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170-690: Gateshead International Stadium (GIS) is a multi-purpose , all-seater venue in Gateshead , Tyne and Wear, England. Originally known as the Gateshead Youth Stadium , the venue was built in 1955 at a cost of £30,000. It has since been extensively re-developed on three occasions. Its capacity of around 11,800 is the greatest in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead , the third-largest in Tyne and Wear (behind St James' Park and

340-439: A 2-million-tonne heap of spoil. This land, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the centre of Gateshead, was cleared in 1942 but continued to lie derelict until the mid-1950s. In early 1955, Gateshead Council began work on transforming this land. The Gateshead Youth Stadium, built on the site of the old chemical works, was opened by Jim Peters on 27 August 1955. Costing £30,000, the original venue contained little more than

510-629: A 4,000-seat structure that was uncovered until 2010, when a cantilevered canopy roof was added. A bespoke design by Fabric Architecture, the roof is a 30 metres (98 ft) structure incorporating five barrel vault forms. Part of the same improvement plan added toilet and catering facilities to the East Stand. The South Terrace, sometimes referred to as simply the South Stand, consists of a continuous, uncovered bank of seating in eight blocks with access through four turnstiles . The North Terrace

680-562: A Gateshead Council employee) proposed an international athletics meet. On 3 August 1974, the first "Gateshead Games" were staged in front of around 10,000 spectators. Four weeks before he won the European 5000m title at the 1974 European Athletics Championships in Rome, Foster kept his earlier promise to run in the men's 3000m and won the race in a new world-record time of 7:35:20. According to journalist John Gibson, Foster's performance gave

850-566: A cinder running track and an asphalt cycling track, though floodlights and a seating area were added soon after. On 1 July 1961, the arena hosted its first major competition—the Vaux Breweries International Athletics Meet—but according to sportswriter John Gibson, the Youth Stadium remained "little more than a minor track with a tiny grandstand and open terraces". According to author Thomas Telfer, by

1020-723: A college baseball stadium, now sitting on its former site. Most other inflatable domes, such as the Hoosier Dome and Pontiac Silverdome , were football-only stadiums, although both stadiums hosted basketball; the later-RCA Dome hosted the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament many times and hosted the Final Four multiple times while the Silverdome was the home arena for the Detroit Pistons for most of

1190-478: A concert venue. On 31 July 1982, The Police performed at the stadium as part of their Ghost in the Machine Tour , with U2 as a supporting act. Reports in the local press suggested that The Police seemed disappointed that the stadium was only half full and cited high ticket prices and poor weather as possible causes. On 16 June 1992 Guns N' Roses , supported by Soundgarden and Faith No More , performed at

1360-505: A cost of £15 million. The revamped stadium, funded by collaboration between One NorthEast , Sport England and Gateshead College among others, was opened on 12 May 2006 by Sebastian Coe . A second tranche of development, undertaken in two stages, was approved in November 2009. This included a general refurbishment and improvement of the existing facilities at the stadium, adding cover, better toilet and new refreshment facilities to

1530-613: A few years). Wrigley Field , while originally built for baseball, also hosted the Chicago Bears , Comiskey Park hosted the Chicago Cardinals , and Tiger Stadium hosted the Detroit Lions . Later venues such as Cleveland Stadium , Milwaukee County Stadium and Baltimore Memorial Stadium were all built to accommodate both baseball and football. In 1920s New England, outdoor wood-track velodromes such as

1700-407: A football ground it can be a soulless home". In 2009, chairman Graham Wood unveiled plans to move to a new, purpose-built 9,000 capacity ground on Prince Consort Road in the centre of Gateshead. Detailed proposals were published soon after, and Wood told local media in 2012 that he expects the move to increase crowds and alleviate the financial constraints on him as he continues to bankroll the club; it

1870-753: A future MLB team by adding a third deck to the Mezzanine roof. It ultimately served as a temporary home to the Toronto Blue Jays of MLB in 2020 and 2021, when they were displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic after the government of Canada denied them permission to play at Rogers Centre . During the 1990s and 2000s, most of the multipurpose stadiums used for MLB in the United States were replaced by "retro-style" ballparks. These parks were built in two varieties: "retro-classic" parks, which combine

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2040-611: A gymnasium. In 1989 the running track was again relayed and Gateshead confirmed its reputation as a top-class athletics venue by hosting the Europa Cup (forerunner to the European Team Championships ). In the 21st century, the site has been the subject of two major re-development projects. The first was completed in 2006, when two artificial outdoor football pitches, indoor athletic training facilities, sports science provisions and conferencing rooms were added at

2210-685: A major surprise given the dwindling support for major athletics events in the region." This loss was mitigated somewhat by the European Athletic Association's decision to award Gateshead the 2013 European Team Championships , the successor to the Europa Cup. In doing so, Gateshead became the only stadium to host the European Team Championships on three occasions. The championships were held on 22–23 June 2013 amid very wet and windy conditions. On

2380-726: A men-only club until allowing the admission of women in 1951. The club moved to the Gateshead Youth Stadium in 1956, making the Harriers the stadium's oldest tenant. In 2006 they won promotion to the first division of the British Athletics League and were the only club from the north-east of England to compete at that level. After a six-year stay in the division, the Harriers were relegated to division two in August 2012 after failing to win enough points at

2550-417: A movable natural grass surface for soccer, and the other a synthetic turf surface for gridiron. To accommodate the different sight lines preferred for each sport, the soccer surface is positioned several feet above the gridiron, so that the seats are closer to the field in its soccer configuration and elevated above the sidelines and coaches in its gridiron configuration. The idea of a sharp difference between

2720-585: A multi-purpose stadium is that a singular infrastructure and piece of real estate can support both teams in terms of transportation and playing area, while money (often public funds) that would have been spent to support infrastructure for two stadiums can be spent elsewhere. Also playing into the advent of the multipurpose stadium was Americans' growing use of automobiles, which required professional sports stadiums surrounded by parking: most cities lacked affordable space for such stadiums near their city centers, so multi-purpose stadiums were typically built farther from

2890-470: A multipurpose stadium and a single-sport stadium is less important outside of North America, since in most countries stadiums that are constructed with football in mind are easily able to accommodate rugby , track and field, and other popular sports, which tend to have a similarly sized playing field. For example, any large stadium in most of Latin America, part of Asia, most of Africa, or continental Europe

3060-450: A potential MLB expansion franchise, opened. Pilot Field replaced the long-obsolete War Memorial Stadium , which had been designed mainly for football, and hosted the NFL's Buffalo Bills ; but it had been (awkwardly) fit for baseball after the city's baseball park, Offermann Stadium , was condemned and torn down in 1960 to build a high school in its place . Pilot Field was also designed to host

3230-550: A press box in the upper tier on the third-base line oriented specifically for football, along with space beyond right field for a movable grandstand to accommodate an additional 13,000 fans for a future pro football franchise. This additional grandstand was indeed added to Anaheim Stadium in 1980 to accommodate the Los Angeles Rams' move from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . Anaheim Stadium

3400-510: A promotion play-off and won 2–0 in front of 1,402 spectators, the largest crowd to watch the club at the ground in 14 years. That record was broken a year later when 4,121 saw Gateshead defeat Telford United 2–0 on 9 May 2009 to win promotion to the Conference Premier league. The current record attendance for a competitive fixture stands at 8,144, set on 4 May 2014 when Gateshead played host to Grimsby Town in

3570-416: A rectangular playing field, but cricket and Australian-rules fields are rounded, while baseball is played on a diamond. This makes them much harder to accommodate within a rectangular-shaped stadium. Likewise, accommodating athletics, such as for a Summer Olympics, means constructing a curved 400-m track around the infield. This often means the sports simply find it easier to be played in separate stadiums. In

