75-517: Rodney Parade is a stadium in the city of Newport , South Wales . It is located on the east bank of the River Usk in Newport city centre . The ground is on Rodney Road, a short walk from the city's central bus and railway stations via Newport Bridge or Newport City footbridge . There is no spectator car park at the ground but a number of multi-storey car parks are nearby. Rodney Parade
150-865: A few have even been designed to have moveable fields as part of the infrastructure. The Caesars Superdome in New Orleans is a true dome structure made of a lamellar multi-ringed frame and has a diameter of 680 feet (210 m). It is the largest fixed domed structure in the world. Even though enclosed, dome stadiums are called stadiums because they are large enough for, and designed for, what are generally considered to be outdoor sports such as athletics, American football , association football , rugby , and baseball . Those designed for what are usually indoor sports like basketball, ice hockey and volleyball are generally called arenas . Exceptions include: Different sports require different playing surfaces of various size and shape. Some stadiums are designed primarily for
225-405: A few municipally owned stadiums, which are often known by a name that is significant to their area (for example, Boston 's Fenway Park ). In recent years, some government-owned stadiums have also been subject to naming-rights agreements, with some or all of the revenue often going to the team(s) that play there. One consequence of corporate naming has been an increase in stadium name changes, when
300-541: A floodlit game at Rodney Parade. It was the first ground in Wales to have floodlights installed. Newport RFC enjoyed six highly successful seasons, being unbeaten during that time. The team sustained their first defeat in the 1870s, but were again unbeaten in seasons 1891-2 and 1922-3. Monmouthshire County Cricket Club played at Rodney Parade from 1901 to 1934. Rodney Parade hosted Wales international matches against England, France and Scotland. Touring international teams
375-495: A floodlit grass training area. Further north, parallel to Grafton Road, is the rugby clubhouse/office facilities including Rodney Hall. In 1875, the Newport Athletic Club was created, and two years later they secured the use of land at Rodney Parade from Godfrey Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar , for their cricket , tennis , rugby union and athletics teams. In October 1879, Newport RFC played Cardiff RFC in
450-403: A football pitch with a running track , although certain compromises must be made. The major drawback is that the stands are necessarily set back a good distance from the pitch, especially at the ends of the pitch. In the case of some smaller stadiums, there are not stands at the ends. When there are stands all the way around, the stadium takes on an oval shape. When one end is open, the stadium has
525-471: A horseshoe shape. All three configurations (open, oval and horseshoe) are common, especially in the case of American college football stadiums. Rectangular stadiums are more common in Europe, especially for football where many stadiums have four often distinct and very different stands on the four sides of the stadium. These are often all of different sizes and designs and have been erected at different periods in
600-707: A pitch envied around Ireland. Other early stadiums from this period in the UK include the Stamford Bridge stadium (opened in 1877 for the London Athletic Club ) and Anfield stadium (1884 as a venue for Everton F.C. ). In the U.S., many professional baseball teams built large stadiums mainly out of wood , with the first such venue being the South End Grounds in Boston , opened in 1871 for
675-580: A private consortium purchased Rodney Parade and the Dragons regional rugby union team from the WRU. Newport Squash Rackets Club has four squash courts at Rodney Parade. Rodney Parade has two covered stands: the two-tier Candleston Stand (west) and the Bisley Stand (east) which are along the touchlines of the pitch. The upper tier of the west stand is seated with 1,996 seats, including 40 Press seats and
750-440: A short track and field event followed by music and a fireworks display. Upon its completion the stadium was the first joint purpose-built football stadium in the world. The architect Archibald Leitch brought his experience with the construction of industrial buildings to bear on the design of functional stadiums up and down the country. His work encompassed the first 40 years of the 20th century. One of his most notable designs
825-522: A single sport while others can accommodate different events, particularly ones with retractable seating . Stadiums built specifically for association football are common in Europe; Gaelic games stadiums, such as Croke Park , are common in Ireland, while stadiums built specifically for baseball or American football are common in the United States. The most common multiple use design combines
