Archive for the ‘Stadiums’ Category
The Estadio Alberto J. Armando (formerly the Estadio Camilo Cichero) is a stadium located in the La Boca district of Buenos Aires. Affectionately known as La Bombonera (the Chocolate Box) due to its rectangular shape, it is home to Boca Juniors, one of Argentina’s most famous football clubs.
The stadium was first used for a friendly match between Boca and San Lorenzo on May 25, 1940. (Archrivals River Plate also inaugurated their stadium on 25 May, but two years earlier, on 1938).
It underwent a major renovation in 1995?96, raising its capacity to 57,395, and was given its current official name on 27 December 2000. The stadium is named after a former club president who promised a major renovation of La Bombonera upon his election in 1975, but his plans were delayed by the country’s political and economic situation.
Visiting teams are said to be intimidated by the stadium’s acoustics. This was noted by Estudiantes de La Plata, which hosted its major Copa Libertadores matches there.
Of its 57,395 capacity, there are 37,538 seats, 2780 boxes and the other 17,077 are standing room only. Both its interior and exterior are lined with many murals painted by artist Pérez Célis depicting many of the club’s legendary players and many aspects of the district’s culture. The stadium also contains a museum celebrating the club’s history, opened in 2001.
The stadium was featured in the film Mike Bassett England Manager during which England lose 4-0 to Mexico. However this is a rather obvious goof the film is supposed to have the world cup based in Brazil, the stadium is of course based in Argentina.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California at Exposition Park that has hosted two Olympics and is home to the University of Southern California Trojans football team. It is located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena adjacent to the campus of the University of Southern California (USC). The stadium is owned by the State of California and is currently being leased (and managed) by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission.
The Coliseum was declared a National Historic Landmark on July 27, 1984, the day before the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.
The Coliseum is now primarily the home of the USC Trojan football team. During the recent stretch of its success in football, most of USC’s regular home games, especially the alternating games with rivals UCLA and Notre Dame, attract a capacity 92,000 person crowd, although they regularly drew far less during the 1990s. The current official capacity of the Coliseum is 92,516. The Coliseum Commission also rents the Coliseum to various events, including international soccer games, musical concerts and other large outdoor events. Concurrently, the commission is negotiating a new lease with the state after the 48-year lease expired in December 2005.
The Olympic Cauldron (also known as the Olympic Torch) was built for the stadium’s two Olympic games. It is still lit during the fourth quarter of USC football games, and other special occasions (e.g., when the Olympics are being held in another city). In 2004, the cauldron was lit non-stop for seven days in tribute to Ronald Reagan, who had died; and it was lit again in April 2005 following the death of Pope John Paul II, who had celebrated Mass at the Coliseum during his visit to Los Angeles in 1987. The torch was also lit for over a week following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The Nissan Stadium, once known as the International Stadium of Yokohama is a sports venue in Yokohama, Japan. The stadium was inaugurated in March 1998. It is the home stadium of Yokohama F. Marinos of the J. League. and It hosted the 1998 53rd National Sports Festival of Japan main stadium.
It has the highest seating capacity of any stadium in Japan, with a total of 72,327 seats.
It hosted three first-round games during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and the final game between Germany and Brazil was played there on June 30, 2002 (the game was won by Brazil, 2?0).
Name: Amsterdam ArenA
Inauguration: 14 April 1996
Building costs: 202 mln Dutch Guilders
First match: Ajax-AC Milan
Capacity: 51,600 seats
Press seats: 216
Bussines seats: 1,564
Roof closing time: 20 minutes
Floodlights: 2,000 lux
Address: Arena Boulevard 29, 1100 AM AmsterdamThe Amsterdam ArenA is a stadium in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Initially, it was planned as the centrepiece of Amsterdam’s bid for the 1992 Olympic Games. Amsterdam lost the bid to Barcelona and the plans for the stadium were altered to build a general sports and events arena instead. Today, the stadium is home to football club AFC Ajax. The nearest train station is Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA.
The stadium, which opened in 1996, is one of the first in the world to combine a retractable roof with a grass surface. This caused some problems in the beginning: the grass rolls would not grow in the shade of the open roof and had to be replaced up to four times a year. Its all-seated capacity is 51,628. The estimated cost of the stadium is around ? 96 million. The inaugural match was between the home team Ajax and AC Milan which ended in a 0-3 win by Milan. The first goal was scored by Dejan Savićević. Tina Turner was the first singer who gave a concert in the ArenA during her Wildest Dreams World Tour, with more than 150,000 people attending the three sold-out concerts in September 1996.
After the death of Rinus Michels in 2005, Ajax fans tried to convince the stadium’s board to rebrand the stadium as the Rinus Michels Stadium. The board refused, however at every Ajax home game Ajax fans bring a large banner displaying the words ‘Rinus Michels Stadion’.