New Stadium Drawings

New Seattle Arena - The Emerald

2012-02-03T21:44:00.000-08:00

This is a Sketchup and Google Earth model of a new arena I have designed for Seattle, Washington. I thought it appropriate to name it The Emerald Arena, it is designed to look like a jewel on the skyline of the Emerald City. The arena would be circular, with a facade made of alternating green glass, clear glass, and green brick and a gleaming green roof. The interior would have a lower bowl, club level, and upper bowl, and two levels of private suites. The capacity of this model arena is 22,238 for hockey and 23,550 for basketball. There would be 7,024 seats in the lower bowl in 21 rows, with an added 1,312 seats for basketball . The club level would have 2,256 seats in 5 rows. The upper bowl would be split into a 300 level and 400 level. The 300 level would have 2,998 seats in 6 rows and the 400 level would have 8,570 seats, with 9 rows behind the goals and 21 rows at center ice. Press level would be behind the 400 level seating. There would be 68 suites, 28 on the lower level and 40 on the club level. The arena would be built next to the Seahawks football stadium just South of Downtown Seattle. This is a very good location, there is a great deal of transportation infrastructure in this area.

New Tampa Bay Rays Stadium

2012-01-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

This is a model for a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium at the site of the current Al Lang Field. It would have 32,000 seats, with one main concourse serving a 35 row split level seating bowl from left center field around to the right field corner. There would be 10 more row of box seats extending down to foul territory. There also would be a balcony with six rows of club seating and 41 luxury boxes, and a press box siting above that. Field dimensions would be 364-395-411-397-322. There would be a roof around most of the stadium grandstand and covered concourses to provide shelter during rain delays, though no dome. I thought this would be a simple, nice, and relatively inexpensive stadium for the Rays, as there would be no landfill needed, a very small footprint, and a fairly simple seating bowl to construct.

New Vikings Stadium

2011-12-25T21:02:00.000-08:00

A view from the field

View from Club Seating

View from back of upper bowl

View from lower corner seating

Exterior Elevation

Main Enterance

Stadium Overhead

Arden Hills Location

This is the first new stadium design I have done in a very long time. It is for the Minnesota Vikings, located in Arden Hills, Minnesota. The location is where the Vikings are planning to build their new stadium, assuming it is approved. However, my design looks far different. I don't like the idea of a retractable roof stadium in the NFL, where best case scenario you would get 11 home games a year. A retractable roof puts you in the running for an NCAA Final Four or maybe one Super Bowl, but Minneapolis won't ever be in a Super Bowl rotation.

Many of the new NFL stadiums have a disjointed look to them, with stacking levels of suites and general seating going far above the playing field. I thought this would be a nice look, with one simple, split level bowl circling the entire playing field, with suites and club seating supported above the bowl under the roof. There are poles....there are obstructed views, but in modeling the stadium, the vast majority of the seating behind 50th row where the poles are have views no worse than that shown above. For each of the 48 poles in the stands, I have taken 30 seats off of the stadium capacity; seats wouldn't be installed in the first four or five rows directly behind poles where large portions of the seating bowl were obstructed. I think this approach is better than having multiple levels of club seating and suites and then an upper bowl far above those, making for very remote, very steep upper seating.

The capacity for this stadium would be 78,680. There would be 33,904 seats in the lower bowl, which has 40 rows. There would be 34,046 seats in the upper bowl, with about 12,000 in rows 40-51, and the rest in rows 52-70 where some obstructed views become possible.

Three levels of premium seating would be above the main seating bowl. Level 1 would be the club level, with 5,930 seats in six rows circling the field. Levels 2 and 3 would be suites, totaling 228. The exterior is clad in limestone with tall purple windows and tall columns and glass at the main entrances. The facade was meant to look somewhat monumental, like a big government building in Washington DC, or maybe a little like old Yankee Stadium.

I hope you like this first new effort in quite a while. E-mail comments to schulzte@gmail.com

Original Six Arenas Compared

2010-05-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

I don't have any new drawings for now, I've been really busy, and it may be a while before you see anything new. Enjoy looking at the archived drawings. In the mean time, I've been interested in the original six teams and their original buildings for a while now. With the Stanley Cup Finals looming, I would like to rank and compare each of these buildings post-mortem.

#1 Chicago Stadium - Chicago Blackhawks
Built 1929 Closed 1994
Capacity 17,313 (1993)

This was likely the best hockey arena ever constructed. The amazing thing about Chicago Stadium to me was its size. It had a seating capacity of 17,313 when it closed and was never expanded or had its seating bowl significantly modified. If it were still being used today it would have a larger capacity than 4 current NHL arenas. The other impressive aspect of Chicago Stadium is the cantilevering of the balconies and lack of obstructed views compared to other arenas of the time. Though there were a few posts on the ends, the vast majority of seats had outstanding, intimate views of the ice surface. It was also the loudest building in the NHL and had one of the largest pipe organs ever built. One of the few shortfalls of this arena was the size of the rink itself, 185 x 80.

#2 Olympia Stadium - Detroit Red Wings
Built 1927, Expanded 1965, Closed 1980
Capacity 11,500 (1927) 14,063 (1964) 16,375 w/SRO (1979)

This is my favorite of the original six arenas (as a Red Wings fan), though it wasn't better than Chicago Stadium as a hockey arena. The balcony was slung right over this ice like in Boston and Chicago, so the views from the upper level seating were tremendous. This arena was also a forerunner in value added seating, as a level of "Wing-Hi Boxes" was constructed above the balcony in the 1970's and club seating arrangements and restaurants were available at the Olympia before they were mainstream. The main Grand River Avenue entrance was not ornate, but classic nonetheless. Obstructed views were an issue, but were not as severe as at Boston Garden. The 1965 addition meshed seamlessly with the original construction on the inside, but looked atrocious from the outside.

#3 Maple Leaf Gardens - Toronto Maple Leafs
Built 1931 Closed 1999
Capacity 13,542 (1931) 15,728 (1995)

This arena looks so good from the outside, they made it into a trophy (Conn Smythe). With ornate brickwork and a vaulted roof, this was the one of the most handsome looking arena exteriors ever designed. The interior seating arrangement was not overwhelming however. As constructed, the Gardens did not have a balcony, rather one monolithic square/octagonal shaped seating bowl. Balconies were added later to the ends of the arena. This design led to very few obstructed views and a large portion of seating positioned along the side boards, which was good. However, seating in the back rows were farther away than in any other original six building.

#4 The Forum - Montreal Canadiens
Built 1924, Expanded 1949, Renovated 1968, Closed 1996
Capacity 9,300 (1924) 15,500 (1949) 16,197 + 1,600 SRO (1993)

This arena had more hockey history than any other on this list, hosting 25 Stanley Cup Champion teams (23 for the Canadiens and 2 for the Maroons). The arena itself was a fairly basic seating bowl all around the rink, with smallish seating balconies added on each end of the arena. Suite balconies were also added above the seating bowl along the sides of the arena. There were several view obstructing roof support columns in the building in the seating bowl running parallel to the side boards until the 1968 renovation. Viewing was aided by a rather steep pitch to the seating bowl around the ice.

#5 Boston Garden - Boston Bruins
Built 1928 Closed 1995
Capacity 13,909

Someone will disagree with my assessment of Boston Garden, but it was very easy to put Boston Garden this low on the list. It was a historic, intimate building, with some very good seats. It is also the only arena I know of that had terraced seating going around the corners and ends in both the lower and upper bowls. Olympia Stadium also had this, but only in the lower bowl. This terracing helped in viewing sightlines for boxing, so you could see over the section next to you toward the ring in the middle of the floor. However, this building had so many ludicrous obstructed views particularly along the side boards tucked under the low slung balcony, that viewing was quite poor for many in the arena, particularly in the back corners of the lower bowl. It was also not a particularly well maintained arena later in its life, with dingy rafters, lack of air conditioning, and a notorious electrical system that cost the Bruins a home Stanley Cup Finals game in 1988.

