The Cell is not that bad. It's not that good, but it's not that bad. It's colorless, but vastly improved from the way it was 10 years ago. More to the point, the bit on U.S. Cellular begins:

The home of the White Sox will inevitably suffer by comparison to North Side counterpart – Wrigley Field. While Wrigley is beloved by fans, who pack its bleachers to see even lousy Cub teams...

Then the next entry bashes Fenway:

But it would be remiss to not acknowledge the terrible sight lines and crumbling structure that greets guests. Plenty of the seats are cramped (hey, people were smaller in 1912), so beer spillages aren’t uncommon, and don’t even get people started on trying to drive to the stadium.

This is all 100% true of Wrigley as well. I really like both of them and wouldn't include either on this list, but if I were to bash one on amenities and I'd have to bash the other one as well.

The article goes on to demonstrate that there are a lot of lousy NFL stadiums, which is exactly what fans of the NFL deserve.

EDIT: A better list would include a lot of crappy college stadiums as well.

This is all 100% true of Wrigley as well.

Wrigley's seats are not really all that cramped - as far as I can tell, they're completely standard stadium seats.

I had also been under the impression that the Fenway renovations of the last few years took care of the "crumbling structure" but I haven't been there, so I don't know.

This list is unbelievably lame-brained. Dodger Stadium and Fenway Park are both incredible fan experiences. They seem to both be on the list because the parking stinks. The other criticisms are contrived and/or relatively unimportant.

And if we're making an all-sports list of worst stadiums, then every football stadium is worse than the worst baseball stadium. Start with the monstrosity in Dallas where you can pay $100 for a standing room ticket in an area with no view of the game whatsoever.

I've been looking at some classic mid-late 60's Roger Angell recently, and he talks a little bit about the constant noise and busybusy scoreboards as a new thing, specific to two parks: the Astrodome, and Dodger Stadium.
One of them has already been demolished, right?
So, Baseball Gods, you know what to do.

Dodger Stadium and the former Comiskey are two of my favorite parks. If you're just there to watch a baseball game, they're fine.

The worst stadium I've been to personally is the Carrier Dome. Just an abominably awful place to watch a basketball game, what with a curtain dividing it in half and seats placed astonishingly far away from the court for no apparent reason.

U.S. Cellular is one of the only ballparks in the country that doesn’t allow patrons to leave the section they’ve paid for, even just to take a look at other parts of the stadium. According to the Bleacher Report, this policy means, “If you’re someone who can’t afford a lower-level seat, then you’re essentially a second class citizen.”

I discovered the same policy the first time I went to a Sox game, and I could hardly believe my ears. The writer isn't even exagerrating about the "second-class citizen" thing - I asked an usher what the deal was, and he said that the policy was there to prevent people with tickets in the cheap seats from running onto the field. I'm not really one to take general policies personally but I have to admit that I felt pretty insulted when I heard that - it really is a \"#### you, proles" kind of move.

But that's how it goes in Reinsdorfland, I guess. Stay classy, Jerry.

One of them has already been demolished, right?

No, the Astrodome still stands, as a momument to Texan asshattery.

8 - They're not done with the G.W. Bush Library in Dallas yet?

The Dodger Stadium piece is quite weak. And the picture of the stadium they used makes it look really NICE. I would nominate Pro Player/Joe Robbie Stadium. Having watched several Marlins games (during the 2003 season, no less), and the abomination that is preseason NFL football there, I came away particularly unimpressed. At least Dodger Stadium is not humid/rainy during baseball season.

Qualcomm Stadium takes the form of a concrete arena surrounded by 122 acres of even more concrete – the venue’s immense parking lots that seem to pool out from the stadium.

That's the first time I've seen someone complain that a stadium has too much parking.

Its constricted facilities and outdated technology has already guaranteed that the NFL won’t award the city another Super Bowl.

I bet you're wrong.

I suspect the White Sox policy is a product of a few high profile incidents between fans and on-field personnel 9-10 years ago.

I suspect the White Sox policy is a product of a few high profile incidents between fans and on-
field personnel 9-10 years ago.

It is. The policy still annoys considerably. You used to be able to walk around the entire ballpark regardless of where you're seats are. Now? No.

Only poor people beat up first base coaches.

I suspect the White Sox policy is a product of a few high profile incidents between fans and on-field personnel 9-10 years ago.

I don't doubt this, but that being the case, hire some more security instead of p#ssing all over your fans, for crying out loud.

The worst stadium I've been to personally is the Carrier Dome. Just an abominably awful place to watch a basketball game, what with a curtain dividing it in half and seats placed astonishingly far away from the court for no apparent reason.

I'm a Syracuse graduate (class of 1990) and I don't entirely disagree. Many Orange fans still prefer Manley Field House.

I don't doubt this, but that being the case, hire some more security instead of p#ssing all over your fans, for crying out loud.

I wasn't defending the policy, merely giving it context. The policy itself is run-of-the-mill, poorly targeted kneejerkery that's fairly common for organizations in this day and age instead of something more insidious.