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#1732780424646900-404: A sports venue, and was the first baseball park to use steel and brick for the majority of its construction. Another influential venue was Boston 's Harvard Stadium , built in 1903 by Harvard University for its American football team and track and field program. It was the world's first stadium to use concrete-and-steel construction. In 1909, concrete-and-steel construction came to baseball with
975-573: Is home to the former Maindee Pools. The art deco building opened on Victoria Avenue in 1938, and closed in 2005. The pool and its forecourt are registered as a Grade II listed building . The BBC TV series Being Human used the empty swimming pool for location shots. Maindee Unlimited, a community-led regeneration charity for the Maindee area, was formed in 2014. It re-opened Llyfrgell Maindee Library for community use in October 2015. It re-opened
1050-549: Is the Latin form of the Greek word " stadion " ( στάδιον ), a measure of length equalling the length of 600 human feet. As feet are of variable length the exact length of a stadion depends on the exact length adopted for 1 foot at a given place and time. Although in modern terms 1 stadion = 600 ft (180 m), in a given historical context it may actually signify a length up to 15% larger or smaller. The equivalent Roman measure,
1125-733: Is the Nippon Professional Baseball league of Japan, in which many of the teams are themselves named after their parent corporations. Also, many newer European football stadiums, such as the University of Bolton and Emirates Stadiums in England and Signal Iduna Park and Allianz Arena in Germany have been corporately named. This new trend in corporate naming (or renaming) is distinguishable from names of some older venues, such as Crosley Field , Wrigley Field , and
1200-625: Is the Stadium at Olympia in Greece, where the ancient Olympic Games were held from 776 BC. Initially the Games consisted of a single event, a sprint along the length of the stadium. Greek and Roman stadiums have been found in numerous ancient cities, perhaps the most famous being the Stadium of Domitian , in Rome. The excavated and refurbished ancient Panathenaic Stadium hosted attempted revivals of
1275-695: Is the home ground of Dragons RFC , one of the four Welsh regional rugby union teams. It is also the home ground of Newport County football club. It is the third-oldest sports venue in the Football League , after the Racecourse Ground and Deepdale . Stadium capacity is reduced from rugby levels for football matches. In 2017 the rugby union club Newport RFC sold Rodney Parade to the Welsh Rugby Union and subsequently in 2021 Newport RFC relocated to Newport Stadium . In 2023
1350-794: The Allianz Arena in Munich was called the FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich during the tournament. Likewise, the same stadium will be known as the "München Arena" during the European Competitions. Similar rules affect the Imtech Arena and Veltins-Arena . This rule applies even if the stadium sponsor is an official FIFA sponsor—the Johannesburg stadium then commercially known as "Coca-Cola Park", bearing
1425-638: The National Football League or the American Football League . (To a certain extent, this continues in lower football leagues as well, with the venue now known as Charles Schwab Field Omaha being used as the home stadium of the United Football League's Omaha Nighthawks .) Along with today's single use stadiums is the trend for retro-style ballparks closer to downtown areas. Oriole Park at Camden Yards
1500-652: The Newport Gwent Dragons regional team was formed on 1 April 2003 and shared Rodney Parade with Newport RFC. On 4 September 2007, it was announced that the Rodney Parade site was due to be redeveloped into a 15,000-capacity stadium by the beginning of the 2010–11 rugby union season. The redevelopment was backed by Newport City Council , Newport Unlimited , Newport RFC and Newport Gwent Dragons. The application received planning consent on 11 March 2009. The plan included construction of covered stands at
1575-640: The Summer Olympics and the FIFA World Cup (of association football), during which cities often pledge to build new stadiums in order to satisfy the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or FIFA . In recent decades, to help take the burden of the massive expense of building and maintaining a stadium, many American and European sports teams have sold the rights to the name of the facility. This trend, which began in
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#17327804246461650-483: The Wales women's national football team : Stadium A stadium ( pl. : stadiums or stadia ) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event. Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event at the ancient Greek Olympic festival