#6 Madison Square Garden III - New York Rangers
Built 1925 Closed 1968
Capacity 15,925

There are very few pictures of Madison Square Garden III available. However, everything I have read and seen of MSG III indicates that it was a very poor hockey arena. It had three seating levels, but the balcony suffered from the same affliction that America West Arena had when the Phoenix Coyotes moved from Winnipeg. The upper end balconies had no view of the closest goal because the seating was too high above and too close to the ice that the goal was underneath the spectator's line of site. MSG III was much better suited for boxing and basketball than it was for hockey. MSG IV is not without its detractors, but at least the entire rink is viewable.

New Indiana University Fieldhouse

2009-11-28T07:55:00.000-08:00

Concourse and Lower Bowl

Upper Bowl Seating

Arena Floor - Seating Removed

Hoosier Club Level

Main Entrance - Side Elevation

Arena Cross Section - Seating Elevation

I never really got Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana. It's certainly unique, and I'm all for that. However, I always thought those upper seats must be horrendous. The top row of Assembly Hall is 65 rows up from the court, certainly more than any other college basketball arena. Well, after doing some research, it turns out they are and the Indiana University might be looking to replace it in the long term.

So here is my design for a new fieldhouse at Indiana University. It would seat 17,100, vitually the same as Assembly Hall. It would have one main concourse to serve almost all the patrons, which would save some construction costs. The lower level would have about 7,500 seats, with 5,200 along the sidelines with chairbacks, and 2,300 on the ends as wooden bleachers for the students, just like Assembly Hall. There would also be 32 suites and 8 wheelchair platforms at the top of the lower bowl.

The upper bowl would have 8,500 seats, all chairbacks. It would be accessed with stairs up from the lower level for each tunnel. The upper level would go all the way around the arena, instead of just along the sidelines like at Assembly Hall. The top row of this new arena would be 45 rows from the court instead of 65.

There would also be a club area along the top of the arena, seating 350. It would have a bar area and tables and chairs for 150 where club patrons could met before, during, and after the game. It could also be used for meetings and social events.

The exterior facade of the arena would be made of red brick and limestone. The red brick would match the team colors, and the limestone would fit in well with the University, much of which is clad in Indiana limestone.

I hope you like it.

New Aloha Stadium

2009-10-30T20:23:00.000-07:00

New Aloha Stadium Seating Bowl

New Aloha Stadium - Overhead with Roof

This is my drawing for a New Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The current Aloha Stadium is corroding and rusting badly, and I think this design would be more appropriate for college football than their current convertable football/baseball stadium that can't convert any more. It would also be a much better college bowl facility, and may intice the Pro Bowl back to Hawaii. There has been talk of a new stadium in Honolulu to replace the current one, but reports are throwing around numbers like $500 million. I don't know what they have in mind, but that is too much for a college football stadium. Minnesota had theirs built for about $280 million, and this seat bowl design would be similar.

Total capacity would be 52,500, with 25,000 seats in the lower bowl, 26,500 in the upper bowl, and the rest in 20 suites and the press box. I don't think this stadium needs to be overloaded with suites; it hosts WAC football, an annual bowl game and some concerts. The grandstand seating would be designed in a split bowl like in Minnesota, with stairwells leading from the concourse directly to the front of the upper bowl sections. The entire lower bowl and the sideline seats in the upper bowl would be full chairback individual seats, while the rest of the upper bowl would be bench seating. I designed a roof with green supports in the corners to provide some cover, because it rains quite a bit in Hawaii.

This was a stadium I just did this evening, it actually only took a couple hours and turned out really well. I hope you like it.

Manitoba Centre

2009-10-24T21:27:00.000-07:00

Manitoba Centre - Football Configuration

Manitoba Centre - Hockey Configuration

A reader suggested to me a stadium drawing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Canadian Football League team, so here it is. The stadium would be an indoor domed stadium which would seat 37,500 in the football configuration. The lower level would have 24 rows surrounding the playing field and the upper level would have 23 rows in a horseshoe configuration. There would be 42 suites, 14 along the sideline and 28 in the end zone as part of the hockey configuration.......

Yes the hockey configuration. I know that Winnipeg already has the MTS Centre, which was built not long ago and just slightly too small for NHL hockey. The NHL is going to move back north, be it Hamilton, Winnipeg, or Quebec. My thought is that if we're going to the trouble to design a new stadium for the Blue Bombers, why not make it work as a higher capacity hockey arena too? The Jets (I assume that would be the name for the NHL franchise) could play most regular games at the MTS Centre, but could play Saturday Nights, games against Edmonton, Calgary, playoff games, etc. at the Manitoba Center. This configuration would have 22,000 seats, and would have very good sightlines for hockey. The sideline football stands would retract, allowing the East endzone stands to be moved into a complete bowl configuration in the West half of the stadium. Red seats on retracting risers would complete the seating all the way down to ice level.

This seems pie in the sky, but NBA teams have used dual venues in the past, and this would be a novel way to get around the capacity problem at the MTS Centre. This venue would also be a good, intimate football stadium. The stadium would also provide over 150,000 square feet of floor space for exhibitions with the sideline seats retracted, making this a very versatile venue.

New Colisee de Quebec

2009-10-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

There have been some discussions about a team moving to Quebec. One lucky Canadian city is going to get an NHL team in 2010, and I think Quebec has a good chance, based on the pretty good attendance the Nordiques used to get. So this is a drawing for a new arena in Quebec City, Quebec. It would seat 18,800 and have standing room for 500 more, for a total capacity of 19,300. The arena would have 54 suites, above the lower bowl. The upper deck would have 9,400 seats and the lower level would have 8,600 seats, including 1,080 club seats.

New Oakland Coliseum

2009-07-12T19:03:00.000-07:00

New Oakland Coliseum- Baseball Configuration

New Oakland Coliseum- Football Configuration

This is my second stadium drawing for Oakland. It is similar to the earlier one for the Oakland A's, but it has been reconfigured and enlarged for use by the Oakland Raiders as well. The Raiders and 49er's are talking about sharing a football stadium, which is ridiculous. It seems like both football teams would lose their civic identities if they shared a stadium. It would make more sense to keep both the A's and Raiders in Oakland. I would also like to see a new multipurpose stadium built. I know a good one could be built, and there just isn't the money to build a new stadium for every team right now.

The new stadium will have a capacity of 44,000 for baseball and 60,000 for football. The lower main grandstand will have 19,000 seats and the upper main grandstand will have 23,000 seats. There will be 86 suites, along with a press level for football along the third base line. The baseball dimensions will be 353-397-400-373-330. The left field fence will be 9 feet high, and the right field fence will be 30 feet high, as there will be 26 rows of retractable seats for football stored behind it.

About 4,500 seats will retract behind the right field fence, while an 11,000 seat removable grandstand would be erected each year in August behind the right field wall for football games, as well as playoff baseball games, extending capacity to 60,000.

Link to New Olympia Stadium Final Plan

2009-05-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

Click Here to View the New Olympia Stadium Plan

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Illustrations & Maps sports hockey

New Vermont Ice Arena

2009-03-28T11:06:00.001-07:00

Cross Section

Balcony Level

Lower Level

This is my design for a new ice arena for the Vermont Catamounts. The Catamounts play in Gutterson Fieldhouse, a 46 year old rink that the fans filled to 98% capacity in the '08-'09 season. So I thought it would be a good team to draw up a new arena for. I modeled this arena a bit after the Matthews Arena that Northeastern plays in, which is the oldest hockey arena in the United States. This arena would have a similar balcony that is very tight in to the ice. This building would also have dimensions similar to some of the older ice rinks, measuring 320 feet long, 170 feet wide, and 64 feet tall. This is almost the same as Yost Ice Arena, an elongated building. The capacity of this building would be 5,335, with 3,102 in the lower level and 2,233 in the balcony, which would include 14 suites, the press area, and some standing room. This arena would really pack the fans in close to the ice, I'll bet it would get pretty loud! Let me know what you think!

New Edmonton Oilers Arena

2009-02-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

This is my first stadium drawing in quite some time, but they're still looking pretty good, I think. The site has been up for about 3 years now, and I'm glad I can still come up with new ideas once in a while, if not as frequently as in the past. Keep e-mailing me with suggestions. I do make drawings for some of the better requests I get.

