I’ve been searching for the dang answer to this all morning. Anyone ever been to the Columbus Crew Stadium? Is it heated? You know, those big infrared heaters that professional sports stadiums usually have? Or something else?
Considering attending a game there, and trying to plan on how to dress.
Thanks!
I’ve only been there for marching band competitions in September, and there was no heat of any kind that I know of. (though I’m not sure I’ve ever been in ANY professional sports stadium that’s had heat like you speak of.)
IME, heaters for the fans are not common (no doubt because they are expensive to install & operate). The stadium website makes no mention of them (as you’d imagine they’d do had they gone to the trouble of installing them). So my guess is that you should dress for the expected weather.
They do have solar heating, but only on sunny days. Really, there is no heating in the stands, which are for the most part backless bleachers. It is a nice stadium, but it was one of the first soccer specific stadiums and is a little spare. One real warning, the parking lot is shared with the state fairgrounds and is unpaved.
Usually? I’m not aware of any outdoor stadiums that are heated. If I’m wrong, I’d love to learn something new today.
Oh, I live in the cold where most of our stadiums are covered, except for the baseball stadium. I guess I erred in assuming that it was quite natural that any “big money” sport (soccer isn’t one of them) with open stadiums would be heated, based on my experience at Comerica Park, which is heated.
I guess I’m confused. How is Comerica Park heated?
There are big infrared heaters in lights that make you hot. They don’t heat the field; they heat the stands.
I hate to belabor this point, but I’m pretty sure that’s incorrect. I’m a sportswriter. I’ve been to Comerica (and dozens of other ballparks) and have never seen what you described. I just asked one of the Tigers’ writers about this and he said:
So I’ll restate what I said before… I don’t believe that there are any outdoor stadiums in the US that are heated.
You should go to the game, regardless. Everyone who went to the last one had a blast.
Dos a cero, baby!
I’d heard that Candlestick attempted to heat the stands but never got it working.
-Troy McClure SF, owner of several Croix de Candlesticks.
I would think heating a big ballpark would be a nightmare cost wise. Some northern teams built domed stadiums and now the latest trend is a dome that opens in good weather.
A few teams have heated fields, the Redskins are one example at FedEx field.
The Patriots’ and Bills’ football stadiums do have electrically-heated seats in the most expensive outdoor sections.
Screw it. F***ing scalpers beat me to it. No way I’m paying for bleacher seats at the cartel prices, let alone the seats I was willing to spring for.
Thanks everyone, anyway!
Real Madrid’s stadium, the Santiago Bernabeu, has both underground heating for the pitch and infrared heating coming off the underside of the roof which covers all seats.
On a quick search couldn’t find you a cite in English, but here’s a bunch of data and info from the club’s own site – surely you can e-mail and/or call to get the info you want.
FWIW, I think about half of the domed stadiums used by MLB and the NFL are in the south… Atlanta, New Orleans, St. Pete, and two each in Houston and Phoenix.