Despite a pleasant mountain breeze swirling through the foothills of the Smokies, Zack Roskop had to close his doors and windows as soon as 3:30 a.m. struck. The game of the millennium was in town.
Sixth-placed Tennessee welcomed No. 3 Alabama to Knoxville; The third Saturday in October finally had an impact on the postseason for the first time in nearly two decades.
A 33-year Knoxvillian and owner of the Knox Brew Hub downtown, Roskop knows how noisy Neyland Stadium gets on any Saturday, let alone this one. He and his die-hard patrons couldn’t let the seismic noise of the crowd and the celebratory fireworks spoil the outcome, which could otherwise be heard from Sacred Ground less than a mile away.
Roskop’s preemptive measures were just enough to prevent Neyland’s triumphant roar and one final firework display from penetrating his bar. Thirty seconds later, as CBS sent Chase McGrath’s game-winning field goal fluttering through the post, the Knox Brew Hub erupted in shameless tears and indiscriminate hugs.
In a brief psychic moment, Roskop addressed his bartenders with a cautionary message: “Buckle your seat belts; in about 45 minutes it will just be mass chaos” – before the final call bell rang to declare the next round was on the house.
Indeed, tens of thousands emerged from the Neyland Greenway enveloped in a billowing cloud of cigar smoke. A sea of orange and white swept through dense downtown Knoxville — its tributaries fueled by Roskop’s Bar and pretty much every other eatery in the area — and united in chants of “It’s great to be a Volunteer.”
Neyland Stadium is in the heart of Knoxville, both figuratively – the city of about 190,000 people stands still on game days – and geographically. Nestled on the southeast corner of campus and overlooking the mighty Tennessee River, the greenway and red brick architecture create short, pleasant walks to bustling downtown (18 minutes) or the Cumberland Strip (12 minutes).
An aerial view of Neyland Stadium.
Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel/USA TODAY Network
On game days, that proximity creates a flowing sea of all things Tennessee football — Roskop doesn’t give newbies to the Rocky Top directions, instead advising them to simply find a parking spot near downtown and “follow the flow.”
“It’s definitely electric, really an immersive environment,” says James Tourville, owner of Knoxville’s Literboard and SouthSide Garage bars. “I would say it’s hard to replicate anywhere else in the nation with how many people enter the stadium and find their way around the area and walkability is a big part of that.”
Neyland Stadium’s urbanity is largely unrivaled in US sports — a nation of once-paved, now-slick venues surrounded by asphalt moats — and finds much of its stiffest competition squarely in the Southeastern Conference and college football landscape .
“College football encourages urbanism and pedestrian social behavior in a way that few other activities do,” said Tim Chapin, dean of Florida’s College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. “That’s true both on a university campus and in society in general.”
Good urbanism is a rather nebulous notion, dependent on context and location rather than an idyllic gold standard – for example, Starkville will always look a bit different to New York or Tokyo.
But in the eyes of Tim Kellison, director of the Center for Sports and Urban Policy in the State of Georgia, there are several general criteria for creating good urban spaces: walkability, less reliance on cars, connectivity to public transportation, accessibility, adaptability, and most importantly, when Viewing stadiums contributes to the sense of space.
Most SEC stadiums date back to the earliest eras of US sports – only Kroger Field in Kentucky was built after 1940. These were times when these above urbanistic features were non-negotiable for stadium design and city life in general. Stadiums had to be accessible by foot or public transportation and quickly became extensions of their surrounding neighborhoods, best exemplified by the legendary jewel box baseball fields that once dotted the downtown areas of major US cities.
Widespread adoption of the automobile and flare-ups of racial tensions caused white, economically mobile Americans to flee to the suburbs, and many professional sports teams followed their key demographics to exceptional venues that were distant or remote from the city center. Take the Philadelphia Phillies, who abandoned the French Renaissance facade and vibrant Swampoodle neighborhood of Connie Mack Stadium in favor of the empty Veterans Stadium on the Delaware Expressway in 1971 to form them.
The American Enterprise Institute has a handy tool that will tell you if a given location is within a 10-minute walk of at least six different amenities, from restaurants to supermarkets to hardware stores. And although the average SEC college town has a population of around 175,000, all stadiums in the conference bar pass one (you guessed it, Kentucky); only 63% of NFL franchises meet the same standard.
With most fans commuting from the predominantly rural South, cars are the primary means of transport on matchdays. But while most professional stadiums have desolate surface parking lots, SEC drivers generally find much further parking spots and can experience the atmosphere on foot.
“For SEC games, you park across campus and you’re not necessarily unhappy about it,” says Kellison. “You probably have strong ties, not just to the stadium or the team, but also to the infrastructure, buildings, quads or the ovals that you can either retrace your steps on or show off to your kids or grandkids.”
Auburn’s famous Toomer’s Corner is less than a mile from Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Chapin compares SEC game days to the Disney World experience. It’s a sea of normally immobile people who are motivated to go wherever they can because of the unique and captivating atmosphere.
Narrow, pleasant corridors lined with local flora meander between memorable buildings for students and alumni alike, guiding fans from their tailgate to the stadium. Vibrant downtown areas teeming with personality and authenticity are often less than a mile away – open for VolSacks (Capri Sun and Vodka) at the Fort Sanders Yacht Club, just half a mile from Neyland Stadium – all amid an intoxicating maelstrom of community and local pride .
“It’s a hypersocial experience,” says Chapin. “80,000 people come and celebrate a big party, not only in the stadium but also outside. It’s a really nice way of celebrating football to bring us back together and how good design is important in that.”
Despite the almost religious role these stadiums play on the SEC campus, they are only guaranteed to be used six to seven Saturdays a year. Finding alternative uses for the venue, or “activating the space,” as Mark Rosentraub, a professor of urban planning at the University of Michigan, puts it, is becoming particularly important for football.