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3740-605: A single season; according to Wilson, the Thunder was "left to die, provoking bitter resentment" from supporters. There have been some highlights, including winning Championship 1 in 2008 and a run to the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup in 2009 which ended in a 66–6 defeat to Super League side St Helens. However, the Thunder went through a 64-game losing streak spanning two-and-a-half years before winning against Workington Town on 29 August 2012. Relations between

3910-406: A stadium-record crowd of 14,797 watched Christie, by this time the reigning 100m Olympic champion , in action again – this time against his old rival Carl Lewis in a race where both men were reportedly paid £100,000 irrespective of the result. Christie won in a time of 10.07 seconds, ahead of Jon Drummond in second and Lewis, who finished "a distant third". The 100m race was the highlight of

4080-473: A temporary wall. The Oakland Coliseum uses a configuration such that its football sideline runs along a line drawn from first base to third base (the former Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium also used this configuration). This was done presumably to make the same coveted seats behind home plate at a baseball game also coveted 50-yard line seats at a football game, and also so the stadium would need only one press box . Different stadiums have different angles between

4250-548: A tradition of athletics competitions at the venue, which has since hosted the British Grand Prix (2003–10) and the European Team Championships in 1989, 2000 and 2013. It is the only venue to have hosted the latter event three times. Five world records have been set at the stadium, including two by pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and a tied 100 metres record by Asafa Powell in 2006. Although Gateshead International Stadium primarily caters for athletics, it

4420-801: A venue for Major League Baseball or the Summer Olympics and felt no need to replace their smaller, open-air stadiums used mostly for Canadian football. For example, Calgary 's open-air McMahon Stadium dates from 1960 and has been used only for Canadian football,and later was chosen to host the 1988 Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, and an outdoor ice hockey event (the 2011 Heritage Classic ). Similar situations hold in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Hamilton, and Regina. No large stadiums of any kind are in cities such as Quebec City, London, or Saskatoon, or in Atlantic Canada ; in those places (with

4590-420: A view to overall regeneration. One such opportunity was identified at the Gateshead Youth Stadium, where the council believed that investment might raise the region's profile and bring international recognition. In April 1974, Gateshead Council inaugurated a "Sport and Recreation" department. In July 1974, the council appointed Brendan Foster —a former schoolteacher turned athlete and a native of Tyne and Wear —as

4760-658: A view to the Falcons taking over the rugby league club. Falcons' owner Semore Kurdi confirmed that a bid had been made to purchase Gateshead Thunder on 20 March 2014, though he refused to elaborate on whether he intended to relocate the club if that bid was accepted. The takeover was confirmed on 23 May 2014, though it was announced that the club would continue to play at the International Stadium. In January 2015 Gateshead Thunder were officially renamed Newcastle Thunder and relocated to Kingston Park. Keith Christie told

4930-556: A way that it could be converted to a new baseball stadium, and ACOG paid for the conversion. Despite being considered controversial at the time, the International Olympic Committee considered the action innovative, due to the fact that there were no local needs for another stadium with a capacity for more than 70.000, given the existence of the Georgia Dome which was completed in 1992. Furthermore,

5100-422: Is Tina Turner . As part of her Foreign Affair: The Farewell Tour , Turner performed twice on consecutive nights (21–22 July 1990) and attracted a total of 60,000 spectators. Turner performed for a third time at the stadium as part of her Wildest Dreams Tour on 12 July 1996. Most recently the venue played host to Little Mix on 26 July 2018 as part of their Summer Hits Tour . Other artists to have played at

5270-695: Is a British former long-distance runner , athletics commentator and road race organiser. He founded the Great North Run , one of the sport's most high profile half-marathon races. As an athlete, he won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics and the gold medal in the 5,000 metres at the 1974 European Championships and the 10,000 metres at the 1978 Commonwealth Games . He later provided commentary and analysis on athletics, particularly long-distance events, for BBC Sport . Educated at St Joseph's RC Grammar School in Hebburn,

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5440-406: Is an all-seater , bowl-shaped arena consisting of four stands of seats. The precise capacity of the venue is uncertain; some sources claim it to be 11,750, others 11,762 and some provide a figure of 11,800. The main stand is the Tyne and Wear Stand, a steep, cantilevered structure seating 3,300 spectators. This stand contains toilet and catering facilities and a bar area. Opposite is the East Stand,

5610-541: Is capable of hosting baseball but has been primarily a football venue. Rogers Centre was built to accommodate baseball (MLB's Toronto Blue Jays play there), but was a football venue until the CFL's Toronto Argonauts moved to BMO Field after the 2015 CFL season . Montreal's Olympic Stadium was built primarily for a multisport event (the 1976 Summer Olympics ), during which it hosted the athletics , equestrian , football . Latterly, it hosted professional team sports: it became

5780-459: Is estimated that crowds would need to reach 3,000 regularly for the club to operate profitably from Gateshead Stadium. According to the original proposal, the stadium was expected to be ready for the 2012–13 season, but financing has been difficult and the proposed move is now on hold. Gateshead Harriers are an athletic club based at Gateshead International Stadium. Founded in 1904 as Gateshead St Mary's Church Running Club, they were initially

5950-605: Is harder than the grass and is also a significant injury risk. Baseball purists disliked artificial turf, though the Cincinnati Reds took advantage of this on Riverfront Stadium 's artificial turf: on offense by recruiting players who combined power and speed and encouraging line drive hitting that could produce doubles, triples, and high-bouncing infield hits; while for defense the fast surface and virtually dirtless infield rewarded range and quickness by both outfielders and infielders, like shortstop Dave Concepción , who used

6120-593: Is likely to be used mostly for association football. The majority of the largest stadiums in the world were built for either association football or American football. The regions where other outdoor sports can draw numbers comparable to association football or American football are limited. They include baseball in Japan and the Spanish Caribbean ; cricket in United Kingdom,South Africa, Australia,

6290-624: Is open seven days a week and at peak times seventeen trains per hour stop there. The nearest mainline railway station is Newcastle Central Station , around 3 miles (5 km) away, though local rail travel calls at Heworth Interchange. Go North East operate the 93/94 "East Gateshead Loop" bus service, which provides access to the stadium from the Team Valley , Gateshead Interchange , Heworth Interchange and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Sheriff Hill . This bus runs every Twenty minutes during

6460-409: Is opposite and consists of two blocks of uncovered seating separated by a large scoreboard. The athletics track in the main arena was laid in 2003 and is an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) standard 400m eight-lane oval. It is a polymer synthetic tartan track with a depth of 3 centimetres (1.18 in). The sprint straight consists of eight lanes and is situated in front of

6630-637: Is supplemented by other facilities. To the rear of the North Terrace are two third generation artificial pitches that are UEFA licensed, fully floodlit and full-sized for use in competitive rugby, football and American football. Alongside them are two grassed and one sand-dressed playing areas, which are also floodlit. Behind the Tyne and Wear Stand is an indoor sports hall, which contains a 33 by 44 metres (36.1 yd × 48.1 yd) playing area marked out for various sports including badminton, netball and tennis. A retractable indoor athletics facility

6800-709: Is the current or former home to teams in several sports. It has been used by Gateshead F.C. and its predecessors since 1973. It was home to the Gateshead Thunder rugby league club during their spell in the Super League and the replacement Gateshead Thunder club played home games in the main arena, which was known as the Thunderdome when used by that team until the club relocated to Newcastle in 2015. Gateshead Harriers Athletic Club, which includes Foster and Jonathan Edwards among its life members, are

6970-717: Is the only major outdoor team sport in many countries; in many other countries, association football and rugby can easily coexist with limited venue conversion required beyond goalpost changes and line markings. In Australia, many sports grounds are suited to both Australian rules football and cricket , as Australian Rules fields and laws are laid out on cricket ovals. In some cases, such as at Stadium Australia in Sydney, Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, and National Stadium, in Singapore , stadiums are designed to be converted between