This is the diagram for a new Edmonton Oilers arena; might I suggest "Gretzky Arena" (never happen-no $ in that!). It would seat about 18,500, and it would be an oval shaped arena. The lower level would have 23 to 25 rows, with 6,500 regular seats and 1,400 club seats in red. The club seats would be accessed from the suite level above. There would be 56 suites above the lower bowl, and another 14 above the upper bowl on the end for a total of 70 suites. The upper bowl would be a split bowl configuration with no portal tunnels, like one sees in some ballparks today. The lower portion would have 4 rows and seat 1,600. The upper portion would have between 9 and 21 rows and seat 7,800. There would also be a restaurant above the upper bowl on the South side of the arena, with views for about 100 guests.

New Hartford Civic Center

2008-11-15T05:12:00.000-08:00

Basketball Configuration for New Hartford Civic Center

Hockey Configuration for New Hartford Civic Center

This is a design for a New Hartford Civic Center. It is another Horseshoe type grandstand design, which I like in this case for a few reasons. Again, I think this is ideal for end stage concerts, which is the main market for a new Hartford arena. Second, this gives the ability to push the floor for the main sports tenant, the UConn Huskies Mens/Womens basketball teams, closer to the end with more seating. This does push the high rows higher, but there is also less dead floor space one often sees with hockey/basketball convertibles. This design also puts more seating on the home shoot twice end for hockey, which is good too. The seating on the north end would be retractable bleachers for a student section for basketball, which would be nice to have even in a larger arena. The top 2/3 of this section would retract to give room for the hockey floor. Other arenas such as in San Antonio and Indiana are set up somewhat similar in that they retract lots of seats in the lower bowl in order to fit an ice sheet on the floor, but then they have about 3,000 seats in the upper bowl above that can't see the nearest goal for hockey because it is tucked under the sightline, too close to be seen. This design would avoid such a problem. The upper level of the grandstand in most NHL/NBA arenas has 17-22 rows. The drawback to this plan is that there would be 26-30 rows in the upper bowl to create a suitable capacity.

The basketball capacity for this arena is 18,200, while hockey is 17,100. Hartford is a long shot to get back into the NHL, but this arena would provide the capacity to do so, and the grandstand could always be expanded around the full rink if deemed necessary for an expansion team. There would be 52 suites, 34 at mid level and 18 in the two corner towers on the North end, which would be three levels tall. With floor seating, unobstructed capacity for end stage concerts would be about 19,000, larger than any other arena in New England.

New UNLV Stadium

2008-10-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

Seating Diagram of New UNLV Stadium

Stadium Diagram with Grandstand Roof

Location of New Stadium South of Thomas and Mack Center

This is a design of a new on campus stadium for the UNLV Running Rebels, per request of a reader. This stadium would seat 36,000, with 17,000 in the lower bowl seats and 18,000 in the upper level bleachers. There would be a total of 54 rows, 30 in the lower bowl and 24 in the upper bowl. There would also be 42 suites above the upper bowl along the sidelines. The stadium would be located immediately south of the Thomas and Mack Center. The stadium could be expanded to 46,000-50,000 if Swenson St. was moved/removed and the bowl was completed on the West end of the Stadium. Not many college football stadiums have grandstand roofs, but I thought it would be a good idea for an outdoor venue in Las Vegas to provide some shade to most of the spectators. This would also be a good venue for the Las Vegas Bowl, as it is closer to town.

New Central Michigan Arena

2008-07-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

This is a plan for a new basketball arena for the Central Michigan University Chippewas. This arena would seat 5,000 fans. All of the regular seating would be on the sidelines, with 2,800 chairback seats in 18 rows at the top of the arena and 1,400 retractable bleachers near the court. There would be 18 suites, 9 at each end of the arena, each for 12 people. There would also be terraced standing room at each end of the court for 600 total fans.

Chicago Tennis Center

2008-07-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

Main Show Court, Chicago Tennis Center

Site Plan, Chicago Tennis Center

This is my plan for a revamped tennis complex for Millenium Park in Chicago, on the corner of Randolph and Columbus downtown, across from the Millenium Park ampitheatre. The crooked sidewalk is the BP bridge that connects the tennis complex with the ampitheatre. There would be seating for about 500 at each of 7 side courts, about 2,000 at Court 1 on the Southeast corner of the grounds, and a horseshoe shaped stadium court seating 9,500 on the North end of the grounds. This would be an awesome Olympic venue among the scenic skyscrapers and waterfront of Chicago.

New Tampa Bay Stadium

2008-05-05T19:10:00.001-07:00

So this is another prototype for a new Tampa Bay stadium. I always wanted to sketch up a circular baseball stadium, and here it is. I know circular baseball stadiums are unfashionable now, but some of the Japanese stadiums are circular, and are really interesting looking. That was kind of the model I worked from here. This stadium would have about 40,300 seats total. The main bowl would have 20 rows and surround the entire field, with 15,500 seats. The upper bowl would have 25 rows and go just beyond each foul pole on each side, seating 18,600. There would also be 5,100 field level seats, shown in dark blue. There would also be 78 suites on the roof above the upper bowl.

Dimensions would be 325 feet to the foul poles, 408 feet to dead center, and 390 to left and right center. This stadium won't be built because all newly built stadiums today must be asymetrical and quirky and extravagent and expensive. However, circular ballparks have been popular in the past, such as Oakland Coliseum (pre renovation) and Busch Stadium (post renovation) but I think this circular ballpark might be really cool and something different.

New Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grandstand

2008-05-03T17:27:00.001-07:00

New Seating Arrangements for Indianapolis Motor Speeday

Close-Up of Main Grandstand Seating

Cross Section-Main Grandstand

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is packed with history and the 500 is still the greatest auto race in the world (despite the opinion of the NASCAR fanatics). I had the pleasure of attending the race in 2006, and while I enjoyed it greatly, the setup of the grandstand is absolutely TERRIBLE! The view of the NASCAR race I attended at Michigan Speedway was far superior. The grandstand construction at Indianapolis is outdated and haphazard; nothing seems coherent about it. So this is where the idea for a new seating scheme at Indianapolis Motor Speedway came from. This is the first race track design I have ever done.

There are several problems with the seating layout at Indianapolis.

1. Infield seats: While it may seem like a good idea to pack people around the pits and start/finish line, it actually destroys the view of nearly the entire grandstand for most of the track. Most of the grandstand can only see about 1/3 of the track at a time. Even if the grandstand is reconstructed, the lower seats won't be great, but the seats higher in the stand will be vastly improved. The balcony and suites would see nearly the entire track.

2. The pitch of the stands: The pitch of the existing stands are far too shallow in the front stretch. The grandstand needs to sit higher off the ground and be steeper, to give fans a better view. This will help make up for the lack of a tri-oval.

3. Poles: I'm not generally opposed to pole seats, but the farther down the front stretch you try to look coming off of turn four, or back from turn one, more and more poles restrict the view. The new stand would still have some poles out of necessity, but they would be farther back in the main stand and pose fewer problems.

4. Incoherence: Nearly every section of the stands around the track seemed to be built differently at a different time in a different way. The whole main grandstand is complicated to get around and inelegantly constructed.

So now for the particulars. The seating capacity of this plan is about 204,000, which is 46,000 less than the current setup. Much of this is a result of allowances for larger seats, more leg room, and the elimination of the infield stands. The depth of the stands are limited to about 33 rows due to surrounding streets, so stands should be as steep as possible to get fans higher above the track, providing better views. The main grandstand on the front stretch would have about 88,000 seats, including 67,000 in the main front stand, 17,000 in the balcony club, and 175 suites, each for 20 people. Stands for 126,000 would surround each of the two short chutes. I didn't get too detailed with all the buildings and golf course in the infield, that could take weeks, and I think you should get the idea from the diagrams provided. Would love to hear what you think!