1725-521: The city of Newport , South Wales . It lies on the eastern side of the River Usk, mostly within the electoral district (ward) of Victoria , although some areas traditionally associated with Maindee are in the Beechwood ward. The name 'Maindee' is an anglicised version of Maendy meaning 'stone house'. Maindee is home to a sizeable Asian - Muslim population with three mosques located in
1800-483: The stadium , had a similar length – about 185 m (607 ft) – but instead of being defined in feet was defined using the Roman standard passus to be a distance of 125 passūs (double-paces). The English use of stadium comes from the tiered infrastructure surrounding a Roman track of such length. Most dictionaries provide for both stadiums and stadia as valid English plurals. The oldest known stadium
1875-515: The 1924 New Zealand All Blacks and the 1960 South Africa Springboks both narrowly defeated Newport RFC at Rodney Parade. The cricket ground, which was on the south side of the stadium, was demolished and the new Maindee primary school was built on the site in 1993. Newport Cricket Club relocated to the Newport International Sports Village . Following the introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales ,
1950-654: The 1960s stadiums began to be used as live venues for popular music, giving rise to the term " stadium rock ", particularly for forms of hard rock and progressive rock . The origins of stadium rock are sometimes dated to when the Beatles played Shea Stadium in New York in 1965. Also important was the use of large stadiums for American tours by bands in the later 1960s, such as the Rolling Stones , Grand Funk Railroad and Led Zeppelin . The tendency developed in
2025-604: The 1970s, but accelerated greatly in the 1990s, has led to sponsors' names being affixed to both established stadiums and new ones. In some cases, the corporate name replaces (with varying degrees of success) the name by which the venue has been known for many years. But many of the more recently built stadiums, like the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg , Germany, have never been known by a non-corporate name. The sponsorship phenomenon has since spread worldwide. There remain
2100-532: The 1990s. In several cases, an American football stadium has been constructed adjacent to a baseball park , to allow for the sharing of mutual parking lots and other amenities. With the rise of MLS, the construction of soccer-specific stadiums has also increased since the late 1990s to better fit the needs of that sport. In many cases, earlier baseball stadiums were constructed to fit into a particular land area or city block. This resulted in asymmetrical dimensions for many baseball fields. Yankee Stadium , for example,
2175-703: The EFL to move two home matches to Cardiff City Stadium due to the poor condition of the Rodney Parade pitch. The Dragons also switched three home matches to the Millennium Stadium , Cardiff . Scheduled pitch maintenance had been cancelled in Summer 2020 by the ground owners WRU due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom . The pitch and drainage redevelopment including a hybrid grass surface
2250-534: The Greeks built structures called "stadium"; Romans built structures called " circus ". Greek stadia were for foot races, whereas the Roman circus was for horse races. Both had similar shapes and bowl-like areas around them for spectators. The Greeks also developed the theatre, with its seating arrangements foreshadowing those of modern stadiums. The Romans copied the theatre, then expanded it to accommodate larger crowds and more elaborate settings. The Romans also developed
2325-509: The Olympic Games in 1870 and 1875 before hosting the first modern Olympics in 1896 , the 1906 Intercalated Games , and some events of the 2004 Summer Olympics . The excavation and refurbishment of the stadium was part of the legacy of the Greek national benefactor Evangelos Zappas , and it was the first ancient stadium to be used in modern times. Stadiums in ancient Greece and Rome were built for different purposes, and at first only
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2400-584: The Olympic Games, the first one being held in 1896 in Athens , Greece. The White City Stadium , built for the 1908 Summer Olympics in London is often cited as the first modern seater stadium, at least in the UK. Designed by the engineer J.J. Webster and completed in 10 months by George Wimpey , on the site of the Franco-British Exhibition , this stadium with a seating capacity of 68,000
