Discounting things such as minor-league (or their equivalent) stadiums, Roman or Aztec-era sport facilities that may occasionally host an exhibition, and, say, the streets of Monte Carlo (site of an annual auto race), what’s the oldest professional sports stadium still in use?
Well, in the US, it’s Fenway Park.
Technically, part of Washington Park in Brooklyn is still standing and is “used” as a wall by a Con Ed facility, making it the oldest section of a pro ballpark in the US.
Harvard Stadium at Harvard University is the oldest in the US. It was built in 1903 and has been in use continuously. The folks at Penn State claim their Franklin Field as the oldest, but the grandstand was demolished and replaced in 1920. If you consider rebuilding a new structure on the same site, then there are plenty of other claimants.
ETA: RealityChuck is right about Fenway being the oldest in MLB. Curiously, the oldest indoor hockey arean in the world is also in Boston… Matthews Arena, built in 1910. Former home to the Celtics and Bruins, now home to Northeastern U.
Well I don’t know if this is the oldest, but as a starter, Lord’s Cricket Ground (London, UK), aka the home of cricket, has been home to the Marylebone Cricket Club since 1814.
They still use the stadium at Nemea for biannual games.
Dating back to the 4th century BC, it just pips Fenway Park or Lords.
ETA However I’ve just noted the “Professional” bit of the OP.
You’d think there must be a lower level football (soccer) stadium still in use that would pre-date Harvard. The larger clubs have all updated so that they can sell more tickets, but must be League 2 team or something that is playing in a crap facility.
That stadium does not host professional sporting events (it did briefly, some time ago) and so does not quite meet the OP’s question. I believe the answer in the USA remains Fenway Park.
I suppose golf courses don’t count for this?
Horse racing has taken place at Chester continuously since 1539.
I think the oldest is Chesterfield FC’s ground, Saltergate, which was opened in 1871, though it was originally used for cricket. Lord’s is older than any football stadium in any case.
But can a racetrack (or a golf course for that matter) be described as a “stadium”? I think not.
I thought the ground that claims to be the oldest in football was Sheffield United’s (Bramall Lane, 1860), though whether any of the original building actually remains I couldn’t tell you.
I’m guessing not, although if they did, it appears that honour might go to Musselburgh Old Links course near Edinburgh (Scotland, UK). Some documents suggest Mary Queen of Scots played there in 1567, although the first properly documented evidence of the course being in existence is 1672.
If it has a stadium built for it, as all major tracks do, then it’s just as much a stadium as the ones they build around football fields. A major racing track stadium can be a pretty impressive edifice.
I’d agree, though, that a golf course isn’t a stadium; they don’t have a permanent structure for spectators.
Chester is unique among British racetracks.
It’s not like the vast expanses of Newmarket, Goodwood, or Cheltenham, which are not stadiums in my view. Chester is a tight, compact circuit about 1 mile in circumference. It’s completely enclosed, with part of the course bordered by the city wall. You can watch the action from anywhere surrounding the track.
I don’t tell people I’m going to Chester Stadium to watch the racing, though. The venue is known as Chester races. But Lords is typically known as Lords (Cricket Ground) rather than Lords Stadium so it’s not necessary for the official name to carry that appellation.
The stadium isn’t as important to English sports as the grounds; Bramhall Lane is the oldest, but the oldest stands there were built in 1966. The 1884 stands at Saltergate appear to still be the ones in use; however, due to their age and lack of interest in renovation, Chesterfield is moving to new grounds and Saltergate will be redeveloped as housing.
ETA Lords has stands built in 1890; however, most of the buildings are newer.
Fenway is not Fenway Stadium, it’s Fenway Park. So I think Chester races should qualify.
Probably not what the OP was looking for but the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens dates back to 566 BC and operated over several centuries. It was obviously out of service for a long period. But the current stadium, which has been operating since 1870, is a renovation of the ancient structure and not just a new building on the site.
According to The Football Grounds of Great Britain by Simon Inglis, the main stand at Saltergate was built in 1936. Some of the bankings might be original but not all of them, and they weren’t properly terraced until the 1950s. Some of the roofs for the terracings were built in the 50s and 60s.
I had been looking Saltergate up as it is used to represent Derby’s ground, and others, in the 1970s in “The Damned United”, a new film about the famous manager Brian Clough.
Sheffield’s Bramall Lane is quite different from how was in the past at it used to be a cricket ground, with a playing surface that was more than twice what it is now. Obviously the football pitch only took up part of that area and the rest was built over in the 1960s.
Is a bullring considered a stadium, and bullfighting a sport? If so, La Maestranza in Sevilla has had continuous bullfights since its construction in 1761.