Vancouver CFL/MLS Stadium

2008-03-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

This is a design for a new stadium for the BC Lions and a Vancouver MLS team. The grandstand would seat 31,600 and there would be berm seating for about 5,000 more for a total of about 36,600. There would also be 33 suites on the south side of the stadium. The north sideline would have 68 rows of seats, the west end of the stadium would have about 44 rows, and the south side would have 27 rows. This stadium would replace the current multipurpose and oversized BC Place dome.

Ontario Gardens - Hamilton, ON

2008-01-17T15:01:00.001-08:00

This might look familiar. I had some readers comment that they would like me to design a revamped Maple Leaf Gardens, much like the Olympia Stadium and Boston Garden. So finally, here it is. I made a few changes however. The old MLG had a few weaknesses, such as no club seats, no side balcony, and no suites other than the ones near the rafters. In this incarnation, I have 28 club suites and 2,000 mid level club seats. There are also 50 other suites for a total of 78. I have also added 5 rows to the end balconies and a few more rows to the sides. The total capacity of the new Gardens is about 17,000.

So why is this the "Ontario Gardens"? Hamilton, ON may be in the market for a new arena in the future if they get an NHL team. Why not build this in Hamilton? You might think its a crazy idea, but the fans in Canada might love it.

Our National Stadium

2008-01-04T19:10:00.000-08:00

If you think of it, many nations have what one might consider a "National Stadium" The most obvious would be England's Wembley, but France (Stade de France), Germany (Berlin Olympic Stadium), Mexico (Azteca), Japan (Tokyo Dome), Austrailia (Telstra Stadium), and many other nations have what could be considered a premier national stadium. If America had a national stadium (which it probably doesn't at the moment), which would it be?

Many baseball fans might consider Yankee Stadium, but a "national stadium" should have a global identity that baseball doesn't really provide, so we need to look at stadiums with a history of international competition. We actually used to have more stadiums in that mold; meaning huge 100,000 seat track and field stadiums such as JFK in Philadelphia (now demolished) and Soldier Field in Chicago (now unrecognizable). I would argue that there are only two real candidates, and they both reside in Southern California.

The Rose Bowl and LA Coliseum are now seen as bastions of college football. However, both stadiums have a tremendous history of domestic and international sport. The LA Coliseum has hosted a more diverse range of events, beginning and ending with college football, with two Olympics Games, two NFL teams, 2 Super Bowls, a World Series, and countless other events in between. The Rose Bowl has hosted the premier college football bowl game annually since 1922, along with the the 1984 Olympic Soccer Final, the 1994 World Cup final, subsequent Women's World Cup finals, and 5 Super Bowls. Its a tough call, but the Rose Bowl is both the most recognizable college football stadium in the nation and the premier international soccer venue, so I give the slight edge to the Rose Bowl as the venue I would title our "National Stadium".

I am interested in my readers' opinions on this. Are there any other really good candidates to be considered our "National Stadium"? Do you agree with my assessment? Post your comments here or click a vote on my poll on the sidebar of the site. Also, check out my plans for updating bothe the Rose Bowl and the LA Coliseum seen below.

Updated Rose Bowl plan

Click here for more details

Plan for New LA Coliseum
Click here for more details

New Las Vegas Sports Arena

2007-12-28T20:32:00.001-08:00

Las Vegas Sports Arena, Basketball Configuration

Las Vegas Sports Arena, Boxing Configuration

A new arena has been proposed for a possible NBA/NHL team to be built behind the Paris and Bally's Casinos near Harmon Ave. and Las Vegas Boulevard (The Strip). I'm a hockey guy, but personally, I think the NBA is a much better fit for Las Vegas than the NHL (can you say Las Vegas Kings?). So this is the floorplan for what I think the new arena should look like. It turned out roughly circular, with large balconies along the sidelines like the Calgary Saddledome, which is a really nice and unique arena. There would be 19,400 seats for basketball, 20,600 seats for boxing and 18,400 seats for hockey. The lower bowl (red) would seat 6,800 to 7,800 depending on hockey or basketball configuration. The club level (grey) would seat 2,700, and the balconies would seat 6,700. This arena would have 110 suites and four party boxes as well, with a total capacity of 2,000. I think a pro arena in Vegas would have to be loaded with suites, think comps for high rollers from casinos!

New Jackson, MS Arena

2007-12-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

Jackson Coliseum Arena, Hockey Configuration

Jackson Coliseum Arena, Basketball Configuration

Jackson Coliseum Arena, Concert Configuration

A reader of my website suggested a drawing for what I think a new arena for Jackson, MS should look like. He suggested I work off the earlier New Jersey Devils drawing, so this has some similarity. In the end though, it turned out much different and better suited for a mid-sized arena for a different purpose. Jackson doesn't really have any pro sport teams, so I thought the new arena should be primarily an ideal concert venue that can also host minor league sports. The existing State Fair Coliseum is 45 years old and is ill-suited for sports, mostly hosting concerts and rodeos.

So this is my new Coliseum, with a horseshoe shaped stand that is well suited for concert seating. The configuration is something similar to the Cobo Arena in Detroit, which is an outstanding concert arena. This arena would have a hockey capacity of 9,950, a basketball capacity of 10,350, and a concert capacity of 11,760. The arena would also have 30 suites a the top of the arena.

New Rosenblatt Stadium

2007-12-02T07:04:00.001-08:00

Site of Current Stadium

Site with New Stadium Construction

New Rosenblatt Stadium-Omaha Royals Configuration

New Rosenblatt Stadium-College World Series Configuration

This is my plan for a New Rosenblatt Stadium to be constructed just north of the existing stadium. The grandstand would be on the corner of 13th St. and Bob Gibson Ave. This idea may be controversial, becasue many people like the existing stadium. However, the Omaha Royals want a stadium more their size, and the existing stadium is quite old and needs a $25 million renovation. So this is what I drew up, which isn't drastically different from the existing stadium in terms of size or shape. It will be more functional for both the Royals and CWS however. First, the permanent portion of the stadium would seat 15,000. The grandstand would have 40 rows, 20 in the lower bowl and 20 in the upper bowl around the infield. The lower bowl would seat 7,000 and the upper bowl would seat 5,500. The club level above the grandstand would seat 2,000, and the 30 suites above the club level would seat 500. This new club/suite level would provide more revenue for the Royals and CWS. Four portable bleacher sections would be moved in down the baselines and in the outfield for the CWS, with a capacity of 13,000, for a total of 28,000.

Some of the planning for the New Rosenblatt has only a 9,000 seat grandstand and 20,000 portable seats. I think that would look terrible, to have 70% of the stadium be portable. 15,000 is pretty big, but in line with AAA ballparks in Indianapolis, Louisville, and Memphis. I think my plan has a good balance. The CWS would have to move for a year while this new stadium is being built on the same site. I might suggest Wrigley Field would make a good foster home for this event. The Royals could continue to play at old Rosenblatt while construction of the new stadium takes place, as none of the new grandstand would overlap the field or existing stadium.

New San Francisco Stadium

2007-10-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

This is a stadium idea I've been working on for some time: San Francisco. It takes a lot longer to draw a football stadium like this than anything else becasue they are much bigger, with more rows of seating and detail. But it's done and it turned out pretty well. It's capacity would be 69,600, and could be increased by expanding the upper deck in the end zones. The lower bowl would seat 39,000 in 47 rows. The gold seats in the lower bowl would be the 12 rows of club seating along the side lines. The upper levels along the side lines would seat 28,700 in 38 rows. There would be two suite levels, one between the lower and upper levels along the sideline, and then above the upper deck in an upper press/suite level as seen in many college stadiums.

Brooklyn Nets Arena

2007-10-20T07:38:00.001-07:00

Apparently, the Nets are going to eventually move to a new arena in Brooklyn if the development ever gets approved. Some famous architect was designing the arena, but the sketches of the exterior look like hell and I think the whole thing is on hold for now.

So I drew up my own sketch of what I think a new Nets arena should look like. Notice first of all that the floor is shorter, not long enough for hockey. There are already 3 hockey arenas in the NYC area, I think this arena would be better served as a basketball first venue, keeping the seats closer to the floor. I also stacked many of the 96 suites on the West side of the court, like in Atlanta. Many think that was a good design idea.