2475-535: The Rodney Parade site and the Dragons rugby union team from the Welsh Rugby Union. In July 2023 Newport County football club agreed a new short term lease to continue to play their matches at the ground. In July 2024 Newport County football club agreed a new 10 year lease to play their home matches at Rodney Parade Rodney Parade has hosted six full-cap rugby union international matches for the Wales national rugby union team : It has hosted one match for
2550-453: The US is bleachers , which is mostly used for seating areas with bench seats as opposed to individual seats, and which often are uncovered; the name refers to the bleaching effect direct, unshaded sunlight has on the benches and patrons in those sections. Many stadiums make luxury suites or boxes available to patrons at high prices. These suites can accommodate ten to thirty people, depending on
2625-461: The area. A large selection of shops are located on Chepstow Road, Corporation Road and Church Road. A station of Gwent Police and a public library are located on Chepstow Road. A station of South Wales Fire and Rescue Service is also located in Maindee. The annual Maindee Festival and Parade, held each Summer since 1996, is a popular community arts event for all residents in Newport. The area
2700-458: The construction of new facilities. In Europe and Latin America, where there are multiple association football clubs in any given city, and several leagues in each country, no such monopoly power exists, and stadiums are built primarily with private money. Outside professional sports, governments are also involved through the intense competition for the right to host major sporting events, primarily
2775-424: The double-sized round theatre called amphitheatre , seating crowds in the tens of thousands for gladiatorial combats and beast shows. The Greek stadium and theatre and the Roman circus and amphitheatre are all ancestral to the modern stadium. The first stadiums to be built in the modern era were basic facilities, designed for the single purpose of fitting as many spectators in as possible. With tremendous growth in
2850-408: The first and second Busch Stadiums , in that the parks were named by and for the club's owner, which also happened to be the name of the company owned by those clubowners. (The current Busch Stadium received its name via a modern naming rights agreement.) During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, some stadiums were temporarily renamed because FIFA prohibits sponsorship of stadiums. For example,
2925-476: The largest among them, are megaprojects that can only be afforded by the largest corporations, wealthiest individuals, or government. Sports fans have a deep emotional attachment to their teams. In North America, with its closed-league " franchise " system, there are fewer teams than cities which would like them. This creates tremendous bargaining power for the owners of teams, whereby owners can threaten to relocate teams to other cities unless governments subsidize
3000-471: The lead of Aerosmith and including Mötley Crüe , Quiet Riot , W.A.S.P. and Ratt . Since the 1980s, rock, pop and folk stars, including the Grateful Dead , Madonna , Michael Jackson , Beyoncé , Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift , have undertaken large-scale stadium based concert tours . Maindee Maindee ( Welsh : Maendy ) is a large inner-city commercial and residential area in
3075-416: The lower tier is a standing terrace . The east stand is all-seated with a 2,526 capacity including 144 seats in 13 hospitality boxes, food/drink outlets and a gantry for television cameras. The TV cameras are therefore pointing westward and often show the sun setting over Newport city centre. The North Terrace is uncovered standing and adjoins a small uncovered standing terrace on the west touchline alongside
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3150-485: The memorial gates, on the corner of Rodney and Grafton Roads, were given Grade II listed building status. They were erected in 1923–24 to commemorate members of Newport Athletic Club who were killed in the First World War . The gates are made of steel and the gate piers of Portland stone . Each pier is faced with a bronze panel inscribed with the names of the dead. In March 2021 Newport County were permitted by
3225-418: The mid-1970s as the increased power of amplification and sound systems allowed the use of larger and larger venues. Smoke, fireworks and sophisticated lighting shows became staples of arena rock performances. Key acts from this era included Journey , REO Speedwagon , Boston , Foreigner , Styx , Kiss , Peter Frampton and Queen . In the 1980s arena rock became dominated by glam metal bands, following
3300-481: The name of one of FIFA's major sponsors , was known by its historic name of Ellis Park Stadium during the 2010 FIFA World Cup . Corporate names are also temporarily replaced during the Olympics. Modern stadiums bring several negative environmental issues with their construction. They require thousands of tons of materials to build, they greatly increase traffic in the area around the stadium, as well as maintaining