I suspect the White Sox policy is a product of a few high profile incidents between fans and on-field personnel 9-10 years ago.

I had to Wikipedia it for the date, and I can't believe the Tom Gamboa incident was 10 years ago. Wow.

Top Ten Worst Stadiums in US If You Hate Sports and Honest Joy and You Just Want a Smoothie Delivered To Your Lounge Chair

"Yo, Time. I'm really happy for you and I know this is just pro facilities, so Imma let you finish but Sun Devil Stadium is one of the worst in the nation. One of the worst in the nation!"

Seriously, the place is crumbling to the point ASU says in another 10 years SDS will have to be condemned. The TVs in the luxury suites are battered CRTs; the scoreboard frequently fails to work and gets graphics wrong (No, we played UC Davis last week; the team we play tonight is Mizzou.).

Whenever I'm there, I look around and think, "This #### don't fly in the SEC."

The Dodger Stadium piece is quite weak. And the picture of the stadium they used makes it look really NICE. I would nominate Pro Player/Joe Robbie Stadium. Having watched several Marlins games (during the 2003 season, no less), and the abomination that is preseason NFL football there, I came away particularly unimpressed. At least Dodger Stadium is not humid/rainy during baseball season.

Concurrence all around. Joe Robbie sucked: Sunburn through six innings before wrapping up in a downpour.

The worst stadium I've been to personally is the Carrier Dome. Just an abominably awful place to watch a basketball game, what with a curtain dividing it in half and seats placed astonishingly far away from the court for no apparent reason.

There's Big Train bait if I ever heard it.

Start with the monstrosity in Dallas where you can pay $100 for a standing room ticket in an area with no view of the game

I won't have that. First of all, it's in Arlington :)

Second, it's like $29.95 for the standing room, and there is a view, albeit an end-zone view.

$100 at Cowboys Stadium will get you an upper-deck seat at around the 30-yard-line. The stadium is lots of fun, IMO, given of course that one likes football to begin with. The cheerleaders and the nonsense are non-stop; you have to be into kitsch to have fun there, and fortunately I am.

"Worst stadium" reminds me of what Woody Allen said about sex (or pizza?): even when it's bad it's still pretty good. I mean, these are venues where sports is taking place. How bad can this actually get?

[redacted]

As a Long Island resident, I find it hard to believe there is a worse professional sports arena than the Nassau Coliseum. The only redeeming quality it has is that it's 10 minutes from my house.

Our friendly correspondent from TIME made a valiant effort to land in the "Top 10 Dumbest Articles about Baseball Stadia" list, but the competition in this category is just brutal...almost as much as when one went to the Stick for a night game.

I bet you're wrong.

I'd be careful with my money on that one.

The NFL wants shiny new facilities, and an assemblyman signing for the lion's share of the invoice, wherever they have teams. They use the Super Bowl as leverage to get new facilities built and to reward cities that pony up the appropriate amount of cash. They've abandoned their traditional warm-weather preference in order to give games to Detroit, Indy, and NY largely for that reason. The only exception to that trend is New Orleans, which became a special case after Katrina.

If the NFL gives another Super Bowl to San Diego, not only do they lose the ability to give that "reward" to a city that agreed to build/renovate them a new stadium, but they effectively sanction San Diego's "refusal" to do so by giving that city the NFL's ultimate prize despite SD's refusal to build a new facility. I'd think it's pretty unlikely that SD gets another Super Bowl until they build a new football stadium.

The NFL has (I believe) made statements consistent with the author's quote specifically. That doesn't mean a whole lot of course. But if the only thing SD has to offer is their city, NFL execs may travel their on vacation, they may hold league meetings there, but the odds of SD getting a Super Bowl are pretty low I would think. That's not to say the city should be worried, but I think the author's quote is probably true.

I'm surprised Yankee Stadium isn't higher on that list. The ambience of the stadium is pretty okay - I liked the museum, anyway - but actually watching baseball in it is really, really crap. I'm probably spoiled by Safeco Field but this was supposed to be a new design, wasn't it? I think the Yanks just thought "hey, we win a World Series every year. Fans want convenience? How about the convenience of WINNING?".

At least they got the Oakland Coliseum right. God, that is a horrible place to watch a baseball game. I went there once and would never go back for free unless it was the World Series or something. Awful sightlines, and even the field level seats are like a million miles away from the diamond because it's a football stadium. Dreadful, dreadful place - and it's only a few miles away from maybe the best stadium in the country. I hope the A's stay in the area, but they can't keep playing there.

Dodger Stadium is fine of course, one of the author's main complaints seems to be that you have to deal with folks from Los Angeles when you go there. Which, while true, is pretty unavoidable.

Robert: by that metric, the worst stadium in baseball is Citizen's Bank Park due to the fact that you have to hang out with Philly fans to see a game there.

I mean, these are venues where sports is taking place. How bad can this actually get?

Yeah, it's been over a hundred years since the last time multiple fans were killed by a baseball stadium during a game.