This arena would hold 17,600 spectators. There would be 850 Club seats shown in gold on the West side of the court. I also used a 650 seat retractable gymnasium style wooden bleacher section in the lower level on the north end of the court. That would be to replicate a college type atmosphere in that particular section; the rowdy fans would like this section. The rest of the lower level would seat 3,800. The second level would have 7,160 seats and be 26 rows high on the ends and 16 rows high on the east side of the court. The balcony would seat 3,700 in 22 rows on the east side of the court.

New York Islanders Arena

2007-04-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is a diagram for a new arena for the New York Islanders Hockey team. This arena would have a capacity of 17,100. The lower bowl would be a horse shoe shape and would have 6,400 seats in 22 rows. The orange seats would be a 9 row club level along the side boards, seating 1,500. The upper balconies above that would have 19 rows and seat 3,500. The end balcony would have 26 rows and seat 4,300. There would also be a small folding bleacher section on the North end, seating 600. There would be 50 suites as well.

Why would I put 48 rows on one end and have just the pull out bleachers on the other end? Two reasons. First, people like to sit in the home team's shoot twice end, so here there would be many more seats in that end. Second, and more importantly, all 17,100 seats in the arena would have an end stage view, unlike most arenas where the grandstand goes all the way around the rink where up to 5,000 seats lose a view of the stage. With floor seating, the useful end stage concert capacity for this arena would be around 20,000, which would make it one of the largest and most ideal concert use arenas in the nation.

This is a very different design and I'm interested in your comments. Hope you like it.

The Orlandome

2007-02-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

Orlandome-Basketball Configuration

Orlandome-Citrus Bowl Configuration

A reader from Orlando had suggested a new multipurpose stadium for Orlando. The city is proposing a new Orlando Magic arena and a $175 million dollar upgrade to the Citrus Bowl, which is rarely used. The suggestion was to create a multipurpose dome for both the Orlando Magic and the Citrus (oh wait, I mean Capital One) Bowl.

Unfortunately, the multi-purpose dome format for football and basketball has beentried several times and has never been successful. The Spurs played at the Alamodome for 11 years and got a new arena. The Pistons played at the Silverdome for 10 years and got a new arena. The Raptors played at the SkyDome for 3 years and got a new arena. The Supersonics played at the Kingdome off and on for a while, then quit. The Timberwolves played at the Metrodome and got a new arena. Convincing the Magic to commit to this would be next to impossible

The major problem with the football to basketball set up is that so many seats tend to be miles from the court, and suites are throughout the whole building, not concentrated near the court end. A typical NBA Arena has about 40-50 rows of seats, while a typical football stadium has 70-80. Plus, seats in a football stadium are so spread out that they aren't necessarily directed at the court.

For the Magic to be prime tenants of such a building, their needs would come first. You can no longer build a football stadium and plop a basketball court on the floor, put up some temp bleachers and call it good. All that said, I think a good basketball/football hybrid can be constructed. If one can tighten the football playing field up to get it less than 250 feet across, then retractable bleachers can fill some floor space to create a decent basketball seating arrangement.

So this is my Orlandome; the idea was to create an arena setting first for the Magic, while being expandable for the Citrus Bowl. This stadium would seat 19,800 for basketball and 60,000 for football. The lower 23 rows of the football bowl on the sidelines would retract, while the lower 23 rows of seating on the West end would push Eastward 315 feet and lock in to form a complete bowl withthe Eastern end zone stands. These stands would be accessed by a temporary elevated walkway connected to the main walkway and a larger portal shown in dark grey. Eight rows of seats would also retract from the bottom of this bowl (shown in grey) to form a perfect bowl for hockey, and this would also work for basketball, which is often played on a hockey rink floor. 99 suites would be in the building, and 78 (shown in light blue) would have a good view of a basketball game, surrounding the court on three sides, at the lower, club, and suite levels. Club seats (shown in gold) would also be accessed from the club level. Finally, a smaller balcony would be used on the basketball end of the dome, with 12 rows, instead of 31 rows like the rest of the stadium. The thick blue line would indicate where curtains would go, creating a true arena atmosphere. The arena in basketball configuration would have 50 rows of seats on the North,East, and South side of the court, and 31 rows on the West side, which is not nearly as asymmetrical as other dome setups. Converting back to a football seating arrangement would involve:

1. Folding up the retractable grey seating closest to the floor

2. Removing the temporary elevated walkway

3. Moving the West end zone stands back to their original position

4. Unfolding the lower sideline stands.

The Basketball Court could be moved to the West end of the dome and utilize the large balcony for a Final Four, and gain increased seating for approximately 35,000

Hope you like it

New Notre Dame Ice Arena

2007-02-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

I'm a big college hockey fan, particularly of Michigan State. Somehow Notre Dame, perennial CCHA doormat, has become the #2 ranked team nationally. Michigan State in in the unfamilar position of looking up at them in the standings. Good for them, they've been bad for a long time before this.

Anyway, they've got a silly looking hockey rink. It's little more than a sheet of ice with some temporary bleachers set up around it; now they deserve better. So here it is; a plan for for a better rink for a better team. This arena would have a total capacity of 4,525, with 2,900 seats in 12 rows around the lower bowl, 1,350 seats in an upper bleacher section along the East side of the rink. 8 suites and a press box would be in an upper level on the West side of the rink. There would be some standing room for overflow on the North end of the rink.

New Pittsbugh Penguins Arena

2007-01-13T12:16:00.000-08:00

Facade of New Pittsburgh Penguins Arena
Cross Section of New Pittsburgh Penguins Arena

Lower Bowl, New Pittsburgh Penguins Arena

Club Level, New Pittsburgh Penguins Arena

Balcony, New Pittsburgh Penguins Arena

This is a second plan I've created for a new Pittsburgh Penguins Arena. It is a bit more conventional looking than the first arena I drew. I'm not so great at drawing the exterior facade as I am an the interior plans, but it turned out OK. It has steel and glass octagonal arches, kind of like at the football and baseball stadiums, and some sloped landscaping that I wasn't too detailed with.

The arena itself would have a capacity of 17,850, with total dimensions of 430 ft in length, 325 feet in width, and 117 feet from roof peak to ice level (Building would be dug into the ground some, arena would be 98 feet tall from street level). 8,800 seats would be in the lower bowl, in 24 rows around the rink. On the main concourse, 48 suites would be behind the lower seating bowl. The second level would be a club level, with 4 rows of 1,450 total club seats and 46 suites, for a total of 94 suites on two levels. The third level would be the balcony, which would be split, with 7 rows around the rink, and 6 more rows above those except on the ends. The total capacity would be 5,700 in the balcony. Then two restaurant/bars would be in the blue areas in the balcony, with a capacity of 400 more.

I hope you like it. I also hope the Penguins stay in Pittsburgh, they are an "original 12" team if you will.

New Los Angeles Coliseum

2006-12-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

Football Configuration-14 Rows added to lower level

Track and Field Configuration

This is a diagram of a project I've been trying to figure out for a while. A new LA coliseum is the centerpiece of NFL expansion efforts and the Los Angeles 2016 bid for the Summer Olympics. The existing coliseum was built in 1923, and has hosted just about every major outdoor sporting event in the United States. LA Coliseum is much like early Soldier Field and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, track and field stadiums at or near 100,000 capacity but not great venues for football due to the size of the playing field.

The LA Coliseum's major flaw was that the length of the field was about 650 feet, even longer than necessary for track and field, and was awful for football which has only a 360 foot field. Then when the stadium was remodeled after the earthquake, the field was lowered, rows of seats were added toward the field, the football gridiron was moved to the West end of the field. and temporary bleachers were added on the east part of the field. This improved the stadium as a football venue, but cut out the most important architectural feature from spectator view, the peristyle arches and olympic torch at the East end of the stadium.

My plan would construct a new two-level grandstand along the sidelines, while retaining the original peristyle entrance and East end seating. For football, capacity would be 81,500, and USC football can fill those as we've seen. The lower bowl would have 57 rows. The lower 14 rows (bright red) would be removed for track and field events, and the upper 8 rows along the sidelines would contain 6,000 club seats (gold). 76 suites would sit behind the club seats, and 26 more would be in a South tower above the second level, for a total of 102 suites. The upper levels along each sideline would hold 27,000. The stadium configuration wouldn't be quite as long as the existing Coliseum, so both ends of this new stadium could be used for football seating.