3375-401: The namesake corporation changes its name, or if it is the naming agreement simply expires. Phoenix's Chase Field , for example, was previously known as Bank One Ballpark, but was renamed to reflect the takeover of the latter corporation. San Francisco's historic Candlestick Park was renamed as 3Com Park for several years, but the name was dropped when the sponsorship agreement expired, and it
3450-424: The north and south ends and the provision of cover on the stretch of the west touchline terrace. In August 2010, it was announced that the target finish date for the first phase had been put back to the beginning of the 2011–12 rugby union season with the full redevelopment planned to take several years. The new east stand was opened in October 2011, and named the Bisley Stand for sponsorship purposes. In May 2012, it
3525-621: The north and south ends. The hospitality suite is located in the North End of the East Stand on the upper level. The rugby ticket office and club shop is located at the north end of the East Stand accessed via the main gate to the ground (Gate 4) off Grafton Road. The Newport County ticket office is a separate building just inside Gate 4. To the north of the North Terrace is a tented fanzone for pre and post match entertainment and
3600-475: The old stadiums they replace. In North America, where baseball and American football are the two most popular outdoor spectator sports, a number of football/baseball multi-use stadiums were built, especially during the 1960s, and some of them were successful. Since the requirements for baseball and football are significantly different, the trend has been toward the construction of single-purpose stadiums, beginning with Kansas City in 1972–1973 and accelerating in
3675-654: The opening of Shibe Park in Philadelphia and, a few months later, Forbes Field in Pittsburgh . The latter was the world's first three-tiered sporting venue. The opening of these parks marked the start of the "jewel box" era of park construction. The largest stadium crowd ever was 199,854 people watching the final match of the 1950 World Cup at Rio de Janeiro 's Maracanã on 16 July 1950. Domed stadiums are distinguished from conventional stadiums by their enclosing roofs. Many of these are not actually domes in
3750-492: The popularity of organised sport in the late Victorian era , especially association football in the United Kingdom and baseball in the United States, the first such structures were built. One such early stadium was the Lansdowne Road Stadium , the brainchild of Henry Dunlop , who organised the first All Ireland Athletics Championships. Banned from locating sporting events at Trinity College, Dunlop built
3825-402: The public toilets on Chepstow Road as "Maindee Triangle" in 2023. As "Greening Maindee", the charity also runs a range of environmental and public gardening projects. This Wales -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 51°35′24″N 2°58′34″W / 51.59000°N 2.97611°W / 51.59000; -2.97611 This Wales -related article
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#17327804246463900-828: The public. An "all-seater" stadium has seats for all spectators. Other stadiums are designed so that all or some spectators stand to view the event. The term "all-seater" is not common in the U.S., as very few American stadiums have sizeable standing-only sections. Poor stadium design has contributed to disasters, such as the Hillsborough disaster and the Heysel Stadium disaster . Since these, all Premier League , UEFA European Championship and FIFA World Cup qualifying matches require all spectators to be seated. Seating areas may be known as terraces , tiers , or decks . Originally set out for standing room only, they are now usually equipped with seating. Another term used in
3975-508: The pure architectural sense, some being better described as vaults , some having truss -supported roofs and others having more exotic designs such as a tensegrity structure . But, in the context of sports stadiums, the term "dome" has become standard for all covered stadiums, particularly because the first such enclosed stadium, the Houston Astrodome , was built with an actual dome-shaped roof. Some stadiums have partial roofs, and
4050-457: The sale of the ground to the Welsh Rugby Union was agreed following a vote of Newport RFC shareholders. The takeover was completed on 27 June 2017 and work started to install a hybrid grass pitch for the 2017–18 rugby and football season. In 2018 the record attendance for a Newport County match at Rodney Parade was set at 9,836 against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA cup fourth round. In August 2020
