America is packed with fantastic landmarks and attractions, such as the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore, that get visitors flocking to them. One thing a lot of visitors like to do for an even greater taste of the U-S-of-A is see some of its amazing sports stadiums.
The MLB, the NFL and the NBA all have their fans inside and outside of America, who, should they find themselves in the area, make a beeline for the stadium of their beloved team. Below is a look at some of the best stadiums in American in each of these sports leagues, starting with the MLB.
Stadiums in America
Petco Park
Even on nongame days, Petco Park, the home of the San Diego Padres, is a cool stadium to check out. This baseball park, located at 100 Park Boulevard, in the heart of downtown San Diego, California, and which opened in 2004,is considered by some to be the perfect baseball park.
The view of San Diego from inside the stadium is incredible, and if you’re at the venue on a game day, the atmosphere is electric, especially when the park is packed to its full capacity of 42,445.
A standard tour of the park costs $35, but prices vary depending on the time and date of the tour.While at Petco Park, you may also wish to visit the Park at the Park, where you can enter the Tony Gwynn Plaza.
There you can see a statue of Tony Gwynn Sr, which celebrates the induction of the late San Diego player into the Hall of Fame. The deceased right fielder spent 20 seasons with the Padres and earned himself the nickname “Mr. Padre.”
Oracle Park
Oracle Park opened in April 2000 and is the home of the San Francisco Giants. The stadium is located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, in San Francisco, California. It cost $357 million to build and seats around 42,300 people. Fans and nonfans of the Giants alike will consider the millions invested in the construction of the stadium worth it.
The ballpark received rave reviews when it opened, thanks to its classic design and views. Even if you were to have the worst seat in the park, the stadium still rewards you with a view of the Bay Bridge and the marina. When at the park, you’ll also see a statue of Willie “Say Hey” Mays, the greatest living baseball player, who once played for the Giants.
A tour of the stadium will cost $25 for an adult ($20 for a senior citizen) and $17.50 for a child (3 to 12 years). The tour lasts 1 hour and 30 minutes, and you’ll get to visit parts of the stadium normally only available to players and staff, including the field itself, the dugout, the press box, a luxury suite and the visitors’ clubhouse and batting cage.
You’ll also see club level display memorabilia and World Series trophies and rings. The San Francisco Giants have won eight World Series titles and 23 National League pennants.
US Bank Stadium
The US Bank Stadium, 401 Chicago Avenue, Minneapolis, houses the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL, the Vikings are a long way down the list for Super Bowl success in the NFL odds, but this massive venuecatches the eye.
It opened in 2016, boasts 13 event spaces and seats a capacity of around 66,000. Understandably, Minnesota itself is proud of its stadium. In its first three years, 4.64 million visitors passed through its doors and, on a total of nearly 7,000 tours, 177,141 guests came to have a look around this impressive stadium.
The Minnesota Vikings, despite not winning a Super Bowl, have still made it to the biggest event in American sport four times, which is more than several other teams in the NFL. All these times were in the seventies, a decade during which the Vikings were a dominant force in the league. Tours of the team’s stadium start at $29 per ticket and last an hour and 30 minutes.
AT & T Stadium
The Dallas Cowboys may have been ridiculed in the past because of their record on the grid, but only an idiot would poke fun at their mighty home stadium, the AT&T Stadium. This world-class stadium, at 1 AT & T Way, in Arlington, Texas, cost a whopping $1.2 billion to build and features 3,000 LCD displays so that you can follow a game no matter where you are in the building.
If you’re gridiron side at a live game, you can see the action on one of the largest 1,080pixel HD video display boards in the world.
A self-guided tour starts at $25 for adults and $20 for children. While at the stadium, you can also see the Cowboys’ tribute to their old stadium, Texas Stadium, the venue for their home games from 1971 to 2008. The team won 213 out of the 313 games played there during the 38 seasons.
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, at 4 Penn Plaza, New York,is not just the home of the NBA’s New York Knicks, but also the most famous arena in the world and has been the scene of some massively memorable moments in history, sporting and otherwise. The venue opened its doors in 1879 and since then has earned itself the title of the “Coolest Arena in the United States” from Rolling Stone magazine and the “Venue of the Decade” from Billboard.
It also hosted the “Fight of the Century”, between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, in 1971. To appear at Madison Square Garden is for an athlete or performer to reach the zenith of their career.
The venue was already considered an incredible feat of engineering for its time, thanks to its circular shape and cable supported ceiling design, but in 2013, “The Garden,” as it’s known, received a $1 billion makeover. Two new bridges suspended from the ceilings by steel tube hangers were the most notable visual change to the venue. A guided tour of “The Garden,” as it is known, will cost $37 for adults and for children under 12, students who hold valid ID and senior citizens, $32.
Scotiabank Arena
Before being renamed the Scotiabank Arena in July 2018, this venue at 40 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario, had opened its doors in February 1999 as the Air Canada Centre. The arena is home to both the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, and has welcomed more than 39 million fans at over 2,600 events.
For basketball events, the arena seats 19,800, which it also does for full house concert events. Fans of either of the venues two major home sports teams are in for a treat though because MLSE, the owners of both teams, has announced in October 2023 that the venue will undergo renovations in a $350 million project to upgrade the building. All areas of the venue will receive investment.
Visiting a sports stadium in the US is a real experience. Other amazing stadiums to visit include Lambeau Field, home of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers; Wrigley Field, where MLB’s Chicago Cubs play their home games; and the Wells Fargo Center, which is the home venue for the NBA’s Philadelphia 49ers.