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7140-512: Is well served by public transport. It has its own Tyne and Wear Metro station, the Gateshead Stadium Metro station . This is at Shelley Drive, some five minutes' walk from the ground. Trains run direct from this station to all other Metro destinations; trains to South Shields and South Hylton stop at platform one while trains travelling towards St James and Airport stop at platform two. The Gateshead Stadium Metro station

7310-603: The 1983 Summer Universiade . In Canada, several large multisport stadiums were built during this style's heyday. However, unlike in the United States, an NFL team has never been based primarily in Canada (though the Buffalo Bills played some home games in Toronto between 2008 and 2013) and only two MLB teams have been based there. So, teams from these leagues have not been the major impetus behind stadium construction (with

7480-565: The 2006 FIFA World Cup . A different take on the multipurpose concept can be seen in the Saitama Super Arena in Japan and Paris La Défense Arena in the inner suburbs of Paris. Both venues are similar to JMA Wireless Dome in that they are fully enclosed stadiums (though with fixed roofs instead of the Dome's original air-supported roof) that can accommodate field and indoor court sports. However, they differ from JMA Wireless Dome in

7650-801: The Anglophone Caribbean , and the Indian subcontinent ; rugby (union or league) in Wales, England, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, Fiji, the country of Georgia, and parts of Australia and France; Australian rules football in Australia; bandy in Russia and Scandinavia; and Gaelic games in Ireland. However, even in these areas, the amount of compromise needed to accommodate multiple sports varies considerably. Most outdoor team sports require

7820-674: The Arup Group cited history to show that a rarely-used athletics track does not work for association football, as these multi-purpose stadiums substantially lengthen the viewing distance for spectators, as compared to football-specific stadiums. Notable unsuccessful past examples, of football matches played within athletics stadiums, include the former Stadio delle Alpi and the Munich Olympic Stadium , with both Juventus and Bayern Munich moving to new stadiums less than 40 years after inheriting them. The delle Alpi's design

7990-560: The Atlanta Braves had already been exploring opportunities for a new venue to replace the outdated Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium . The southwest corner of the Olympic Stadium was built to accommodate the future baseball infield and seating. This is observable in aerial views and plans of the stadium in its Olympic configuration, where the temporary seats are not placed next to the oval running track. The southwest part of

8160-429: The British Grand Prix by 2003, and on 13 July 21-year-old Yelena Isinbayeva set a new world record of 4.82m in the women's pole vault event. Isinbayeva's achievement in the last event of the meet was so unexpected that only 1,000 of the 10,000 spectators witnessed it, the rest having left early. For her achievement, she was given a bonus cheque for $ 50,000. On 27 June 2004, Isinbayeva returned to Gateshead. This time

8330-522: The Coppa Italia home match against Sampdoria in the 2001–02 season, while in the 2005–06 season, the average attendance was 35,880. Manchester City Council wished to avoid creating a white elephant , so to give the stadium long-term financial viability, extensive work was carried out to convert the City of Manchester Stadium from a track and field arena to a football stadium. The old Estádio da Luz

8500-664: The DC United soccer club moved out, and its demolition began in 2022. Thus, only the Oakland Coliseum remains in use, while the Athletics are now the sole tenants of the Oakland Coliseum after the Raiders relocated to Las Vegas in 2020 . However, in 2023, the A's announced their own intentions of moving to Las Vegas . The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was unusual as one of the few air-supported dome stadiums that

8670-593: The East Hartford Velodrome and Providence's Cycledrome could, with some compromises, fit an American football field in their infields: early NFL franchises in each city (the Hartford Blues and Providence Steam Roller , respectively) used the velodromes as their home stadiums. In the 1960s, multipurpose stadiums began replacing their baseball-only and football-only predecessors, now known as "classics" or "jewel box" parks. The advantage of

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8840-553: The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), and the rules of each game are mapped onto the same dimensions—although some pitches in areas where hurling is the dominant code have longer pitches slightly more suited to faster, longer passes in the hurling game. When the Aviva was being rebuilt, Croke Park stepped in as home for the national teams in both soccer and rugby union, a decision of significant political weight in

9010-668: The Kingdome in 1976. Eight of these eleven stadiums have been since demolished, with Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium demolished in 1997, the Kingdome in 2000, Three Rivers Stadium in 2001, Riverfront Stadium in 2002, Veterans Stadium in 2004, Busch Memorial Stadium in 2005, Shea Stadium in 2009, and San Diego Stadium in 2021. Furthermore, the Astrodome has been vacant since 2008 due to its failure to meet current fire and building code requirements. RFK Stadium has been vacant since 2017 when

9180-540: The Stadium of Light ), and the sixth-largest in North East England . The main arena is principally used for athletics. The inaugural athletics competition at the redeveloped venue, the 1974 "Gateshead Games", was instigated by Brendan Foster , a Gateshead Council employee at that time. By breaking the world record in the men's 3,000 m , Foster brought international publicity to the new stadium and began

9350-458: The University of Sussex and Carnegie College of Physical Education , Foster returned to St Joseph's Grammar School as a chemistry teacher. His pupils included footballer turned manager Phil Brown , whom he tried to encourage to take up running over football . Brendan Foster's athletic career saw him compete in three Olympic Games , claiming Britain's only track and field medal (bronze in

9520-419: The reigning 800m Olympic champion . Watched by a capacity crowd of 10,000 spectators, the men won their respective races; Halberg placed first in the mile with a time of 4:03:70 and Snell led a New Zealand one-two in the 880-yard event, finishing ahead of teammate Gary Philpott in 1:50:40. When the comprehensive refurbishment of the stadium was completed more than a decade later, Brendan Foster (by this time

9690-462: The soccer-specific stadium movement. As of 2020 , 18 of Major League Soccer 's 26 clubs play in their own, soccer-specific stadiums, and two of the exceptions ( FC Cincinnati and Nashville SC ) are currently building their own soccer-specific stadiums. In addition, three of the four teams that will join MLS in 2021 and 2022 plan to open soccer-specific stadiums in time for their MLS debuts. Scheduling

9860-451: The "Gateshead Fun Run", a pioneering running event. In 1981, Foster founded the Great North Run , an annual half marathon from Newcastle upon Tyne to South Shields . The race became the biggest running event in the UK, and one of the biggest half marathons in the world. By 2014, the race had been run by over 1 million competitors, the first IAAF event to pass this milestone. Foster ran in

10030-641: The "high profile" Vauxhall Invitational meet, which was televised in the UK by ITV and watched by around 10 million viewers. Michael Johnson , John Regis and Steve Cram competed in various events at the Vauxhall Invitational. In August 1998, Gateshead was selected to host the 2000 Europa Cup after the European Athletic Association switched the event from original host venue Martinique to avoid athletes travelling long distances in an Olympic year. This made Gateshead

10200-399: The 10,000 metres) at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. In 1973 he broke the World Record for two miles at Crystal Palace with a time of 8:13.68. In 1974 he won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch in a time of 13:14.6 behind Ben Jipcho before winning the European Championships 5,000m, beating Olympic champion Lasse Virén en route to Gold in 13:17.2. When the then world record

10370-401: The 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton . Foster only placed fourth in the 1978 European Athletics Championships 10,000-metre race, but he ran faster than any 10,000-metre European Champion has run ever since (see various European countries' books about the European Athletics Championships from 1982 to 2006). Foster finished fifth in the 1976 Olympics 5,000-metre final, just 1.4 seconds behind

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10540-451: The 1980s. The Carrier Dome was another such air-supported, multipurpose stadium; it was built to accommodate outdoor sports such as football and indoor sports such as basketball. The Carrier Dome, since renamed JMA Wireless Dome, remains in use, although its air-supported roof was replaced by a fixed roof in 2020. Air-supported domes fell out of favor in the 21st century after notable weather-related collapses in Minnesota and Pontiac exposed