To convert to track and field, the lower 14 rows (About 10,000 seats) would be removed and the field raised about 16 feet, so the track wouldn't sit below the sightline of the spectators. Then about 4,000 seats would be added above the West end of the stadium, raising capacity back to 75,500 for track and field. This work could be done between the end of football season and the beginning of the Olympics, and football could still be played with the track and field configuration the season after the Olympics, but sightlines wouldn't be as good.

New Marlins Stadium

2006-11-26T07:21:00.000-08:00

This is another idea for a new Florida Marlins stadium. I just did it yesterday, and it turned out really nice. This stadium would hold 39,000. The grandstand will have three levels. The main level will be split between 15 rows of lower field seats (cap. 7,000) and 26 rows of lower grandstand seats (cap. 15,000). The second level will be comprise of 58 suites (cap. 1,000) and a restaurant down the right field line. The third level will contain 6 rows of club seats shown in light blue (cap 2,000), 13-14 rows of upper grandstand seats (cap 11,000) and the press box. The grey stand in left field will be 3,000 bleacher seats. Dimensions are LF-340, LCF-380, CF-417, RCF-400, RF-336

Las Vegas Stadium

2006-11-18T21:42:00.000-08:00

Vegas Dome, Hockey Configuration

Vegas Dome, Football Configuration

Vegas Dome, Baseball Configuration

This is a new concept drawing for a Domed Stadium in Las Vegas. My first dome wasn't a good multipurpose arrangement, and not good for football. I think this stadium would be best, a large multipurpose venue, capable of hosting baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. Seating would be on three levels, a lower level with a split bowl containing about 32,000 seats, a club suite level with 82 suites and a capacity of about 8,000, and an upper level with 27 rows and a capacity of 24,000. Total football capacity is 64,000. Also, above the North sideline, a hotel/casino would have about 100 hotel rooms and a restaurant on 6 floors with a view of the field.

The right field lower bowl folds in to make room for the baseball field, and the upper outfield seats could be curtained off to make a baseball capacity of 50,000. This stadium would be better than the Metrodome for baseball, as the seats in left and right field corners are angled more toward the diamond, and there would not be as many seats quite as high in right field as at other multipurpose stadiums.

Retractable seats could be used to fill in space between the grandstand and a hockey rink or basketball court as seen above. This setup could be used for exhibitions and all-star games, or if a professional team came to Las Vegas. The capactiy for hockey or basketball with the East portion of the venue curtained off would be 32,500, perfect for a Final Four (as if!). Plus, this arena could be used for concerts and boxing too, so I think its about time Vegas builds something big like this, everything else in that town is.

Boston Garden Drawing

2006-10-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

New Boston Garden, Balcony and Suites Included
New Boston Garden-Lower Level Only

Someone asked me about making a drawing for a larger sized Boston Garden that was true to the original design. I've heard people don't really like the Fleet Center, or what ever the hell its called now. Many people wish what was built actually looked like the old Garden, beyond the yellow paint. So here is what some believe should have been built, a large form of the classic Boston Garden. This Garden has 21,000 seats, 7,500 in the expanded 15 row balcony, 6,300 in the 14 row stadium level, and 6,200 in the 20 row loge/promenade level. 68 double stacked suites would hang above it all, just as before. With the large overhangs, some stadium and balcony seats would still be obstructed, but with the higher capacity, it wouldn't be such a big deal.

What struck me about the floor plans of Boston Garden was how oblong it was. The balconies and stadium level had more rows on the ends than the sides, and the balcony was pushed back more at the ends, which is reflected in the drawing. Beside adding more rows overall, more seating was added along the sides to make the rows even throughout. The balcony in the old garden only had 9 or 10 rows along the side and 15 on the ends. The stadium level was also about 6 rows deeper on the ends in the old garden, so much of the seating through the old arena was on the ends.

In the NHL, two more arenas will likely be built in the near future, in Pittsbugh and Detroit. Detroit has a chance to bring back a classic that was similar to Boston Garden, the Olympia Stadium. I'm going to make a drawing for a new Olympia kind of like I did with the Boston Garden. Many say that the Olympia, from a sightline stand point, was the best of the original six arenas. I think the Red Wings should take a chance and build something that is very similar to the old Olympia, becasue we don't have anything that resembles an original six arena anymore.

Thanks to Robert for the idea, floor plans and photos,
I hope you all like this drawing, let me know what you think.

MLS/Football Stadium

2006-10-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

This is a stadium for an MLS team and other football games. It is horseshoe shaped with 24,000 seats, 19,000 in the lower bowl, 4,500 in the south upper deck, and 500 in 27 suites above the north stand. The stadium can also be used for college and high school football. The East end of the stadium has the scoreboard, and a grass bank for overflow crowds, extending the capacity to 28,000.

Monolithic Dome

2006-08-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

I saw this monolithic dome web site as one of my random daily ad sponsors. They've got a pretty cool site. They talked a little about monolithic dome arenas and I thought it would be kind of cool to make a perfect circle arena for a monolithic dome. This arena would have a 350 foot circumference and 14,000 seats. This includes 8,500 seats in the lower level, 4,700 in the upper level, and 800 in the 48 suites. This would be a good college size or minor league arena.

Ryan Field-2016 Chicago Olympic Stadium

2006-06-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

New Ryan Field with Track

New Ryan Field with Football Gridiron and Closer End Bleachers

Neighborhood of Current Ryan Field above, and New Ryan Field Below
This is a challenging concept that one of my readers gave me. Apparently Chicago is in the running for the 2016 Olympics, and there needs to be an Olympic Stadium in the bid. The only plausible use for a sports team after the Olympics would be the Northwestern Wildcats football team, as the Chicago Bears new flying saucer can't accomodate track and field any more. So the reader asked for a plan to renovate Ryan Field as a possible Olympic Stadium.

I've never been to Ryan Field, but I've watched enough Big Ten football and seen enough pictures that I know what it looks like. I don't think a simple renovation would be adequate for Ryan Field, it would have to be nearly completely rebuilt. The existing field of play is too narrow for Olympic track and field. However, I think the West stands, which appear to be the main grandstand, could be incorporated into a new Olympic Stadium. The West stand is pretty cool looking, with towers on each end and a unique sloping balcony. However, the rest of the stadium looks unremarkable, and a ton of seats would have to be added anyway, so here is the plan.

- Keep the West main grandstand, remove benches, and replace with actual seats. This looks like about 25,000 capacity by my scale.

- Tear down the other seating. Replace with structure containing 46,000 seats. with 20,000 capacity in the lower bowl, 12,000 in the upper bowl, and 11,000 in an eastern upper deck. 3,000 more seats will be in a club/suite level high above the stadium like other Big Ten schools. I had more end seating in an original plan, but after looking at the city map, I saw that I would have torn through lots of buildings, including the basketball arena, so I had to change the plan to have more sideline seats.

Bleachers could be added between the endzone and main seating bowl to create closer football stands like the LA Coliseum. Total capacity is 71,000. This is short of the 80,000 standard for the Olympics, but Athens was a little short too and got away with it, and 80,000 would be a really tight squeeze at this site. With a good bid from Chicago, that could be overlooked, considering there would be a good use for the stadium after the games; unlike many Olympic venues. The stadium could be downsized after the Olympics for use by Northwestern football, as 71,000 might be a bit much for them. However, I think the track should be maintained after the Olympics, because there are almost no large track and field stadiums remaining in the US any more, and Chicago could host lots of non-Olympic track and field and big soccer matches if they have the best stadium in the nation for it; it could be more or less the permanent national stadium.

Let me know what you think.

