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View Full Version : Cities who have it all (quality sports venues)



bisonmike2
01-15-2008, 02:23 PM
Assuming the hockey arena gets done and also assuming we build a new basketball arena onto the dome, I'm thinking Fargo will have some quality sports venues, espcially when you consider it's size. What other towns out there have some nice facilities all around? And it doesn't have to be limited to towns of Fargo's size. I think Denver has to be one of the best when it comes to large markets. Pepsi Center (basketball/hockey), Coors Field (baseball) and Invesco Field @ mile high. 3 of the nicest stadiums for their respective sports all w/in short distance of each other. If the twin cities would build a new football stadium they would rank near the top in a couple of years. Target Center (aging but I've always loved it's location) Xcel Energy, New Gopher stadium, New twins stadium

roper1313
01-15-2008, 02:37 PM
How about Columbus, OH.
The Big Horseshoe, The Shottstein Center (sp?) for OSU hoops and hockey, and Countrywide Arena for the Bluejackets. No baseball, but those three are very nice.

aces1180
01-15-2008, 02:39 PM
How about Columbus, OH.
The Big Horseshoe, The Shottstein Center (sp?) for OSU hoops and hockey, and Countrywide Arena for the Bluejackets. No baseball, but those three are very nice.

They have the Clippers there, a AAA baseball club, which used to be the affiliate for the Yankees...I have heard good things about their ballpark.

bisonaudit
01-15-2008, 02:41 PM
Pittsburgh is probably one that may go under the radar but Heintz Field and PNC Park are among the best venues in Football and Baseball respectively, they've got a new Hockey arena coming for the Penguins (37 sellouts in a row at the Igloo), and the University has an awesome basketball facility as well.

bisonmike2
01-15-2008, 02:47 PM
Pittsburgs a good one. Chicago, except everything is so spread out. Soldier Field is impressive, even if it looks like a spaceship crashed into it. United Center is fairly new and they have the best of both worlds for baseball. A classic cozy park in Wrigley and a new modern facility in Cellular Field.

bisonaudit
01-15-2008, 02:53 PM
Pittsburgs a good one. Chicago, except everything is so spread out. Soldier Field is impressive, even if it looks like a spaceship crashed into it. United Center is fairly new and they have the best of both worlds for baseball. A classic cozy park in Wrigley and a new modern facility in Cellular Field.

I was at US Cellular 15 years ago (still New Comisky then) and it was,... ehh. But a hear that they've poored a ton of money into it since so it's probably worth another visit.

I love the new Soldier Field. It took some serious guts to go with that design. It's very non-traditional and as a result not everyone likes it but cheers to them for going out on a limb.

roadwarrior
01-15-2008, 03:37 PM
Seattle has some nice facilities for its pro teams, as well as for the U of Washington. Safeco Field is the nicest baseball stadium I have ever seen. The football stadium is even newer, and I believe the Sonics play is a newly remodeled arena.

TheBisonator
01-15-2008, 08:08 PM
I would even put Minneapolis on the list two years from now with the new 42,000-seat Twins Ballpark in the Warehouse District, new 52,000-seat TCF Bank Stadium for Gopher football on campus, the 19,000-seat Xcel Energy Center, one of the best arenas in the NHL, and the recently renovated Target Center, while not the best NBA arena, is still a decent venue.

The only team left out in the dark would be the Vikings.:(

TheBisonator
01-15-2008, 08:12 PM
Here's what Fargo-Moorhead may end up having in a few years:

Football - Fargodome (19,287) built in 1992 and always being renovated
Hockey - Urban Plains Center (5,000) built in 2008, brand-spanking new and state of the art
Basketball - Scheels Center (That is my fantasy name for it) Seating 6,011 expandable to 8-9,000 built in 2010-2011
Baseball - Newman Outdoor Field (4,509) built in 1996, is a great, intimate, state-of-the-art place to watch baseball.