10710-444: The 1990s, in light of the growing trend of "walkable urbanism", as teams sought to return to the city core where they could develop or take advantage of existing hospitality in order to grow their fanbase. Many teams also relocated to where they could control mixed-use development around their new stadium. Contrary to the above trend of teams moving away from suburbs, the Atlanta Braves left Turner Field for SunTrust Park . Often

10880-584: The 1990s, with the SkyDome (in Canada) that opened in 1989 being the last such stadium completed to accommodate baseball and football. With the completion of the Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City in 1973, a model for purpose-built stadiums was laid down. Since the Baltimore Orioles left the multi-purpose Memorial Stadium for the baseball-only Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992, most major league sports stadiums have been built specifically for one sport. However, some newer NFL stadiums (e.g. Seattle, Atlanta, Charlotte) have been built with consideration for

11050-433: The 2003 event for the first time in many years, after being challenged to do so by radio presenter Ray Stubbs . Foster has also promoted sport in Ethiopia and other African countries. Foster was Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University from 2005 to 2009. Foster was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1976 New Year Honours for services to athletics, and promoted to Commander of

11220-421: The 2012 season failed to make the playoffs after recording five wins and five defeats in their ten games. The Senators were a tenant at Gateshead Stadium from 1988 to 2011. In 2012, the club announced plans to move away from Gateshead for the start of the 2012 season to create "a better game-day experience" and they now play at the Monkton Stadium . Gateshead International Stadium has been used for many years as

11390-502: The Aviva and for the ultimately unsuccessful 2023 Rugby World Cup bid. Croke Park has also occasionally hosted visiting American football college matches, especially those featuring the Army and Navy , or Notre Dame , with which Ireland has a long-standing connection. Several stadiums hosted multiple sports teams before the advent of multi-purpose stadiums. In New York City, the Polo Grounds hosted football teams early on, as its rectangular nature lent itself well to football and

11560-401: The BBC that the move was "a business decision" designed to build a new fan base for the club. In May 2024 the club announced an immediate return to Gateshead from Kingston Park. The Gateshead Senators (originally the Gateshead International Senators) are an American football club formed in 1988 when the Newcastle Senators, who played at Northern Rugby Club, moved across the Tyne to play at

11730-477: The CFL. It has also hosted many association football events, as well as the 2003 Heritage Classic , the first major outdoor ice hockey event in Canada. Tim Hortons Field , which opened in 2014, was built both as a venue for the 2015 Pan American Games and as the new home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats football team; its predecessor, Ivor Wynne Stadium , was originally built for the first Commonwealth Games . Other Canadian cities never expressed interest in building

11900-447: The Chicago Cubs, the same day the San Francisco 49ers were scheduled to host their division rival New Orleans Saints . The October 8 game was moved to New Orleans and the November 6 game was moved to San Francisco. In Australia, most major stadiums that can hold over 50,000, such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Adelaide Oval , are circular or oval-shaped venues which – while suitable for cricket and Australian rules football – pose

12070-448: The Council's sincerity. He was interviewed for the managerial position and, upon appointment, became the "driving force" behind the programme of improvements to the Youth Stadium, which included the building of the main, covered Tyne and Wear stand in 1981 and three accompanying stands; the venue was renamed the Gateshead International Stadium. This first tranche of improvements cost around £8 million, and Foster's proposal to commemorate

12240-521: The Council's sport and recreation manager. Foster, who according to Gibson became "the father of Gateshead athletics", had been forced to train in Edinburgh during 1973 as a result of the poor condition of the Youth Stadium track. In December 1973, he had been invited to a civic reception to celebrate his breaking of the two-mile world record earlier that year at Crystal Palace. At this reception, Foster

12410-610: The Felling bypass and the journey by foot from Gateshead town centre takes some fifteen minutes. A journey east to Heworth Interchange also takes around fifteen minutes. Two designated cycle routes run past the stadium. These are Hadrian's Way , which provides access from Tynemouth in the east and Wylam in the west, and the Keelman's Way , which runs along the south bank of the River Tyne towards Blaydon-on-Tyne . The stadium

12580-943: The Gaelic games community, most notably manifested in GAA Rule 42 , means that football and rugby clubs have generally had to play on separate grounds. True multisport facilities, where teams from a variety of sports use the same stadium as their home ground, exist outside North America in a few cases, most of those as smaller stadiums. A handful are notable for having 60,000 seats or more. The Melbourne Cricket Ground hosts athletics,cricket, Australian rules football, and association football. Accor Stadium hosts cricket and Australian rules football, as well as both rugby codes and association football. Wembley Stadium in London, Stade de France near Paris, and Millennium Stadium in Cardiff are not

12750-766: The Gateshead International Stadium. The club has had mixed fortunes but their most successful season came in 1999. Having won eight of their nine games in the regular season, the team won the Division One North title and advanced to the end-of-season playoffs. After beating the Merseyside Nighthawks 43–0 in the quarter-finals, the Senators defeated the Essex Spartans 33–19 in the semi-finals to reach

12920-713: The Oakland Athletics were the last team in the U.S. still sharing a stadium with an NFL team (the Oakland Raiders ), the Oakland Coliseum (now RingCentral Coliseum). This arrangement ended once the Raiders settled into the new Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2020, leaving no stadiums shared between NFL and MLB franchises. The Athletics officially announced they would begin their relocation process to Las Vegas by 2024. Brendan Foster Sir Brendan Foster CBE (born 12 January 1948 )

13090-463: The Thunder and Gateshead Council were strained at times, with a possible move to Kingston Park Newcastle upon Tyne , first mooted, and rejected, in 2006. In 2008, the club committed itself again to Gateshead Stadium for the immediate future, however, in March 2014 The Journal reported that talks had begun between Thunder's managing director Keith Christie and representatives of Newcastle Falcons with

13260-490: The Tyne and Wear Stand, adjacent to the long and triple jump area. A height-adjustable water jump, for use in steeplechase racing , is located on the inside of the track. Floodlights allow athletics events to be held at night. The inner track area, which is floodlit, is an IAAF standard-sized grass surface used for athletics field events, rugby and football. When used for the latter, the pitch dimensions are 100 by 64 metres (109.4 yd × 70.0 yd). The main arena

13430-570: The United Kingdom . The stadium was briefly used by former Football League members Gateshead A.F.C. after leaving Redheugh Park in 1973, but the club went bust later in the year. The following year South Shields football club relocated to Gateshead and were renamed Gateshead United ; they played at the Gateshead Stadium from 1974 to 1977 when it folded and Gateshead F.C. was formed. Gateshead F.C. have been tenants since their formation in 1977. In May 2008 Gateshead hosted Buxton in

13600-560: The United States. Though hailed as revolutionary at the time, the Truman Sports Complex model of stadium design was widely ignored for the next 20 years, though the influence of both Arrowhead and Kauffman Stadiums were easily seen in venues such as Giants Stadium. The true end of the multipurpose era began in 1987, when Buffalo 's Pilot Field , a stadium built for the Buffalo Bisons minor league baseball team and

13770-699: The action if needed. Lang Park in Brisbane is currently (as of 2020) the only purpose-built rectangle stadium in Australia (with fixed seating) with a capacity exceeding 50,000. The first real departure from the multipurpose stadium design occurred in 1972, when the Jackson County Sports Authority in Kansas City, Missouri , opened the Truman Sports Complex , which houses Kauffman Stadium (named Royals Stadium at

13940-592: The attendance was unusually poor, causing the local press to wonder whether Gateshead's contract for the marquee event would be renewed. Those fears were to prove well-founded when UK Athletics agreed to a three-year contract to stage the event at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. The move prompted one reporter to lament that "the switch is a major blow to both Gateshead International Stadium and North-East sport in general, but can hardly be regarded as