New Orlando Arena

2006-05-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

Someone asked about what a new Orlando Arena might look like. It probably won't look like this, but this is a recent arena I drew, and I think it would be cool for the Orlando NBA team. This is quite a bit different from most arenas, I made this in an 8 pointed star shape, which actually turned out pretty cool and might work nicely for basketball, the acoustics might need some work however. Anyway, the particulars are for a 17,800 capacity, consisting of 8,600 upper seats, 2,000 club seats, 5,400 main level seats and 800 floor seats. Also, 64 suites would be in the building, 40 on the club level, and 24 in 8 towers stacked 3 high, as has been done in some other newer stadiums. I didn't accomodate hockey in this arena, the current arena doesn't have much for ice shows or hockey.

I hope you like this design, its quite a bit different. I haven't updated the site recently, as I'm somewhat out of ideas and busy with other things. If you have an idea, let me know. I will update the site as I get more ideas and drawings, but less frequently for the time being.
TS

Newark Coliseum-New Jersey Devils Arena

2006-03-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

This is a drawing for a new arena for the New Jersey Devils. It is quite a bit different than a typical hockey arena, as the seating is in an oval shape on the main level doesn't exactly follow around the ice sheet. There would be a 2,500 seat lower club level shown in gold around the rink. The main seating bowl is shown in red, with a 3,500 seat middle bowl with 10 rows and a 9,500 seat upper bowl with between 16 and 23 rows. There would be 60 suites at the top, seating 1,200; total capacity would be about 17,000. I think this would be a cool design; as many hockey arenas look about the same in the seating areas now.

Sacramento Arena

2006-03-23T20:37:00.000-08:00

This is a design for a new arena in Sacramento, California for the NBA Kings and Hockey. Seating Capacity is 19,700 for basketball and 18,600 for hockey. There are 12,000 seats in the lower bowl, 6,000 seats in the balcony, and 1,500 seats in 78 suites and the Club on the West End. This is a good arena for basketball, seats on the ends are close to the floor.

For hockey, rows 14-25 retract into the wall, leaving rows 1 through 12 on the floor near the ice. Removable stairwells are added in row 13 to get people down to the floor seats. I think this solves two problems. In basketball oriented buildings, the ice rink is shoved to one end and nearly the entire lower bowl is removed at that end. Then the upper seats can't see the near goal, they are too high and close to the ice, which was a problem for the Phoenix Coyotes in their former building. The Delta Center also suffered from this during the 2002 Winter Olympics, it was a terrible venue for ice sports. This wouldn't be a problem here, only 12 rows are taken out from each end. In hockey oriented buildings, the rows of seating on the ends are often far removed from the court or not really on risers near the court. This problem is eliminated in this arena as well.

New York Mets Olympic Stadium Plan

2006-03-17T05:31:00.000-08:00

You can see my enitre plan for an Olympic Park at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, including a new Olympic/New York Mets stadium at this website: http://www.mvpmods.com/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=42. This site is hosting a ballpark design contest, so you can see other entries as well.
TS

New Columbus Clippers Ballpark

2006-02-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

This is the first minor league park I've made a drawing for. It is also the first time I used an actual site to plan the park. This is where the Columbus Clippers are planning to build a new ballpark, near the Blue Jackets hockey arena; and the outfield looks at downtown pretty nicely here. Right field turned out pretty cool, it would be a short home run distance with 25 foot wall running along Nationwide Blvd. Outfield Distances would be 345-385-405-350-330. The deepest corner of left center would be about 435 feet. The grandstand would seat about 9,100; it would have 16 rows in a lower level and 9 rows in the upper level. There would be a club/press level with 30 suites. Then down the left field line and beyond the fence, there will be a grass berm wrapping around the foul pole for overflow seating; this would hold 2,500 fans. The total capacity of the new park would be 12,200. I hope you like it.

Howe Arena-Detroit Red Wings

2006-02-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

Main Entry Facade

Grandstand Cross Section

New Olympia Stadium Site Plan

Main Level

Olympia Club Level

Main Level, Wing-Hi Suites

These are some pictures from my New Olympia Stadium plan, a new arena for the Detroit Red Wings. You can see a more detailed version at

http://www.newolympia.blogspot.com/.

This arena would seat 19,700, and it would have 118 suites. The arena would be located in downtown Detroit, behind the Fox Theatre. The entire arena would be as essentially a larger version of the Old Olympia Stadium, a 14,500 seat arena where the Detroit Red Wings played from 1927-1979. It was torn down in 1986.

New Tampa Bay Stadium

2006-02-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

This is a new ballpark idea for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They are going to eventually move out of the dome they are in, in spite of its relatively recent construction. It just hasn't worked well for them. I have two diagrams here. I know the Rays don't have lots of money right now, so the top diagram is of a new 31,000 seat stadium that could be build relatively inexpensively. It has one large single deck grandstand split into a lower 10,000 seat bowl and and upper 13,500 seat bowl that goes into left center field. There would be a club/luxury level above that with 40 suites and 2,500 club seats. The grey seating in the outfield would be 5,000 bleachers. The blue area above the right field corner stands would be a big restaurant club. I think 31,000 seats would be a good start for the Rays. They are pretty much starting from scratch trying to build a fan base again.

However, the park should be build to accomodate an upper deck over top of the club/luxury level should it be needed, and that is depicted in the second diagram. This upper deck would hold 10,000, bringing the whole ballpark to 41,000. The upper level would be slightly tapered, getting smaller into foul territory, which would make it look a little different.

New Northwestern Fieldhouse

2006-01-28T07:37:00.000-08:00

I wanted to try a college basketball arena, but I couldn't really think of too many colleges that could use a new arena. Northwestern University in Evanston came to mind. Northwestern has the smallest arena in the Big Ten; and I know their team isn't usually very good, but that could change some day. Northewestern is everybody's second favorite team in the Big Ten; everyone likes Northwestern. So here is my new Fieldhouse for the Wildcats. The fieldhouse would seat about 13,000. There would be retractable wood student bleachers nearest the floor (yellow) that seat about 2,500. The main level would seat about 7,000. The purple rows along the sidelines would be chairs and the grey rows on the ends bleachers. The balconies would hold about 3,000, and the 28 suites about 500. The scoreboards would be on each end, and I think this seating arrangement sets it up to look like an older style fieldhouse, which would be cool.

New Miami Stadium

2006-01-18T19:17:00.000-08:00

The Marlins would be total fools to move to another city. Miami is the 6th largest metropolitan area in the nation, more than 5 million people in total. Of the cities they are looking at moving to, Portland is 25th, San Antonio 29th, Las Vegas is 36th, and Charlotte 37th, all with less than 2 million in population. Any owner with half a brain and a World Almanac could figure out that moving to one of these small market cities with 40% of the population base is probably not going to help the bottom line. The Marlins drew 23,000 a game last year; not great, but they aren't nearly in Expos territory either. And the odds of that figure increasing in Portland, San Antonio, Las Vegas or Charlotte are laughable. And I love baseball and everything, but even I can think of better things to do in Las Vegas.

But I digress. This is a diagram of a new stadium for the Marlins. The owners should build an open air stadium like this, and forget the retractable roof. I know games get rained out sometimes, but it takes a lot of rainouts and incremental attendance decreases to pay for a $100 million dollar roof on a stadium. Maybe play more day games, before the heat of the afternoon kicks up thunderstorms.

The stadium has a capacity of 37,000. 17,000 would be in the lower grandstand, split between lower boxes (9,500) and reserved (7,500). The second level would be the club/suite level, with 1,500 club seats and 45 suites. The upper level would hold 11,000, the left field bleachers would hold 6,000, and the restaurant/bar in the left field corner would hold 500. The right field wall would be tall like Fenway (25 feet is probably enough though) right in front of a street, but the top 15 feet would be wire mesh, so the grandstand could see downtown beyond it.

Hope you like it.
TS

Soccer at the Corner-Tiger Stadium Renovation

2006-01-14T08:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a idea I can't believe hasn't been persued yet. The city of Detroit is broke, it can't afford to do anything with Tiger Stadium, even tear it down. Old Tiger Stadium sits there next to I-75 and it still looks good from the outside, hardly different than when last used. The city of Detroit doesn't need 3 huge outdoor stadiums, but it might use a smaller one for less major uses. I think everyone wants to see Tiger Stadium preserved somehow, but it needs to be used for that to occur.

