's a bit busy, but it does have a good collection of pictures arranged by Major League organization.

www.digitalballparks.com

A site that provides a fair amount of data on stadiums is at the Baseball Almanac site:

baseball-almanac.com/stadium.shtml

I'll be checking out a few other sites and posting them if they seem to have something to contribute.