14110-449: The baseball dimensions roughly symmetrical. Qualcomm Stadium's square-circle " octorad " layout was considered an improvement over the other cookie cutter stadiums of the time, and it was the last of the old multi-purpose stadiums to host a Super Bowl ( Super Bowl XXXVII ). More-modern multi-purpose stadiums have used more elaborate methods to accommodate multiple sports; Tottenham Hotspur Stadium , for example, uses two sets of turfs, one

14280-558: The best runner of Gateshead Harriers". Foster, inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010 and recently voted the eleventh "greatest Geordie " in a local poll, later became the president of Gateshead Harriers and remains so as of 2012. Current world triple-jump record holder Jonathan Edwards , another member of the England Athletics Hall of Fame, joined Gateshead Harriers in 1991. Edwards

14450-553: The best solution at the time. The first of these "cookie-cutter" or "concrete donut" stadiums was Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1961 (then known as District of Columbia Stadium); it was followed during the 1960s and 1970s by Shea Stadium in 1964, Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium and the Astrodome in 1965, Busch Memorial Stadium and Oakland Coliseum in 1966, San Diego Stadium in 1967, Riverfront Stadium and Three Rivers Stadium in 1970, Veterans Stadium in 1971, and

14620-415: The case of Ireland, grounds built for Gaelic games are physically capable of hosting association football and the rugby codes without changing the seating configuration. Because the Gaelic games' pitch is rectangular and also longer and wider than that for football or either rugby code, the only changes required are the physical goals and field markings. However, opposition to those sports within large parts of

14790-655: The center of the field rather than towards the logical center of the game action (home plate for baseball and the 50-yard line for football). In the baseball configuration, most had symmetrical field dimensions. This detracted from the unique, individual identity enjoyed by the sport-specific "jewel box" stadiums with odd or asymmetrical field dimensions, and further supported the "cookie cutter stadium" nickname. The large capacities of multipurpose stadiums were usually more than adequate for football. However, baseball crowds tend to be much smaller than football crowds, resulting in baseball games at these stadiums being swallowed up in

14960-488: The champions Russia (354.5 points). Due to redevelopment of Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium for the 2022 Commonwealth Games , the British Grand Prix Diamond League fixture was set to return to Gateshead in 2020 for the first time in 10 years. The meeting was originally scheduled to take place on 16 August but was rescheduled to 12 September and then cancelled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in

15130-847: The championship final. At the Saffron Lane Stadium in Leicester , the Senators faced the Bristol Aztecs . In a tight encounter, the Senators claimed the Division One British American Football League title with a 7–2 victory. The club reached the playoffs again in the next three seasons but were unable to replicate that success, and after a season voluntarily spent in Division Two in 2003, returned to Division One North in 2004. They continue to play in that division, and in

15300-432: The city center with freeway access. Subsets of the multipurpose stadiums were the so-called "cookie-cutter stadiums" or "concrete donuts" which were all very similar in design. They featured a completely circular or nearly circular design and accommodated both baseball and football by rotating sections of the box seat areas to fit the respective playing fields. These fields often used artificial turf , as it could withstand

15470-789: The day and every hourly during evenings. Multi-purpose stadium In North America, multipurpose stadiums were primarily built during the 1960s and 1970s as shared home stadiums for Major League Baseball and National Football League or Canadian Football League teams. Some stadiums were renovated to allow multipurpose configurations during the 1980s. This type of stadium is associated with an era of suburbanization , in which many sports teams followed their fans out of large cities into areas with cheaper, more plentiful land. They were usually built near highways and had large parking lots , but were rarely connected to public transit . As multipurpose stadiums were rarely ideal for both sports usually housed in them, they had fallen out of favor by

15640-476: The development. A formal draft development brief was compiled and published in November 2009. A report to Council in December 2009 noted that there had been "a reasonable level of interest at the preliminary stage" from private investors, but that only one detailed proposal had been submitted, which had been declined by the Council on financial grounds. The report also noted concerns that the original centrepiece of

15810-403: The drawbacks of air-supported domes in snowy locales. During the height of the multipurpose stadium construction era of the 1960s and 1970s, three baseball-only stadiums were constructed: Candlestick Park (1960), Dodger Stadium (1962), and Royals Stadium (1973; now Kauffman Stadium). Anaheim Stadium (now known as Angel Stadium ), although designed primarily for baseball, opened in 1966 with

15980-526: The earlier turfs, it has been seen as easier to build new stadiums for each sport rather than attempt to share an inflexible turf installation among multiple sports. Some 21st-century multi-purpose stadiums, such as Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and State Farm Stadium , have developed a more elaborate method of placing an entire playing surface, such as a grass surface for association football and an artificial turf one for gridiron football, on one or more slabs (one at State Farm, three at Tottenham Hotspur) and towing

16150-501: The early 2000s, also has had a role in the decline of the multipurpose stadium. While first-generation, short-pile turfs such as AstroTurf lent themselves well to multiple sports, this was not the case with FieldTurf and its competitors. Modern artificial turf requires a more permanent installation, including a sand and rubber base or infill that is not easily removed, and thus does not lend itself well to multipurpose stadiums. Because of such turfs' superiority in other features, compared to

16320-442: The environment. This was especially true if a baseball team were not doing particularly well either on the field or in the box office. This was another reason some baseball teams closed sections of the upper level during the regular season. Many multipurpose stadiums also had artificial turf playing surfaces, to ease the transition from baseball field to football field and vice versa. Most early installations of artificial turf such as

16490-445: The event organisers decided to schedule the pole vault event earlier and were rewarded when Isinbayeva defied extremely windy conditions to post a new record mark of 4.87m. Isinbayeva was the second woman to set a world record in the pole vault at Gateshead; Daniela Bartova did so in 1995. In 2006, a crowd of 8,500 saw Asafa Powell equal the world record of 9.77 seconds in the men's 100m . The official, un-rounded time of 9.762 seconds

16660-487: The exception of Saskatoon), smaller stadiums (less than 13,000 seats) exist, which can be augmented with temporary seating to bring their capacities close to that of the smaller CFL stadiums. Most multipurpose stadiums that existed in North America overlaid one sideline of the football field along one of the baseball foul lines , with one corner of the football field being located where home plate would be. Because

16830-477: The exposed East Stand, improving wheelchair access, adding extra catering and conferencing facilities and a new media and management centre. This was funded by collaboration between Gateshead Council, local development funds and Gateshead College. The covering of the 4,000-seat East Stand with a new canopy roof was completed in July 2010, immediately prior to Gateshead hosting a Diamond League event. The second stage of

17000-514: The fans closer to the field. This has created some difficulties with creating large athletics venues for major championships, as fans are less willing to accept the compromises required in the design of such stadiums, an issue that has bedevilled, e.g. the London Stadium since the 2012 Summer Olympics and was avoided in the commonwealth Games stadiums of 2000 and 2014 by returning the stadiums to football-only use, and in 2022 by having

17170-403: The final meet of the season at Eton to prevent a bottom-two league finish. Club officials received over 100 new applications for membership in the aftermath of the 2012 London Olympics . At least one Gateshead Harrier has taken part in every Olympics and Paralympics held since 1972. Notable alumni include Brendan Foster, who joined the club aged 17 and later claimed that "my first aim was to be

17340-477: The first day of competition, Mo Farah ran a 50.89 second final lap in winning the men's 5000m to help the home team into third place on 181 points, behind Russia (194 points) and Germany (195 points). Despite a strong start, the Great Britain team were unable to make up the deficit on the second day of competition and finished in third place overall on 338 points, behind runners-up Germany (347.5 points) and

17510-403: The first of two national stadiums, Aviva Stadium , is shared by football and rugby union, although only rugby union has a club team, Leinster Rugby , that regularly uses the facility. The other larger national stadium, Croke Park , hosts three different sports regularly: gaelic football , hurling , and its women's equivalent, camogie . All three are gaelic games run by the same organisation,

