View Full Version : "White Elephant" Stadiums?
PeteU
01-07-2009, 10:32 AM
I was watching the Citrus Bowl, err, Capital One Bowl, and it hit me that since UCF left for their own stadium two years ago, the Citrus Bowl has been without a permanent tenant.
So I started thinking, what other "white elephant" stadiums/arenas are out there? By that, I mean sports stadiums which are fully standing and functional but do not currently have either a professional or college sports team playing in them as a permanent tenant?
Off the top of my head, I could think of at least three: the Citrus Bowl, the Alamodome, and Montreal Olympic Stadium.
But there have to be more. Anyone else think of any?
I think the Astrodome can fit in this category.
And I would also include the Cotton Bowl.
Oh, and the Silverdome.
Chevy114
01-11-2009, 05:51 PM
I think its funny that neither the citrus nor the cotton bowl are being used and they got approved for renovations.
The ballpark next to the citrus bowl is unused too. It's called tinker field and it used to be home to some great spring training games but now they have cracker jack field at disny's wide world of sports.
efin98
01-11-2009, 11:20 PM
I think the Astrodome can fit in this category.
And I would also include the Cotton Bowl.
Oh, and the Silverdome.
Cotton Bowl still has games played in it- Red River Shootout, State Fair Classic(Grambling vs. Prairie View), Dalls and area high school games etc. so it is still in use by football teams. It is also a major concert venue for Dallas so it gets great use beyond football.
By the way, Citrus Bowl hosts another bowl game- Champs Sports Bowl, home to it from 1990 until present. It also hosts the Florida Classic game between Bethune-Cookman University and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. It also see concerts and was used by the WWE for a pay per view event...so it's not entirely a white elephant in the true sense of the word.
Cotton Bowl still has games played in it- Red River Shootout, State Fair Classic(Grambling vs. Prairie View), Dalls and area high school games etc. so it is still in use by football teams. It is also a major concert venue for Dallas so it gets great use beyond football.
Right, but one of the qualifiers in the opening post was 'permanent tenant', by either a pro or college football team. The Cotton Bowl has none.
efin98
01-15-2009, 12:24 AM
Right, but one of the qualifiers in the opening post was 'permanent tenant', by either a pro or college football team. The Cotton Bowl has none.
Oh well, it's seeing as much use from other sources as many of the other stadiums despite not having a home team. It's far from a white elephant for Dallas.
PeteU
01-17-2009, 07:30 AM
Oh well, it's seeing as much use from other sources as many of the other stadiums despite not having a home team. It's far from a white elephant for Dallas.
Perhaps I should have used a better term, like "Stadiums/Arenas with no permanent tenant." A lot of these stadiums ever served useful purposes in the past or are still doing so today. Oh well. "White Elephant" was the first thing that came to mind.
My question is, for places like the Citrus Bowl and Cotton Bowl, what do they do for concessioniare and stadium staff? Do they just hire it out to temp agencies when there is an event at the stadium?
efin98
01-17-2009, 10:12 PM
My question is, for places like the Citrus Bowl and Cotton Bowl, what do they do for concessioniare and stadium staff? Do they just hire it out to temp agencies when there is an event at the stadium?
There is gameday staff and there are permanent staff...permanent staff is almost always a skeleton crew for most of the year minus the weeks it is in use by sports teams and even then there are probably only a few additional people hired on a part time basis...
Concessions, security, ushers, ticket takers and vendors are gameday staff and in many places concessions are contracted out as is security with ushers and ticket vendors and takers probably being part time staff employed for the season- not really long term except maybe the few people who oversee that for the stadium or the authority who owns the stadium.
boise49erfan
03-03-2009, 03:35 PM
Maybe RFK? or does the Soccer team still play there i can't remember
RutgersUniversityFootball
03-05-2009, 02:17 PM
I was watching the Citrus Bowl, err, Capital One Bowl, and it hit me that since UCF left for their own stadium two years ago, the Citrus Bowl has been without a permanent tenant.
So I started thinking, what other "white elephant" stadiums/arenas are out there? By that, I mean sports stadiums which are fully standing and functional but do not currently have either a professional or college sports team playing in them as a permanent tenant?
Off the top of my head, I could think of at least three: the Citrus Bowl, the Alamodome, and Montreal Olympic Stadium.
But there have to be more. Anyone else think of any?
The Carrier Dome at Syracuse. Ugly doesn't describe it.
Minorfan
01-30-2010, 12:01 PM
DC United still calls RFK home - the crown reminds me of the old Redskins' crowds too (the can even make the "temporary seats" bounce!) and the have the NCAA football Eagle Bank Bowl now (http://www.eaglebankbowl.org/)
PeteU
02-07-2010, 02:24 PM
The Carrier Dome at Syracuse. Ugly doesn't describe it.
Ugly as it might be, the Orangemen still use it for both football and basketball, so it technically isn't a "white elephant."
football junkie
02-07-2010, 02:51 PM
Hey, some of us who were born in Syracuse and have parents who spent their careers at SU have extremely fond memories of the Carrier Dome -- if that's what it's still called, since Carrier has been gone from the city for years.
I spent many a happy moment there. And I think it was beautiful! I am, however, just a tad biased.