4125-538: The stadium in 1872. "I laid down a cinder running path of a quarter-mile, laid down the present Lansdowne Tennis Club ground with my own theodolite, started a Lansdowne archery club, a Lansdowne cricket club, and last, but not least, the Lansdowne Rugby Football Club – colours red, black and yellow." Some 300 cartloads of soil from a trench beneath the railway were used to raise the ground, allowing Dunlop to use his engineering expertise to create
4200-401: The stadium's history. The vastly differing character of European football stadiums has led to the growing hobby of ground hopping where spectators make a journey to visit the stadium for itself rather than for the event held there. In recent years the trend of building completely new oval stadiums in Europe has led to traditionalists criticising the designs as bland and lacking in the character of
4275-536: The stadium. The increased traffic around modern stadiums has led to create exposure zones says the Health Effect Institute, exposing 30–40% of people living around the stadium to potential health issues. Many stadiums are attempting to counteract these issues by implementing solar panels, and high efficiency lighting, to reduce their own carbon footprint. Although concerts, such as classical music, had been presented in them for decades, beginning in
4350-499: The summers of 2013 and 2014, new drainage and irrigation systems were installed under the grass playing surface. Despite that, serious drainage problems occurred at the end of 2016. Newport County's matches against Barnet on 3 September and Morecambe on 10 December were abandoned at half-time because the pitch was waterlogged and the English Football League stepped in to help identify the problem. In March 2017,
4425-675: The team then known as the Boston Beaneaters (now the Atlanta Braves ). Many of these parks caught fire, and those that did not proved inadequate for a growing game. All of the 19th-century wooden parks were replaced, some after a few years, and none survive today. Goodison Park was the first purpose-built association football stadium in the world. Walton -based building firm Kelly brothers were instructed to erect two uncovered stands that could each accommodate 4,000 spectators. A third covered stand accommodating 3,000 spectators
4500-562: The venue. Luxury suites at events such as the Super Bowl can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Due to the number of people congregating in stadiums and the frequency of events, many notable accidents have occurred in the past, some causing injury and death. For example, the Hillsborough disaster was a human crush at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield , England on 15 April 1989. The resulting 97 deaths and 765 injuries makes this
4575-410: The west stand. The South End of the stadium houses players' changing rooms, a media centre, large video screen and the small uncovered stand with 222 seats for away football fans. Away football fans are also sited in block F of the east stand giving a total capacity of 1,300 for away football fans. Capacity has occasionally been increased for major FA Cup matches with the addition of temporary stands at
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#17327804246464650-461: The worst disaster in British sporting history. Much effort has been spent to avoid the recurrence of such events, both in design and legislation. Especially where there is a perceived risk of terrorism or violence attention remains high to prevent human death and keep stadiums as places where families can enjoy a public event together. In Europe and South America, during the twentieth century, it
4725-472: Was Old Trafford in Manchester. The ground was originally designed with a capacity of 100,000 spectators and featured seating in the south stand under cover, while the remaining three stands were left as terraces and uncovered. It was the first stadium to feature continuous seating along the contours of the stadium. These early venues, originally designed to host football matches, were adopted for use by
4800-453: Was agreed that Newport County football club would move from Newport Stadium and play its home fixtures at Rodney Parade as part of an initial three-year deal, meaning that the stadium would host association football matches on a regular basis for the first time. In February 2013, Newport County agreed a further 10-year lease to play at Rodney Parade. In April 2013, Newport Athletic Bowls Club relocated from Rodney Parade to Caerleon . In
4875-476: Was also requested. Everton officials were impressed with the builder's workmanship and agreed two further contracts: exterior hoardings were constructed at a cost of £150 and 12 turnstiles were installed at a cost of £7 each. The stadium was officially opened on 24 August 1892 by Lord Kinnaird and Frederick Wall of the Football Association. No football was played; instead the 12,000 crowd watched