We'll have them all covered. :D

heckler
01-15-2008, 09:12 PM
With the Red Sox winning the World Series and playing in one of oldest ballparks, Celtics dominating the NBA, the Boston Bruins (doing ok), and Gillette Stadium being only 28.3 miles away (thank you google maps), I would say Boston is a great place to be sports wise.

roper1313
01-15-2008, 09:34 PM
Pittsburgh is probably one that may go under the radar but Heintz Field and PNC Park are among the best venues in Football and Baseball respectively, they've got a new Hockey arena coming for the Penguins (37 sellouts in a row at the Igloo), and the University has an awesome basketball facility as well.

I love the way the open endzone was designed to highlight the Pittsburgh skyline. Very nice.

bisonmike2
01-15-2008, 09:39 PM
I love the way the open endzone was designed to highlight the Pittsburgh skyline. Very nice.

I like that as well. From what I've seen so far it looks like the new twins stadium will do that in Minneapolis. Heckler_of_the_North mentioned Boston. Just wait until they send Johan to the Sox. I'd say the Boston sports teams have got a pretty successful developement league going on in the twin cities. :banghead:

sambini
01-15-2008, 10:36 PM
Phoenix has all fairly new venues for NFL,NBA,NHL,AND MLB. SUPER BOWL IS THERE THIS YEAR.

G-city Bison Fan
01-15-2008, 10:39 PM
I love the way the open endzone was designed to highlight the Pittsburgh skyline. Very nice.

I am with you guys, I really think that Pittsburgh may have the best of it all once the new hockey arena is complete.

bisonaudit
01-15-2008, 11:00 PM
Phoenix has all fairly new venues for NFL,NBA,NHL,AND MLB. SUPER BOWL IS THERE THIS YEAR.

I'd initially dismissed Phoenix because I went to a hockey game there in 2000 at America West Arena and it was totally inadequate, but it occurs to me now that the reason it was totally inadequate is because the arena was built specifically for basketball. So, w/ the new hockey arena, I'd have to concur that Phoenix does have a very nice complement of facilities.

EmeraldCityBison
01-23-2008, 12:11 AM
Seattle has some nice facilities for its pro teams, as well as for the U of Washington. Safeco Field is the nicest baseball stadium I have ever seen. The football stadium is even newer, and I believe the Sonics play is a newly remodeled arena.

I agree. Safeco and Quest are among the best in the nation for baseball and football respectively. They both have stunning views of the Seattle skyline to the north and Mt Rainier to the south. Not much can top the sun setting on Puget Sound and the Olympics on a nice summer evening at the ballpark. Safeco is a gem and Quest was designed to give the home team the biggest home field advantage in the NFL. They did this by orienting the stadium so that the visitor bench will be likely in the wind and rain while the Seahawks are protected from winds from the west. Also, it was acoustically designed to focus crowd noise toward the field. No stadium has had more visitor false start penalties than Quest over the last 2 or 3 seasons. The Seahawks are accused of piping crowd noise over the PA every year.

Don't forget Husky Stadium either. It's not too new but it's right on Lake Washington and its open end is toward the lake and the Cascades. You should see all the boaters on game day. Impressive. The weakest link is Key Arena. It was remodeled in the mid-90s but the concourses and rest rooms weren't touched. They're very narrow and have a 70s feel. The Sonics are likely to leave for Oklahoma City unless a miracle deal is reached because the arena is supposedly "unprofitable".:smh:

Everett (suburb north of Seattle) has a nice new arena for the Everett Silvertips (http://www.everettsilvertips.com/wallpaper/images/03_800.jpg) of the WHL and an arena football team. It seats about 8000 and has a nice club level and a bunch of luxury boxes. If NDSU built something similar for basketball, it would be great for the university and the region.

met1990
01-31-2008, 09:53 PM
Prosper, N.D., has a gymnasium that scales heights the rest of these cities can only dare dream of.

G-city Bison Fan
02-01-2008, 12:13 AM
Prosper, N.D., has a gymnasium that scales heights the rest of these cities can only dare dream of.

Well if we are going that route...

