Ten Cities That Do Sports Venues the Best (and Some Terrible Ones)

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One problem is that our policy makers will happily throw out public money to build new sports stadiums, but they will turn around and say that we cannot afford better public transit

Piling on here, but Cincinnati and Pittsburgh should definitely have been on this list. The way the parking lot is completely hidden underground with an entire neighborhood built on top of it between the Reds and Bengals stadiums in Cincinnati was completely brilliant.

"Serving all five boroughs: Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and New Jersey" That's some top-notch Staten Island shade and I am here for it

Shocked Pitt didn’t make the list. All three major sports venues are literally walkable from downtown. The minor league soccer stadium is as well. PNC and The place formerly known as Heinz Field are also on the light rail line and are very well-integrated into the North Shore.

Ah yes, the five boroughs of NYC - Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and New Jersey 😂

How is Pittsburgh not on this list? Acrisure Stadium is shared by Pitt and the Steelers and is right beside PNC Park, a bridge's walk away from downtown and each has its own light rail station. Highmark Stadium, home of the Riverhounds, is likewise but on the opposite side of the Monogahela from downtown, again with its own light rail stop. And PPG Paints Arena is only a ten minute walk from downtown.

Best thing about the Vancouver downtown stadiums (aside from Skytrain being right there) is the urban Costco across the street with their food court facing the street and open to everyone. Before the game you can get a Costco hot dog for $1.50 or a cheap slice of pizza and scarf it down just before entering the stadium so you won't have to pay >$8 inside the stadium for a similar "meal".🤪

A little surprised to see Pittsburgh passed over completely. All of their professional sports arenas are right there downtown. Steelers and Pirates stadiums are a fairly short walk away from each other.

Surprised Denver didn't at least make honorable mention. The MLS stadium is an F, but the other three are all walkable from downtown and transit accessible.

I love the concept of the Philadelphia Sports Complex. Putting all of your major teams into the same area devoted entirely to the sports scene is really cool and unique.

I am very surprised at Pittsburgh not even meriting an honorable mention - especially given it's historical overrepresentation in @CityNerd content!

Cleveland OH being left off this is kinda odd. Especially considering the criteria. All three major sports arenas are located in or near the downtown area. All three are accessible via rail transit, all three are close to or directly connected to decent parking.

Houston has three major league sports stadiums all in the heart of the city. NBA Houston Rockets (Toyota Center), MLB Houston Astros (Minute Maid Park), and MLS Houston Dynamo (Shell Energy Stadium) all are downtown, even walking distance. It gets crazy down there if sports games overlap. And it very rarely happens but sometimes all three sports have games, usually a team is deep in the playoffs when that happens.

Stadiums might be the urban planning thing Houston got right. 3 are downtown and the NRG and Astrodome are connected via light rail.

I'm curious as to where Cleveland is on this list. I would think the venues wouldn't rank spectacularly, but also none of them overly poorly. Back when the Cavs were in Richfield, definitely, but since the late '90s I would think it's at least decent.

I'll be that Toronto guy you predicted - BMO field is surrounded by some parking but that parking also serves the exhibition grounds, multiple conference centres, a small minor league arena, a concert venue, public parklands, and several other facilities. It's also served by regional rail and soon to be served by the subway. It's also hard to imagine a more accessible arena than Scotia Bank - it's attached to Union station so anyone in the region can take a direct train to the game, and it also has great subway access

What about Cleveland (NFL, MLB, NBA) and Pittsburgh (NFL, MLB, NHL)? All are in or adjacent to their downtowns.

The design of Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena is quite unique, and it's the Nokia of NHL arenas considering its age! I know Detroit is the Motor City, but kudos to them for actually moving their teams out of the suburbs. Downtown Detroit has improved a lot, not to mention the food culture is great! They're definitely on the right track. Also yeah, sports complexes with multiple venues may sound like a good idea on paper, but once it's all said and done, is a huge sea of parking really worth it? Especially in a very urban environment like Philly? It completely ruins the city's charm. Add housing and restaurants to fill in all that parking, and then it would integrate perfectly. Historical mention for Jersey City and the demolished Roosevelt Stadium which was built in 1936 and demolished in 1985. It would be a very important in 1946 when Roosevelt Stadium hosted the Jersey City Giants' season opener against the Montreal Royals, marking the professional debut of the Royals' Jackie Robinson. In his five trips to the plate, Robinson got four hits, including a three-run homer, scored four runs and drove in three. The Royals had a 14-1 victory. This is why there is a statue of Jackie Robinson at the Journal Square Transportation Center. Nowadays, the site is the private Society Hill, but NJCU has an athletics complex there. JC still has an armory that has been used for track and field, basketball, and boxing by JSQ.

I live in Ottawa. Currently our NHL arena is in the middle of a giant suburban parking lot, 25km from downtown in the extreme west end of the city. It sucks to get to by bus, and if you drive it can take up to an hour just to get out of the parking lot. There's nothing around there but box stores and car dealerships. It just sucks. Luckily the Ottawa Senators are in the process of being sold, and the new owners will almost certainly be moving the team downtown to an area right at the nexus of our developing transit system. Most of the city and fanbase are pretty excited about that, though there is this vocal minority who's popped up recently, who want the arena to stay where it is. I'm finding it funny going through their arguments, because it's like a bingo card of anti-urbanist myths. Like they can't understand where everyone will park, or that a good many people would choose to take transit by choice. One guy even told me that transit is for poor people, and it's unethical for those of us with means to invade their space just for a sports game?