“You have to try to figure out how to make a neighborhood vital when we have this anchor, which can only have 10 to 12 events a year,” says Rosentraub. “Each market situation is different, but you have to organize your thinking properly: How do I activate the space?”
This principle takes a number of unique but effective forms throughout the SEC. Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, commonly known as The Swamp, is open to the public on weekdays during the school year. Students and residents can study, exercise and hang out in the iconic stadium, while professors can trade the monotony of the classrooms for orange-and-blue terraces.
At Texas A&M, more than 25,000 people flock to Kyle Field every Friday night – no ticket required – to cheer on their aggies, and university offices, lecture halls and research facilities are integrated into venues around the conference.
“The great thing about campuses is that they offer a lot of potential for other uses,” says Chapin. “So they activate [the space] in a way that professional sports teams could only wish for.”
And even beyond these more subjective social elements, urban stadiums also seem to correlate with tangible economic benefits for universities.
“We had a really good study that showed that well-designed, well-integrated stadiums within a campus are more economically successful in the long run,” says Chapin. “The number of visitors in the stadium does not vary so much according to the performance of the team.”
Roskop, who grew up with Peyton Manning mania and national championship expectations, recalls that during Tennessee’s 15 years of futility, it was the game-day experience that drew him into the program.
Conversely, Chapin points to the University of Miami’s Orange Bowl (now Hard Rock Stadium) as an example of this phenomenon. Through his garnet and gold glasses, he admits it’s difficult to find a better setting in the country to watch a game when football shines in Miami.
But during the 2022 season, when the 5-7 Hurricanes struggled to get more than a few touchdowns most game days, students and alumni obviously had a hard time justifying the hour-long drive from Coral Gables. U only attracted 60,000 fans once this season, against national rivals FSU. Miami is one of 23 FBS football programs that play home games more than a mile from campus – just one of those 23 (South Carolina) is from the SEC.
With a growing re-urbanization movement only temporarily halted by the COVID-19 pandemic — urban populations surpassed suburban populations in 2010-16 for the first time since 1950 — came some justification for SEC football and the surviving urban venues throughout the country.
The sport is coming back downtown — and not just in a technical sense like the old Minneapolis Metrodome or Three Rivers Stadium, but this time on a human scale, with entrances connected to pedestrian-friendly streets and lots of mixed-use buildings on adjacent lots.
Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, home of the Pistons and Red Wings, opened in 2017.
Cities like Sacramento, Columbus and Detroit have used new downtown stadiums and arenas to spearhead projects to revitalize the city. Teams and communities across the country are recognizing the power of the “last mile,” the swarm of pedestrian activity that takes place within a square mile of a stadium, similar to the “stream” Roskop described outside Neyland Stadium.
But after a 50-year divorce with downtown and a continued pursuit of the almighty dollar, cultural reintegration into downtown has been a more difficult task. Franchises often buy up the surrounding properties themselves, and teams like the Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers have spurned downtown altogether, creating an artificial last mile deep in the suburbs. All of this has raised accusations of inauthenticity and sterility against these “relay districts” and stifled the opportunity for genuine expression of fellowship.
As US stadiums and arenas continue to reclaim urban form and its stadiums slowly begin to take on this density – even Los Angeles and SoFi Stadium are moving to the last mile, with Hollywood Park opening this year – the blueprint for that more effectively , proven and uniquely American stadium urbanism lies right where you wouldn’t look.
What is the 3rd biggest stadium in the world?
What are the 5 biggest stadiums?
What is the 2 biggest stadium in the world?
Michigan Stadium, USA – 107,601 Michigan Stadium in the United States is the second largest soccer stadium in the world with a seating capacity of 107,601.
What is the number 1 stadium in the world?
| stadium name | city | capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Rungrado May Day Stadium | Pyongyang | 150,000 |
| Narendra Modi Stadium | Ahmedabad | 132,000 |
What is the smallest stadium in Europe?
Stade Louis II – AS Monaco Officially opened in 1985, the Stade Louis II sits high on a hilltop in the glittering, soaring city of Monaco. This may interest you : Mr. Brown conducts research into the possibilities of ‘renovating an important stadium,’ not building a new one. The stadium itself has an intriguing pink design that can only seat 18,523 fans.
What are the 3 largest stadiums in Europe?
What is the smallest Premier League stadium?
This season, Bournemouth is home to the smallest stadium, Vitality Stadium, also known as Dean Court, which can only seat 11,364 fans. See the article : Appleton’s 2022 Mile of Music: 10 shows to watch at music festival. Like Old Trafford, the venue first opened in 1910 and was completely remodeled in 2001.
Which is the most seated stadium in Europe?
Camp Nou is the stadium with the highest capacity in Europe. Read also : Major League Sports Deduct Inflation To Build New Cathedrals For Football, Baseball.
What is the biggest Super Bowl stadium?
The NFL’s newest glittering shrine, SoFi Stadium, has lured the Super Bowl back to the greater Los Angeles area for the first time in nearly 30 years. And like the breathlessly hyped Super Bowl itself, it’s full of superlatives. At 3.1 million square feet, it is the largest and the first 'indoor-outdoor' stadium in the NFL.
What is the largest NFL stadium in the NFL? With a peak capacity of over 100,000 spectators, AT&T Stadium has the highest capacity of any NFL stadium, while MetLife Stadium has the highest listed seating capacity at 82,500. The smallest stadium is Soldier Field with a capacity of 61,500.
Is SoFi Stadium the largest NFL stadium?
SoFi Stadium has the largest expandable capacity of any NFL stadium; It seats up to 100,240 spectators, only a few hundred more than AT&T Stadium (100,000).