The Oakland Coliseum was actually a very pleasant place to watch a game before the erection o Mt. Davis. It was kind of like Kauffman is now.

The worst stadium I've been to personally is the Carrier Dome. Just an abominably awful place to watch a basketball game, what with a curtain dividing it in half and seats placed astonishingly far away from the court for no apparent reason.

Doesn't this have something to do with the fact that you're watching basketball in a football stadium?

Well, sure. But it's not like they gave me a choice of what stadium I wanted the game to be in when I bought the ticket. The Carrier Dome hosts many more basketball games than football games and is much more known for basketball.

There's really nothing worse than watching basketball in a football stadium. Which is why attending NCAA tournament games is such a bummer because everything from the Sweet 16 on is guaranteed to be played in the worst possible environment for basketball.

There's really nothing worse than watching basketball in a football stadium. Which is why attending NCAA tournament games is such a bummer because everything from the Sweet 16 on is guaranteed to be played in the worst possible environment for basketball.

Yep. I was the offical scorer for several NCAA regionals that were played at the Kingdome, and the atmosphere there was nothing like what it would had been in a purpose-built basketball arena.

I found The Cell ok. Nothing special but I think it gets a bad wrap. What I didn't like about was the parking situation, where basically its just a long skinny lot going in one direction.

"The NFL wants shiny new facilities, and an assemblyman signing for the lion's share of the invoice, wherever they have teams. They use the Super Bowl as leverage to get new facilities built and to reward cities that pony up the appropriate amount of cash. They've abandoned their traditional warm-weather preference in order to give games to Detroit, Indy, and NY largely for that reason."

mostly true.
but the NJ Giants/Jets $1.6B stadium construction costs were actually paid by the teams.
that bid had another problematic finalist in Miami, and Tampa - and well, they've been there a lot.
Plus Broadway is a tempting inducement for Super Bowl corporate week.

There are a good 5-10 sports arenas worse than any baseball stadium, and a few football stadiums as well. How does the Georgia Dome not make this list? Dolphin Stadium? Superdome? New Orleans Arena?

Wasn't it only a decade or so ago that Time was a fairly prestigious publication? Now it can't even go head-to-head with Bleacher Report.

RE: bad college stadiums. I've been to about 1/2 of the major BCS conference stadiums, and a handful of 'other.' Yale Bowl wins hands down for the worst major* sports facility I've ever been to thus far. Kansas' Memorial Stadium is awful too, despite being the best current Big XII campus. Surprise surprise, Dyche at Northwestern is pretty bad as is Wallace-Wade at Duke. I've been to all of the Big XII, nearly all of the Big Ten, 8/14 of the SEC and 1/2 of the Pac 12.
I'm no SEC honk, but all the ones I've been to have been satisfactory to outstanding. (Haven't been to Starkville yet). Even Vandy's isn't bad. A&M (my favorite total experience), UGA, UF are all tremendous. Bama and Tenn are tremendous experiences, even if some of the comforts and concourses are lacking. A lot of the giants are really, really old, so they've had to do a lot of adapting, a la Fenway. Ga Tech is amongst the oldest, but really a very cool stadium with a lot of great sight lines.

Yeah, the Carrier Dome was bad news, though it has been nearly 30 years since I've been. I've been to Sun Devil a few times for the Fiesta Bowl since 1990 and it has gotten noticeably worse.

*I know Yale isn't 'major' college football anymore, but it is a bucket list type stadium, and the H at Y game I attended was really a big let down. I guess that's what I get for going to Nebraska games all my life and other high level places.

The only baseball stadiums I put into a truly bad category are the Kingdome, Metrodome and Joe Robbie (of the 30 or so I've been to old and new). With that said, Wrigley's gotta get going on fixing up the place, otherwise its sliding into this category.

The NFL wants shiny new facilities, and an assemblyman signing for the lion's share of the invoice, wherever they have teams. They use the Super Bowl as leverage to get new facilities built and to reward cities that pony up the appropriate amount of cash. They've abandoned their traditional warm-weather preference in order to give games to Detroit, Indy, and NY largely for that reason.

That and the threat of LA. I have to wonder if part of the reason there's been not real push from the NFL to get a team in a nation's second largest metro area has to do with strong arming all the other NFL cities (the ones smaller than LA, at least) into footing the bill on a new park.

i'll never get the hate for dodger stadium. i've pretty much enjoyed every game i've ever been to there. the parking is bad but not cataclysmically bad. and once you're in the stadium, its quite nice. i dunno. whatever.

Is there that much hate for Dodger Stadium? The Dodger Stadium piece for this list is as dumb as it gets.

The only baseball stadiums I put into a truly bad category are the Kingdome, Metrodome and Joe Robbie (of the 30 or so I've been to old and new).

You do know those three stadiums are no longer used by MLB don't you?

The thing that really irritated me about the Cell the last couple times I saw a game there: There was some sort of music clip/cheer-inducer/call-and-response thing after EVERY. DAMN. PITCH. If you think people can't/won't pay attention to the game, beating them over the head with Day-O and "charge!" isn't gonna help.