17680-463: The first venue to host the event twice. On 16–17 July 2000, spectators at Gateshead once again saw Great Britain's men's team take the title, this time by half a point from Germany in second place; the British victory came despite missing ten first-choice team members. The women's event was won by Russia, who defeated second-placed Germany by thirteen points. Foster's "Gateshead Games" had become

17850-590: The franchise lost £700,000 in its first year and in November 1999 the Rugby Football League (RFL) approved a merger with the Hull Sharks. The result was the formation of Hull FC , and when the authorities refused permission for the merged clubs to enter a Hull-based team into the RFL's second tier , the franchise moved almost in its entirety to Hull, ending Gateshead's Super League participation after

18020-403: The fundamentally different sizes and shapes of the playing fields made them inadequate for either sport. When used for baseball, the lower-level boxes were usually set back much farther from the field than comparable seats in baseball-only parks because they swiveled into position for American football and association football. In the case of stadiums that hosted both baseball and Canadian football,

18190-479: The gold medal at the 1983 World Athletics Championships in Helsinki. In 1989, Gateshead hosted the Europa Cup . The men's competition was won for the first time by a Great Britain team captained by Linford Christie and which included Kriss Akabusi and Jack Buckner ; the event was described a decade later as having had an "invigorating effect" on those who were in attendance. Four years later, on 30 July 1993,

18360-715: The home of the Montreal Alouettes football team and the Montreal Expos baseball team, and began serving as an alternate home to the Montreal Impact when that team entered Major League Soccer in 2012. Similarly, the open-air Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton was constructed for the 1978 Commonwealth Games and the 1983 Summer Universiade but has also become home to the Edmonton Elks of

18530-536: The interior and exterior design of the "classic" ballparks with the amenities of newer facilities; and "retro-modern" parks, which have modern amenities and "retro" interiors, but have modern exterior designs. The first "retro-classic" park in MLB was Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, which opened in 1992 and was based mostly on Pilot Field's design. The "retro-modern" park made its first appearance in 1994 with

18700-466: The left- and right-field seats. In stadiums that were primarily football stadiums converted to baseball stadiums, the stands were at nearly right angles. This allowed the football field to be squared within the bleachers, but left the baseball configuration with many undesirable views farther away from home plate or facing away from the diamond, such as at the Kingdome, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, and

18870-484: The length of a regulation American football field is 360 feet, longer than the roughly 330-foot average for foul lines in Major League Baseball, this requires an unusually long distance from the home plate to the fence along the foul line on which the football field is constructed, part of the football field to be constructed in foul territory (and the size of said territory to be increased accordingly), or

19040-475: The lower boxes were set even farther back than their American counterparts, because Canadian football fields are 30 yards longer and considerably wider than their American counterparts. Likewise, attempts to build stadiums without support columns to obstruct spectators' views, as was the case with sport-specific "jewel box" stadiums, resulted in upper decks being placed very high above the field—as far as 600 feet away in some cases. Several teams closed off sections of

19210-444: The meet, broadcast live by Tyne Tees Television , "landmark status". A plaque commemorating the record was later placed at the entrance to the stadium. The Gateshead Games became an annual event, which gave the stadium credibility as a major sporting venue. In his managerial capacity with Gateshead Council, Foster was increasingly able to attract athletes to the games. In 1977, Foster had to intervene when BBC Radio Newcastle provided

19380-460: The nation's history. Gaelic grounds can easily accommodate both as the typical Gaelic pitch, while similarly rectangular, is significantly longer and wider than the fields used for soccer and rugby union, which are almost identical in dimensions. Historically, however, the GAA has been reluctant to allow 'foreign' sports to use its facilities, although these objections were set aside both for the rebuild of

19550-408: The national athletics body as the sole primary tenant of a renovated stadium. Winter sports facilities, especially speed skating rinks , can be multi-purpose stadiums. Very often, a rink or two of approximately 61 by 30 meters—the regulation size of an IIHF ice hockey rink —are placed inside the oval. Sometimes the ice surface is even larger, allowing for both bandy and curling . In Ireland,

19720-618: The notable exception of Toronto). Instead, stadiums were built primarily for Canadian Football League (CFL) teams and to host multiple-sport events, such as the Winter Olympics , Commonwealth Games , and Pan American Games . Three of Canada's largest stadiums from this era and type feature domed or retractable roofs : namely BC Place in Vancouver, SkyDome/Rogers Centre in Toronto, and Olympic Stadium in Montreal. BC Place

19890-452: The oldest tenants, having used the site since 1956. The stadium has also been used as a concert venue by numerous musical artists including Little Mix , Guns N' Roses , Bon Jovi , Bryan Adams and Tina Turner . The stadium is built on the site of two large chemical works opened in 1827 and 1834. These works initially thrived, but by the early part of the 20th century both were in terminal decline, and were demolished in 1932 to leave behind

20060-499: The opening of Jacobs Field, now known as Progressive Field , in Cleveland . Many football teams that shared a stadium with a baseball team had their stadiums converted into football-only facilities shortly after the baseball tenant left, while other football teams followed their baseball counterparts and had new football-only stadiums constructed. The widespread adoption of FieldTurf , and similar modern artificial turfs beginning in

20230-416: The original AstroTurf was nothing more than carpet on top of concrete with little padding, material that was easy to apply and remove. Such types of removable artificial turf caused frequent injuries to players and eventually made free agents wary of signing with teams whose home fields had artificial turf. During the first month of the football season, the playing field included the baseball infield soil that

20400-557: The oval configuration for cricket and Australian rules football and a rectangular configuration for rugby and association football, and in the case of Singapore's National Stadium, an athletics configuration as well. Association football stadiums have historically served as track and field arenas, too, and some (like the Olympiastadion in Berlin) still do, whereas a newer generation frequently has no running track, in order to allow

20570-830: The permanent homes to any club teams, but are used primarily for international competitions and major tournament finals, mostly for association football and rugby (though Wembley has regularly hosted American football). In South Africa, Soccer City and Ellis Park Stadium have hosted rugby union and football, while Moses Mabhida Stadium has hosted football and cricket. Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi , in India hosts cricket and football. Eden Park in New Zealand hosts rugby union and cricket. Sky Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand , has hosted both rugby codes, cricket, association football, and Australian rules football. Architects from

20740-422: The portable sections would be placed in the western quadrant of the stadium and serve as the third-base half of the infield. In the football configuration, these would be placed in the northern quadrant of the stadium (covering what is used as left field in the baseball configuration) to allow for the football field to be laid out east–west. This had the advantage of improving sight lines for both sports while keeping

20910-452: The possible use of the stadium for Major League Soccer or international soccer, which has similar field dimensions to American football. Fields that are suitable for soccer are almost always equally suitable for either rugby code ( rugby union or rugby league ), and the 2031 Rugby World Cup is expected to employ the same stadiums as the NFL and MLS. Outside North America, the term is rarely used, since association football (i.e., soccer)

21080-459: The proposed village, the ice rink, may have been deterring investors and that a similar proposal to redevelop land at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland was detracting from what councillors had hoped to be a unique feature of the proposed village. The result was that a fresh proposal was raised to remove the ice rink from the brief in an attempt to "stimulate the market". A public consultation

21250-546: The re-development—the building of the corporate and media facilities—commenced on 6 September 2010 and was completed on time in summer 2011. The total cost of the work was estimated to be £7.6 million. A third programme of expansion was initially mooted in 2008. The aim of this programme was to expand the stadium into an all-embracing "sports village", replete with an ice rink, indoor golf course, restaurants and shops. Gateshead Council invited tenders in August 2008 from commercial organisations interested in undertaking

21420-439: The re-opening with an athletic event was approved, allowing for the first "Gateshead Games" to be held in 1974. The success of the first Gateshead Games, and their subsequent annual renewal, raised the profile of the stadium and caused Gateshead Council to further their financial investment. During the 1980s, additions were made to the site infrastructure, including the building of an indoor sports hall, outdoor football pitches and