Barlow, ND home of the gym that has overlapping three point lines.

bisonaudit
02-01-2008, 02:04 AM
Well if we are going that route...

Barlow, ND home of the gym that has overlapping three point lines.

Raise your electronic hand if you've shot hoops in the Barlow Hall! :)

Till
02-01-2008, 03:04 AM
Oh, I've been there

Good times to be had in the Barlow-dome

TheBisonator
02-01-2008, 04:14 AM
I just checked Google Earth, and all I saw in Barlow, ND was an abandoned grain elevator. Did there used to be a gym there???

G-city Bison Fan
02-01-2008, 02:20 PM
Well, I don't think the elevator is abandoned quite yet. Last I heard it was still open. And it used to be there, I guess it has been a few years since I have been back. I would be quite sad if they tore it down though.

I wish I had a picture of the floor though. If you think of it like a ven diagram, the three point lines overlapped and the half court circle was in between the overlap, in essence a three pointer was a half court shot...priceless.

Trim
02-01-2008, 03:25 PM
Well, I don't think the elevator is abandoned quite yet. Last I heard it was still open. And it used to be there, I guess it has been a few years since I have been back. I would be quite sad if they tore it down though.

I wish I had a picture of the floor though. If you think of it like a ven diagram, the three point lines overlapped and the half court circle was in between the overlap, in essence a three pointer was a half court shot...priceless.

Sounds like the Harwood Elementary Gym. Back in my elementary years, the gym floor was also carpeted. I have heard it has since been upgraded. Which is a shame because you could smell the puke from years past in that carpet.

Ferd
02-01-2008, 03:58 PM
The old gym in Zap, ND was similar to the Venn diagram in Barlow. But also, the out-of-bounds markers were against three walls and the bottom of the first row of seats. You had to stand on/in the first row to toss the ball in. They did have wrestling mats attached to the walls underneath the baskets.

The over-and-back line was the other free throw line. It was like playing half court with two baskets. :nod: ;) :nod:

bisonmike2
02-01-2008, 05:34 PM
Watertowns football stadium is an old wpa project from the 30's. I don't think it's ever been updated since. It's a shame too b/c with some updates it could be a cool looking stadium. The locker rooms were incredibly dumpy and I surprised players didn't get tetnis (sp?) from the rusty and beat up lockers. It's so dumpy it's just one of those places that are hard to hate. My favorite part of that stadium is that is you win a championship you get to right your name on the wall. It was cool to see names of players from years past.

CarringtonBison
02-01-2008, 05:51 PM
Raise your electronic hand if you've shot hoops in the Barlow Hall! :)

i have (had raised)

CarringtonBison
02-01-2008, 05:57 PM
Well, I don't think the elevator is abandoned quite yet. Last I heard it was still open. And it used to be there, I guess it has been a few years since I have been back. I would be quite sad if they tore it down though.

I wish I had a picture of the floor though. If you think of it like a ven diagram, the three point lines overlapped and the half court circle was in between the overlap, in essence a three pointer was a half court shot...priceless.

Elevator is still there and doing fine. Bar is closed-but there is talk that another might open. The bar was great.. little dingy thing in a railcar. The gym I think is still standing. Will have to look. If I can get in, I will try to get a picture and post (once I know how to).

G-city Bison Fan
02-01-2008, 08:42 PM
Elevator is still there and doing fine. Bar is closed-but there is talk that another might open. The bar was great.. little dingy thing in a railcar. The gym I think is still standing. Will have to look. If I can get in, I will try to get a picture and post (once I know how to).

Yeah thats about the last I heard. The bar closed down a fair while back, I remember the rail car. The elevator always had the key for the gym, so I would assume they still do.

Ah, the fond memories...;)

sambini
02-03-2008, 12:04 AM
Well if we are going that route...

Barlow, ND home of the gym that has overlapping three point lines.

I had a beer in the Barlow bar. It was in an old coach railcar? Played in St.James of New Rockfords parish hall in the early70s. Chalk scoreboard and make a layup and run out the front door into a snowbank. I didn't realize they had a gym in Barlow.