Major League Soccer is now an established league (its getting there, anyway). The average attendance for an MLS game is about 15,000, and has been for a while. I think there are some soccer fans in Metro Detroit, and MLS may expand again soon. So I think the City of Detroit should think about offering Tiger Stadium to MLS for $1; the city is just hemorraging money on it right now. MLS could scale down Tiger Stadium to a 30,000 seat stadium by tearing down all of the right field stands, and most of the upper deck except for along the existing 3rd base line; then add a bleacher section in existing left field to be closer to the soccer game. I think this configuration would make for a really good soccer stadium, people would come to see old Tiger Stadium back in use again, and MLS would get a piece of history that it really doesn't have right now; granted, updating old Tiger Stadium might cost about as much as building a new soccer stadium. And the stadium could also be used for high school and Eastern Michigan football, and it might be a good venue for concerts and US Soccer matches. I think the old stadium could still be used 40-50 times a year; let me know what you think.

(This is just a seating chart I found and modified. It's not quite as good as my other drawings.)

Madison Square Garden V

2006-01-12T14:51:00.000-08:00

This is a diagram for a new Madison Square Garden. I've heard that they might build a new Garden in the next few years, so here is my idea. The new Garden would seat 22,000 for hockey and 23,000 for basketball, making it one of the larger arenas in America. It would have 3 levels; the upper balconies would be highest at midcourt/center ice, and taper at the ends, which is good. There would be 104 luxury boxes, and the red seats along the sides would be the club seating on the second level, for about 1,800. For smaller events and concerts, the upper balconies could be closed, and the arena would seat about 15,000. I hope you like it.

New Pittsburgh Auditorium

2006-01-07T18:30:00.000-08:00

I did a few things with this idea. First, I have the seating arrangement like the other drawings. I also made a cross-section diagram and a drawing of what the front would look like. This is an arena that is really classic looking and not in a fake way, kind of like Detroit's Olympia. There would be windows into the arena seating area, which would be very different too. The arena would hold 18,500; including 10,000 in the lower bowl, 7,000 in upper balconies, and 1,500 in 78 suites.

New York Mets Olympic Stadium

2006-01-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

This stadium seating diagram show a proposed configuration for a New York Mets baseball stadium and a relatively simple conversion to host Athletics events for the Summer Olympic Games if New York is chosen as a host city. The stadium would seat 55,000 for baseball and 78,000 for the Olympic Games.

One of the advantages of this arrangement is that the baseball sitelines would still be normal, but the "bent elbow" that made seating behind home plate so far away and at such a bad angle for track and field would not be needed. This would make for a much more impressive seating arrangement for the Olympics.

Also, no outfield seats would have to be reconstructed after the Olympics using this arrangement. The 11,000 outfield seats could be moved straight back about 200 feet, similar to Mile High Stadium in Denver. These seats would then be incorporated into the Olympic Stadium seating bowl, as 22,000 temporary seats would be added in between to create the seating bowl for the Olympics. After the Olympics, the temporary seats would be removed, and the outdield stands pushed back to their normal baseball location. The lighter colored sections in the track and field drawing represent temporary stands.

Ebbets Field Reincarnate

2006-01-07T12:17:00.000-08:00

This is a drawing of a second proposal for a New York Mets stadium. The field dimensions are exactly the same as Ebbets Field. The grandstand design would be very similar to Ebbets Field, although it would be larger; this park would seat 43,500. The darker blue seats would be box seats, in front of the support columns, and there would be 28,000 of these seats. There would be about 14,000 reserved seats behind posts, shown in lighter blue shading. There would also be 55 suites hung under the upper deck similar to Wrigley Field. I think the reintroduction of posts in this stadium wouldn't be a bad thing. Nobody says a bad word about Wrigley Field, and it has supports in the grandstand. I think if the Mets were to build a larger replica of old Ebbets field like this, posts and all, it would totally one up a new Yankee Stadium. Heck, build in Brooklyn and be the Brooklyn Mets, that would be pretty cool too.

Oakland Ballpark

2006-01-07T11:54:00.000-08:00

This is my drawing of a new Oakland Ballpark. I thought the proposed ballpark was strange and messy, with lots of weird seating arrangements with no practical purposes, especially in the outfield. This is a cleaned up proposal. This would have 35,000 seats, just like the proposed park. It would have a main level infield stand that held about 17,000. It would have an upper deck that held about 10,000; then also about 1,000 outfield seats and 6,000 outfield bleachers. There would be two suite sections, 40 normal suites under the upper deck and a separate building down the left field foul line with about 40 "mini suites". There would be a restaurant/night club down the right field line, and then a big scoreboard and bullpens in dead center.

I just don't think that strange looking stadium proposal was right, especially considering they want to have it sit more or less on its own across from a parking lot away from downtown. Quirky asymmetry is good when you have an existing road grid and a constrained plot of land like Fenway Park. But if you have a clean palatte, it's fake, not as cool, and more expensive.

Washington Stadium

2006-01-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

This is a drawing for a new Washington Nationals Stadium in Washington D.C. It would seat right around 50,000. It would have 3 levels; the first level would have a lower bowl and an upper bowl separated by a walkway where people enter from the concourse. The gold seats would be club seats, blue would be field boxes, bright red are regular boxes, dark red are reserved, and grey in the outfield are bleachers. The second level is 80 suites and a press box. The 3 level would be the upper deck.

I think this park should be symetrical. Washington D.C. has always been a planned city, and all the other big monuments and streets have been symmetrical if you think about it, and the stadium should be too. It should look like a monument too, large and stately with a big ornate roof over the upper deck sort of like old Yankee Stadium. Washington D.C. is a place where big buildings were meant to stick out and be seen, and this stadium should be too.

Twins/Vikings/Gophers Stadium

2006-01-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

This is an idea for a multipurpose stadium for football and baseball in Minnesota. The Twins, Vikings, and Gophers could all play in it. Everybody has given up on the multipurpose stadium. But all the sports teams in Minnesota want their own stadium and nobody wants to pay for them. A multipurpose stadium could save $500 million, and I think if somebody really tried to build a nice one, it could work. I have a model seating bowl here for football and baseball. I think the sitelines can work, and if built with the right material (not just concrete), it would be a nice football and baseball stadium. It might be a little small for the NFL (60,000) and a little big for baseball (55,000), but think of the money saved if it really worked well.

This stadium would have three levels. The lower level in left field would have 5,000 retracting seats for football. There would be 4,000 bleacher seats in right field. The main upper deck would go along the foul lines for baseball, and a separate upper deck and press box would be in left field, similar to Metropolitan Stadium, and these would be used just for football usually.

I kept the far end of the stadium more open so wouldn't be a huge bowl all the way around, and this would suit baseball well. And the Twins shouldn't complain about having too many seats. They aren't really hurting anything, and they are there for a big playoff game. There is a separate upper deck in left they can just not use when they don't need it.

I hope you like these drawings, I probably put more time into these than any other.

Minnesota Golden Gophers Stadium

2006-01-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

This is a new stadium drawing idea for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team. This stadium would have about 51,000 seats. There would be a lower bowl of chairback seats around the whole stadium about 35 rows deep. Then there would be an upper bowl making a horseshoe around the stadium with about 25 more rows of bleacher seating. Above that would be a suite level on each side, about 40 suites, and then a press box above it on one sideline. The open end zone would have a big scoreboard.

San Diego Stadium

2006-01-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

This is a drawing I made for a new football stadium for San Diego. It is a horseshoe type of design and it would seat about 69,000 people, with 75 suites on the second level with the club seats. I think this one turned out pretty nice.

Updated Rose Bowl

2006-01-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

This is a drawing for an updated Rose Bowl I made. Most of the current stadium would be used; along the sidelines, some of the upper seats would be torn down, 75 luxury boxes would be added at row 44 of the existing bowl, and a new upper deck would be added. More aisles and entry ways would be added, and most of the bleachers would be replaced with seats, except for the upper ends, that would remain bleachers. The capacity would be about 74,000; this would be a really nice NFL stadium then.