21590-401: The reconfiguration process more easily, or be removed for non-sporting events. Furthermore, many of these stadiums were either enclosed domes (where natural grass could not grow without sunlight) or located in cold-weather cities (where undersoil heating was expensive and unreliable) and before the development of hybrid grass and improved natural grass cultivation techniques, artificial turf was

21760-607: The same sight-line problems for football, rugby league, and rugby union as an athletics venue would. Playing sports with rectangle-shaped pitches on larger ovals often means fans can be as much as 30 metres (98 ft) or more from the sidelines. Both Stadium Australia in Sydney and the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne have retractable seating, to be able to change from an oval to rectangle shape and bring fans closer to

21930-479: The second leg of the Conference Premier play-off semi-final. Gateshead won 3-1 to progress to the final at Wembley Stadium where they were beaten 2-1 by Cambridge United . The defeat consigned the club to a 55th consecutive season outside the Football League. Gateshead F.C. continue to play at Gateshead Stadium but, according to North East Life magazine, it is "a fine but inappropriate stadium ... as

22100-530: The slab(s) in and out of place for each sport. Because of the expense of using this method, it is generally only used for the highest-level professional sports. The Miami Marlins moved to Marlins Park , a new retractable-roof stadium in Miami, in 2012. Sun Life Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) was then renovated to eliminate its baseball functionality, making it a football-only stadium. With the Marlins' relocation,

22270-467: The specific way they accommodate court sports. Both the Super Arena (used mainly for basketball, volleyball, mixed martial arts , and professional wrestling events) and Paris La Défense Arena (home of rugby union's Racing 92 ) feature movable seating blocks that allow each facility to serve as an appropriately sized venue for either field or court sports. In 2014, Singapore's new National Stadium

22440-493: The stadium also had four tiers of seats, luxury boxes , a facade facing the street, and a roof, whereas the northern half of the stadium used a simpler two-tiered seating configuration. During reconstruction, the athletics track was removed, and the north half of the stadium was demolished, reducing the capacity to 49,000 when it reopened as Turner Field . Because of the former track area, the field of play , particularly foul territory , although not large by historical standards,

22610-461: The stadium feel too enclosed, and cut off panoramic views of the stadium's aesthetic surroundings (waterfront, skyline, mountains). The suburban locales of many multipurpose stadiums (as well as other sport-specific stadiums also built there) were also a focal point of criticism. Choosing a suburb over a city core was meant to take advantage of lower land values and new freeways. Suburbs were often poorly serviced by public transit, and when coupled with

22780-484: The stadium include Bryan Adams , Rod Stewart , Simple Minds and Simply Red . Gateshead International Stadium is 2 miles (3 km) east of Gateshead Town Centre and is on the A184 Felling Bypass , with access to a car park at Neilson Road. Journey time by car from Gateshead town centre is approximately five minutes and a further five minutes travel from Newcastle upon Tyne. A footpath runs adjacent to

22950-630: The stadium was the Vaux Breweries International Athletics meet in July 1961. According to its sponsors, the highlight of this meet was the team three-mile race, won by the Blackpool and Fylde Athletic club who were awarded a gold tankard as their prize. Attracted by a prize fund of £500 and the imminent AAA Championships in London, the event attracted several athletes from New Zealand, including reigning 5000m metre Olympic champion Murray Halberg and Peter Snell ,

23120-542: The stadium. This time the weather was hot and sunny which helped ensure that the concert, part of the Use Your Illusion Tour , was a sell-out. American rock group Bon Jovi have played twice at the stadium. The first occasion was on 27 June 1995, while supported by Skin , on their These Days Tour . The group returned to Gateshead on 22 August 2000 as part of their Crush Tour . Another artist who has performed multiple times at Gateshead International Stadium

23290-483: The stands. This made the football viewing farther away, and in some cases partially obscured as in Candlestick Park. In the case of Qualcomm Stadium, it was constructed with half of the field-level seating being permanent (built of concrete, in the southern quadrant of the stadium), and the other half portable (modular construction using aluminum or steel framing). When the stadium was configured for baseball,

23460-529: The suburban stadium was not located in the municipality that the team purportedly represented, and in some cases the stadium was over a state border. An instance of this was Giants Stadium , which primarily hosted football, but was also an association football stadium at times. Its primary tenants, the New York Giants and New York Jets , were nominally based in New York City, but Giants Stadium

23630-416: The time of opening) and Arrowhead Stadium . The Truman Sports Complex was the first example of multiple stadiums being built for specific sports at the same time. The designers, Kivett and Myers, were then absorbed by Kansas City architecture firm Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum to become HOK Sport + Venue + Event (now the independent firm Populous ), which went on to design many professional sports venues in

23800-451: The trend of personal transportation shifting from public transit to private cars in the mid-20th century, meant that many of the stadiums of that period (multipurpose or sport-specific) were surrounded by large parking lots. In some suburban locales, hospitality, entertainment, and shopping facilities were often non-existent due to lacking the supporting population or due to municipality zoning restrictions. Suburban stadiums fell out of favor by

23970-402: The turf to bounce many of his long throws to first. The concrete or painted concrete façades of many stadiums of that era (multipurpose or sport-specific) were criticized by architects as uninviting. Most such stadiums were built in the relatively plain brutalist and international styles popular at the time, which fell out of fashion in the 1980s. Furthermore, the "concrete donut" design made

24140-419: The turn of the 1970s, the town of Gateshead was suffering from "the classic symptoms of decay in its inner-city areas". The response during the 1960s had been a programme of systematic derelict land reclamation and environmental improvement. While these measures did not have an immediate positive impact on the perception of the town, Gateshead Council pressed ahead by looking to develop existing infrastructure with

24310-761: The upcoming meeting on the road and playing the home game during the latter meeting. An example of the former happening was in 1997 when the Florida Marlins played game 7 of the World Series at home on Sunday, October 26, which moved the Miami Dolphins game against the Chicago Bears to Monday night. An example of the latter happening was in 1989 when the San Francisco Giants hosted a postseason game on Sunday, October 8, against

24480-488: The upper level and only sold them during the playoffs, as they were too far away to be of any use during the regular season. For football, the seats nearest the field were set farther back than at football-only stadiums to accommodate the larger baseball field. In some cases, the seats closest to the field, normally prime seats for baseball, were almost at field level for football. In general, spectator sight lines were not optimized for either sport, i.e., seats were angled towards

24650-523: The venue now known as Hard Rock Stadium . For stadiums such as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum , where the Los Angeles Dodgers played their home games from 1958 through 1961 while awaiting completion of Dodger Stadium , this also had the undesirable effect of having unusually short foul lines, making it easier to hit so-called " Chinese home runs ". Baseball stadiums that were converted to football stadiums had more of an obtuse angle between

24820-466: The winner, Lasse Viren of Finland . Foster lost all his three Olympic races against Viren – 5,000 and 10,000 m in 1976 and 10,000 m in 1980. In the preliminaries to the 1976 5,000 m race he broke Viren's Olympic record running 13:20.34. That record would hold through the final until it was surpassed in the final of the 1984 Olympics. Foster's final major race was the 1980 Olympics 10,000-metre final, where he finished eleventh, almost 40 seconds behind

24990-419: The winner, Ethiopia's Miruts Yifter . In 2010, he was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame . Brendan joined the sports company Nike International Limited in 1981 as UK managing director. Progressing to European managing director, Vice-President Marketing (Worldwide) and Vice-President of Nike Europe. In 1988 he set up a company, Nova International with three friends from Nike . This company

25160-422: The wrong Ethiopian national anthem which, when played, offended Miruts Yifter sufficiently that he and his teammates started off towards Newcastle International Airport . The intervention worked—in the end, Foster asked Yifter and his teammates if they would sing the anthem themselves, which they did in the middle of the stadium—and Yifter returned to outclass a field including Steve Ovett over 5000m. The track

