Empty / Abandoned Stadiums

[Scba]

Sadly, we have lonely stadiums in the world, that for whatever reason, have no friends to play in it.

This is thread is for stadiums and arenas that are still standing, but have no permanent tenants. And preferably not ones that just became empty a year ago when a team moved to a new place, I mean, a place that's REALLY been empty.

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One of the saddest cases has to be Homestead Baseball Stadium - if that's really its name. Built in Homestead, FL, it was supposed to be a spring training or minor league stadium. But just after construction wrapped in 1992, Hurricane Andrew tore through South Florida, heavily damaging the stadium. The team lined up to play there in the coming years left for another deal.

The stadium was rebuilt, but has remained empty for 15 years, rotting. Absolutely empty. The occasional game, but home to no teams or clubs. It's been used more as a filming location for movies and TV shows.



[IMG][/IMG]



Being unused and locked up, pictures are very, very rare. Gorgeous looking place, at least in the exterior.

[JYDA]

Great facade!

[chapin908]

wow, what a waste. looks like a great stadium

[Bobby3]

Memphis Pyramid has been empty for awhile hasn't it? I know Master Grizzly doesn't like when people use/used it. They have a contact that means the Mid-South Coliseum can't be used on the same day as FedEx, anyway.

They really need to do something with that Homestead stadium. Maybe move Miami FC in and play soccer there or something. It's a sin to waste a stadium that nice.

I'll just give a link rather than post pictures, http://mysite.verizon.net/charliesba...s/hinchlif.htm

That's Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey. It's gone to hell.

[FrankCostello]

Now that's a nice-looking stadium... what a shame is all abandoned!

[ryebreadraz]

Where is that stadium and what's the land around it like? If Miami were to ever pursue a MLS team again, could it be added on to and renovated to be a viable MLS venue?

[MrYoung]

This guy has a couple from England. These grounds are no longer standing, but I still think its worth posting.

Feethams, Darlington: http://tims92.webs.com/og027darlingtonfeethams.htm
Boothferry Park, Hull City: http://tims92.webs.com/og028hullboothferrypark.htm

[aus16]

White City Tennis Club

Was the home of Australian tennis for many years and used to host many Davis Cups and 17 Australian Opens however when sydney won the right to host the Olympics a new tennis centre was built at Olympic Park, it was then sold to John Alexander who had issues with permission for redevelopment and with members who wanted to use the club so as a result it has been sitting vacant for 3 years now.



Record crowd for davis cup tie



The centre court now

[Scba]

Originally Posted by ryebreadraz

Where is that stadium and what's the land around it like? If Miami were to ever pursue a MLS team again, could it be added on to and renovated to be a viable MLS venue?

It's in a sports complex in Homestead, near the NASCAR track, which is basically the southernmost area before the Keys.

There's rumors that the Marlins might move Spring Training there once their new stadium is done, but the problem now is that there aren't any other teams in the Miami metro. Everyone's either moving up the coast or to Arizona.

[Walbanger]

My God, there arew gum trees sprouting in the roof gutter of White city. How long till that collapses?

Was Homestead Baseball Stadium used in the Film "Any Given Sunday" as the training home of the fictional Miami Sharks?

[Qaabus]

FC Wageningen went bust in 1992.
Stadion de Wageningse Berg has been empty ever since.

Apparently the municipality uses people sentenced to community service to do some basic maintenance. There are some vague plans to convert it for use as a health centre.

image hosted on flickr







more

[Jim856796]

If there's an empty or abandoned stadium I can think of, it's the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It has been closed since around 2006.

[Scba]

Originally Posted by Walbanger

My God, there arew gum trees sprouting in the roof gutter of White city. How long till that collapses?

Was Homestead Baseball Stadium used in the Film "Any Given Sunday" as the training home of the fictional Miami Sharks?

I think so. IMDB lists one of the filming locations as being the Homestead sports park.

[kennerado]

The Silverdome was sold recently and will be used again for MLS soccer games. It went very cheap as well, it was a bargain for whoever bought it.

[jean1991]

Yeah, only 500,000 for a stadium that size.

[Bobby3]

Costs $1.2m a year in upkeep though.

[Chadoh25]

Here in Columbus, we have Cooper Stadium and in Cleveland it's League Park. Cooper is goona be torn down at some point and League Park is suppose to be returned to active use, although I'm not sure when that's going to happen.

[I-275westcoastfl]

Miami Marine Stadium - Hurricane Andrew damaged the stadium in 1992. Engineering reports have since proven that the structure was sound, but need repairs, yet the structure has remained closed since then.





image hosted on flickr

[JYDA]

The Ottawa Baseball stadium is much like the Homestead stadium in that it's fairly new and tenantless. Here is the full history courtesy of Wikipedia

The stadium was built to house the Ottawa Lynx of the International League and opened prior to the 1993 season. In its first season, the Lynx sold out 43 games and set an International League attendance record by averaging 9,772 fans per game. However, annual attendance steadily declined from there, except for a modest increase in 2001. By 2006, Ottawa had the lowest average attendance in the league.[2] The Lynx relocated after the 2007 season.

After the departure of the Lynx, the City of Ottawa considered other proposals for the site but kept the stadium as a baseball facility for the following season. A new team, the Ottawa Rapidz of the Can-Am League, was established in December 2007 and began to play in 2008. Despite attracting higher attendance than the Lynx, the Rapidz declared bankruptcy on 29 September 2009.[3] A new team, the Voyageurs, was announced by the Can-Am league for the 2009 season. However, the league was faced with a lack of prospective owners for the team and with declining economic conditions and disbanded the Voyageurs in March 2009.[4]

The stadium remained unused in 2009 except for a late-August series of community baseball games sponsored by Ottawa city councillor Bob Monette.[5] Earlier, following the demise of the Voyageurs, Monette had suggested that the stadium be dismantled and the land sold to generate funds which could be applied to a new sports venue.








This stadium sums up the state of baseball interest in Canada in recent times. The Expos left Montreal and numerous minor league teams across Canada have gone bust or relocated. Blue Jays attendance in Toronto is nowhere near what it once was. Canada is producing more good players than ever before but fan interest has been going in the opposite direction.

[jandeczentar]

Originally Posted by MrYoung

This guy has a couple from England. These grounds are no longer standing, but I still think its worth posting.

Feethams, Darlington: http://tims92.webs.com/og027darlingtonfeethams.htm
Boothferry Park, Hull City: http://tims92.webs.com/og028hullboothferrypark.htm

Feethams may have been decrepit but at least it was a reasonable size for Darlington. Their current stadium has 24,500 seat but the average attendance is only 2,000-3,000. I've never seen a match in Darlington but I imagine that it feels very empty