Most Celebrated Sporting Venue In The World?
As you may have seen, John Gruber over on Daring Fireball referred to Yankee Stadium as “the most celebrated sporting venue in the world”. Immediately, I thought this was not the case and decided to correct him, informing him the most celebrated sporting venue in the world was in fact … oh, um what is it again?
Photo of Yankee Stadium by Silent Wind of Doom, Wikipedia.
A quick twitting got a few suggestions, like Madison Sq Gardens from @cimota and Old Trafford from @lbutlr, whereas Colin in my office put forward Brands Hatch and a few other footbally ones while I came up with The Colloseum, oddly enough, and the Indianapolis Raceway.
Needless to say, outside the US, there aren’t many, apart from maybe a few Japanese, that would choose Yankee Stadium.
Am I wrong? What are your suggestions for the most celebrated sporting venue in the world? Comments below, please.
9 Comments
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Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:15:10 +0000
Lords. And assuming that “most celebrated” and “world” means one-fan-one-vote rather than the usual one-American-one-vote-what-do-you-mean-there’s-other-countries-too? there’s one and a quarter billion Indians and Pakistanis who’ll back me up on that.
Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:40:03 +0000
As long as “world” is in the description, there is no option, but to name a football (i.e. soccer) stadium. Old Trafford, Wembley, “The Stadium of Light” San Siro, Camp Nou in Europe ? Various other candidates in South America. Anything else is, in terms of audiences, a joke by comparison. After football (soccer), I’d guess come cricket and tennis. Baseball (with all due respect to JG) and motorsports (with all due respect to our host) don’t come close.
Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:04:16 +0000
Got to be Wimbledon really – it transcends it’s sport. And there was a movie made with it as the in-the-background star, featuring the erect-nippled Kirsten Dunst.
For other sports: Camp Nou, Maracana, Lords…definitely none from the Yanks, apart from maybe the Shea Stadium and only cos the Beatles went there. If they actually played any sports which only they played and were good at then, there may have been more.
Most stunningly beautiful stadium has got to be the Allianz Arena in Munich:
http://www.moeller-horcher.de/de/pressezentrum/download/zaunz/allianz_arena1.jpg
…although I’ll always have a soft spot for Old Hampden.
Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:48:32 +0000
Mine are, in no particular order:
-L’Alpe d’Huez (France)
-Auto Dromo Nazionale di Monza (Italy)
-Major Taylor Velodrome (Indianapolis)
-Passo dello Stelvio (Italy)
-Nurburgring Nordschleife (Germany)
-Wrigley Field (Chicago)
-Rupp Arena (Lexington)
-Mont Ventoux (France)
Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:59:19 +0000
Look, there is no “home of football”, or “home of tennis”, or “home of motor racing”, not a generally accepted one. But Lords is universally agreed to be the home of cricket, the leading sport in one of the most populous areas on earth. Ask any cricket fan. It is the only cricket-ground that capital-m Matters.
I once made a colleague from the subcontinent literally fall over when I told him I could get him Lords tickets. It’s like that.
Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:52:06 +0000
Depends on your definition of celebrated. I would guess it’d be either a football* stadium, or something like the birds nest in Beijing.
The choice of football stadium is bound to be contentious though, so I’ll just say it has to be Anfield …
*that’s football – not american football mind you
Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:40:53 +0000
Got to agree that Lords wins here. Cricket is followed by about 1.25 billion people world-wide at the moment. Also, the Chinese seem to be intent on making themselves a force in the sport as well. So that adds about another billion or so to the total. My tip to any young American wanting to learn a useful sporting skill in the future? Learn how to spot the difference between a Googly and a Chinaman. LBW FTW…
Sat, 28 Feb 2009 20:44:08 +0000
Fenway Park!!!
(Or the Colosseum in Rome, I suppose)
Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:26:50 +0000
OK, after much consideration I have to withdraw Old Trafford. It is either Wimbledon or Lords. These two venues have one thing in common: people who know nothing about these sports know these venues and people who would otherwise not watch these sports might watch events at these venues. The Colosseum in Rome is out because it is not a sports venue, it’s a ruin that was a sports venue 1500 years ago.