4950-613: Was another two years before the new name of Monster Cable Products ' Monster Park was applied. Local opposition to the corporate naming of that particular stadium led San Francisco's city council to permanently restore the Candlestick Park name once the Monster contract expired. More recently, in Ireland, there has been huge opposition to the renaming of Dublin 's historic Lansdowne Road as the Aviva Stadium . Lansdowne
5025-585: Was built on a triangular city block in The Bronx , New York City. This resulted in a large left field dimension but a small right field dimension. Before more modern football stadiums were built in the United States, many baseball parks, including Fenway Park , the Polo Grounds , Wrigley Field , Comiskey Park , Tiger Stadium , Griffith Stadium , Milwaukee County Stadium , Shibe Park , Forbes Field , Yankee Stadium , and Sportsman's Park were used by
5100-686: Was common for violent bands of supporters to fight inside or close to association football stadiums. In the United Kingdom they are known as hooligans . Structural features that increase safety include separate entry and exit accesses for each spectator area, especially separating accesses for home and visitor supporters, dividing walls, glass parapets, vibration attenuation and sprinkler systems. Security features that have been adopted include armed surveillance, Identity document checks, video surveillance , metal detectors and security searches to enforce rules that forbid spectators to carry dangerous or potentially dangerous items. Modern stadiums, especially
5175-715: Was completed in August 2021. In October 2021 Newport RFC relocated their home matches from Rodney Parade to Newport Stadium whilst agreeing with the WRU to play two matches per season at Rodney Parade. In May 2022 Rodney Parade ground staff were presented with the Best Pitch in EFL League Two award for the 2021–22 football season and the 2022–23 football season. In June 2023 a consortium headed by former Just Eat CEO and current Dragons chairman David Buttress bought
5250-424: Was opened by King Edward VII on 27 April 1908. Upon completion, the stadium had a running track 24 ft wide (7.3 m) and three laps to the mile (536 m); outside there was a 35-foot-wide (11 m), 660-yard (600 m) cycle track. The infield included a swimming and diving pool. The London Highbury Stadium , built in 1913, was the first stadium in the UK to feature a two-tiered seating arrangement when it
5325-416: Was redesigned in the Art Deco style in 1936. During these decades, parallel stadium developments were taking place in the U.S. The Baker Bowl , a baseball park in Philadelphia that opened in its original form in 1887 but was completely rebuilt in 1895, broke new ground in stadium construction in two major ways. The stadium's second incarnation featured the world's first cantilevered second deck (tier) in
5400-529: Was redeveloped as the Aviva, opening in May 2010. On the other hand, Los Angeles' Great Western Forum , one of the earliest examples of corporate renaming, retained its name for many years, even after the namesake bank no longer existed, the corporate name being dropped only after the building later changed ownership. This practice has typically been less common in countries outside the United States. A notable exception
5475-563: Was reportedly the first floodlit stadium. Floodlighting in association football dates as far back as 1878, when there were floodlit experimental matches at Bramall Lane, Sheffield during the dark winter afternoons. With no national grid , lights were powered by batteries and dynamoes , and were unreliable. Since the development of electrical grids, lighting has been an important element in stadium design, allowing games to be played after sundown, and in covered, or partly covered stadiums that allow less natural light, but provide more shelter for
5550-525: Was the first such ballpark for Major League Baseball to be built, using early-20th-century styling with 21st-century amenities. There is a solar-powered stadium in Taiwan that produces as much energy as it needs to function. Stadium designers often study acoustics to increase noise caused by fans' voices, aiming to create a lively atmosphere. Until the advent of floodlights , most games played on large areas had to rely on natural lighting. Bramall Lane
5625-425: Was the race that comprised one length of the stadion at Olympia , where the word "stadium" originated. Most of the stadiums with a capacity of at least 10,000 are used for association football . Other popular stadium sports include gridiron football , baseball , cricket , the various codes of rugby , field lacrosse , bandy , and bullfighting . Many large sports venues are also used for concerts. "Stadium"
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