25330-529: Was Gateshead Thunder, who played in Super League IV in 1999. The Thunder played at Gateshead International Stadium and the club had, according to sports journalist Andy Wilson, "an enjoyable and surprisingly successful season" which included home and away wins against St. Helens and a sixth-place finish in the table – missing out on the playoffs by two points. Despite these performances, which attracted an average crowd of 3,895 to Gateshead Stadium,

25500-468: Was a member of the club when he set his record mark in winning gold at the 1995 World Championships in Helsinki, when winning Olympic gold at the 2000 Sydney Games and a second world title a year later in Edmonton . Both Foster and Edwards are honorary life members of the club. In 1998, Gateshead was awarded a rugby league franchise after a three-way contest with Cardiff and Swansea. The result

25670-400: Was also a big issue since the MLB postseason overlaps with the NFL regular season. If a baseball team advances in the postseason to the point where it is scheduled to play a postseason game on the same day the football team plays a home game, adjustments had to be made, such as having the game moved to Monday night or – if a division opponent were scheduled – have the game sites switched, putting

25840-650: Was also renovated with additional seating, including a 4,500-ton, three-tier movable grandstand to accommodate both baseball and football configurations. Mile High Stadium was home to the AFL / NFL Denver Broncos and the MLB Colorado Rockies franchises. For the 1996 Summer Olympics , the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) built the temporary Centennial Olympic Stadium in

26010-440: Was also used for baseball. The original Yankee Stadium was designed to accommodate football, as well as track and field (Yankee Stadium popularized the warning track , originally designed as a running track around baseball fields), in addition to its primary use for baseball. In addition to baseball, Fenway Park and Braves Field would host college football and several professional football teams (all of whom relocated within

26180-441: Was criticized for leaving spectators exposed to the elements, and for the long distance between the stands and the pitch resulting in poor visibility. This was because the athletics track, which was seldom used, was constructed around the outside of the pitch, while views from the lower tier were also restricted due to the positioning of advertising boards. These factors contributed to low attendances; only 237 spectators showed up for

26350-478: Was demolished so that a football-specific replacement could be built on the site as part of Portugal's bid to host Euro 2004 . German stadiums such as the AWD-Arena , Commerzbank-Arena , MHPArena , RheinEnergieStadion , AOL Arena , and Zentralstadion also underwent reconstruction/renovation to remove the running track an thus become football-only venues. Several of these projects were done in preparation for

26520-497: Was larger than most MLB stadiums of its era. After the 2016 season, the Braves moved to the new SunTrust Park , and Georgia State University purchased Turner Field and surrounding parking lots for a major campus expansion project. As part of this project, Turner Field was reconfigured as Center Parc Stadium , a downsized rectangular stadium that is now home to the university's football team . The first multipurpose stadium in Canada

26690-466: Was later renamed to View From International, which won a contract to supply the British athletics team. The brand was later sold to Marks and Spencer in 2002 for an estimated £2m. After retiring from athletics following the Moscow Olympics in 1980, Foster worked for BBC Television, commentating and reporting on the sport at every major event from 1983 to 2017. In 1977, he helped organise

26860-740: Was multipurpose in practice, being convertible between football and baseball. Home of the Minnesota Vikings through the 2013 season, it was also home to the Minnesota Twins until 2009 and the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team (NCAA) until 2008 as well as the Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball team (NCAA) until 2012. The Metrodome has been demolished, with U.S. Bank Stadium , built mainly for professional football but able to convert to

27030-543: Was neither in New York City or even New York State . Instead, it was in the Meadowlands of East Rutherford, New Jersey . As a result, then-Governor Mario Cuomo would not attend any games at Giants Stadium (instead choosing to attend the home games of the Buffalo Bills as they were "New York State's only team" in the NFL). A similar criticism applied to Giants Stadium's replacement, MetLife Stadium . Association football

27200-406: Was opened. It can convert between an oval for cricket, rectangle for rugby and association football, and a running track for athletics. Kalinga Stadium is a multi-purpose international sports complex in Bhubaneswar , Odisha , India . Construction was begun in 1978. It is best known as the home ground of the Indian Super League football club Odisha FC since that club's inception in 2019 . It

27370-411: Was perceived as an especially bad fit for this type of stadium because, in the United States, the sport does not draw as many fans to games as American football or baseball (with the exceptions of Atlanta and Seattle ), resulting in the stadium being filled to only a fraction of its capacity. This, combined with a desire for more compact, intimate stadiums akin to those of European football clubs, led to

27540-456: Was previously housed alongside the sports hall, consisting of a 50 metres (55 yd) long synthetic sprint straight and areas for throwing and jumping events, but its mechanical operation proved problematic and a more modern structure replaced it in 2006. This facility has a 60 metres (66 yd) sprint straight in an 82 metres (90 yd) hall, throwing and jumping facilities, a weights room and gymnasium. The first major athletic event held at

27710-452: Was renovated to a baseball-only facility in 1997, three years after the Rams' departure for St. Louis. Similarly, Candlestick Park was renovated into a multipurpose stadium in 1970 to accommodate the San Francisco 49ers ' move from Kezar Stadium and converted to football-only after the San Francisco Giants moved to their new ballpark in 2000. Candlestick Park was demolished in 2015. Another baseball stadium, Denver's Mile High Stadium ,

27880-399: Was resurfaced by Regisport in 1982 and the venues' profile was further raised in the summer of 1983, when Gateshead-born athlete Steve Cram faced Sebastian Coe over 800m in the Gateshead Games. In front of a reported crowd of 15,000 who were "shoehorned into the bowl" and millions more watching on BBC's Sunday Grandstand , Cram prevailed to spark "pandemonium" in his final race before winning

28050-411: Was the Montreal Olympic Stadium , which was built for the 1976 Summer Olympics and initially had functions to host events of different sports and types. However, the project became obsolete over time and the stadium lost its original functions, becoming a "white elephant". The first successful such stadium was the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton , which was built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games and

28220-516: Was the home ground of the I-League club Indian Arrows from 2018 until 2022 . Its main stadium is configured for football and athletics , with an 8-lane synthetic athletics track surrounding the football pitch. Field hockey , tennis , table tennis , basketball , volleyball , wall climbing , and swimming are accommodated elsewhere within the complex. While multipurpose stadiums were intended to easily accommodate both American football and baseball (and in some cases, association football),

28390-494: Was then the fastest time ever recorded. The meet was also notable for the return to competition of Dwain Chambers after his ban for using performance-enhancing drugs , and for Eliud Kipchoge breaking Foster's stadium record over 3000m that had stood for more than three decades. In 2010, the British Grand Prix at Gateshead was chosen as one of the inaugural fourteen Diamond League events, but although competitors included Tyson Gay , Powell, Jessica Ennis and Vincent Chepkok ,

28560-400: Was told that a new synthetic track was being laid at Gateshead Youth Stadium. His response was a promise that, if the Council was serious, he would run at the stadium and break a world record (Foster later offered an explanation of that promise: "You know how it is when you've had a few drinks—you promise the world!"). When the track was laid in early 1974, Foster became convinced of

28730-406: Was undertaken and in May 2010 the council reported that 327 of the 375 responses received were in favour of the amended proposal. As a result, notice was given to developers that the council intended to market the site and ten responses were received. Gateshead International Stadium and its facilities occupy 24.4 hectares (60 acres) of land. The main athletics arena at Gateshead International Stadium

28900-490: Was within reach, he ran the final lap in a relatively leisurely 62 seconds after establishing a commanding lead before it. In the same year he broke the 3,000m World Record on his home track, Gateshead International Stadium with a time of 7:35.1. That year, Foster was awarded the BBC's prestigious Sports Personality of the Year award. He established his personal best in the 10,000 m with a time of 27:30.3 run at Crystal Palace on 23 June 1978, while also winning 10,000 m gold at

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