Yup, that happened in 1998. IT was a quarter ton chunk and fell onto some seats; had it happened during a game someone would have died.
A similar things happened at Olympic Stadium in Montreal - actually it’s happened a few times, but only once when the Expos were still there. Olympic Stadium was the worst baseball stadium I have ever seen and it’s not a close call.
I’m not trying to hate on it; I’m very happy to have seen a Yankees game at the original Yankee Stadium, warts and all.
But it was showing its age. Not in an inconvenient because it didn’t have good places for the TVs in the bathrooms or concession stands kind of way, but more in a “They built this stadium when my grandfather was a small child” kind of way.
Given that it lasted over 80 years, I’d say it did pretty well. Look how fast the Braves gave up on Turner Field, which was a perfectly good stadium.
True.
Turner Field was good, and the Braves left in 2016. Built in the 1990s and started out in 1997.
The thing is that politicians and sports owners work together to build new stadiums with taxpayer subsidies, and bonds, etc.
Between MLB and the NFL, there are really only four classic stadiums (bullt before 1960) left:
And, all four of those have been renovated and updated significantly in the past 20 years; in the cases of Lambeau and Soldier Field, to the point that they barely resemble their original selves. (Also, while Soldier Field is nearly 100 years old, it has only been home to the Bears since 1971.)
It’s probably also worth mentioning the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923), which hosted the Rams for the past four seasons upon their return to Los Angeles, before their move into a brand-new stadium this fall (if the season actually happens).
But, beyond those, there are only four more NFL stadiums (Kansas City, Buffalo, New Orleans, and Miami), and four more MLB stadiums (both Los Angeles stadiums, Oakland, and Kansas City) which opened prior to 1989. Stadium amenities and design aesthetics are continuing to evolve, and teams which are playing in (relatively) older facilities, with poorer amenities (and lower income from their stadiums) see themselves at a competitive disadvantage. The net result has been that the effective lifespan of new stadiums is now only 20-25 years or so, before their teams start to look to either move on to a newer, glitizer home, or conduct a major renovation.
Bolding mine. Truer words were never spoke. And I have seen games in Exhibition Stadium, the Metrodome, and old Comiskey Park.
As for Yankee–it was okay. I never saw its pre-renovated self, and by the time I got there it had a lot more in common with the ballparks of the sixties and seventies than it did with Tiger Stadium or Wrigley Field. It was probably a cut above Busch, Veteran’s, and whatever they were calling Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati when I was there, and definitely above Shea. But nothing special, especially when compared to Wrigley or Tiger, or on the other end of things Coors or Petco or Camden Yards. “Middle of the pack” or a little lower on my life list, IOW.
The Twins may hold the title for worst stadiums played in for most of their history.
Prior to the Garbage Bag Dome, they played in Metropolitan Stadium, where I nearly suffered frostbite one August afternoon, peering at little stick-like figures acting out something like a baseball game in the distance.
I went to a Twins game at the Metrodome with my college girlfriend in either '86 or '87. It felt (and sounded) like watching a game being played in someone’s large, but not particularly well-lit, garage.