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Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

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A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stresses multifunctionality over speciality. It is used most commonly in Canada and the United States, where the two most popular outdoor team sports— Canadian football or American football and baseball —require radically different facilities. Football uses a rectangular field, while baseball is played on a diamond with a large outfield. Since Canadian football fields are larger than American ones , the design specifications for Canadian facilities are somewhat less demanding. The particular design to accommodate both is usually an oval, although some later designs use an octorad . While building stadiums in this way means that sports teams and governments can share costs, it also presents some challenges.

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215-546: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium , commonly known as RFK Stadium and originally known as District of Columbia Stadium , is a defunct multi-purpose stadium in Washington, D.C. It is located about two miles (3 km) due east of the U.S. Capitol building , near the west bank of the Anacostia River and next to the D.C. Armory . Opened in 1961, it was owned by the federal government until 1986. RFK Stadium

430-496: A college football game labeled the "Dedication Game," the stadium was dedicated on October 7. George Washington University became the first home team to win at the stadium with a 30–6 defeat of VMI . Its first sell-out came on November 23, 1961, for the first of what were to be annual Thanksgiving Day high-school football games between the D.C. public school champion and the D.C. Catholic school champion: Eastern defeated St. John's 34–14. The first Major League Baseball game

645-437: A cycling race, an American Le Mans Series auto race, marathons, and dozens of major concerts and other events. RFK was one of the first major stadiums designed to host both baseball and football . Although other stadiums already served this purpose, such as Cleveland Stadium (1931) and Baltimore's Memorial Stadium (1950), RFK was one of the first to employ what became known as the circular " cookie-cutter " design. It

860-669: A deputy sheriff in Billings County, North Dakota . He and ranch hands hunted down three boat thieves. The severe winter of 1886–1887 wiped out his herd and over half of his $ 80,000 investment ($ 2.71 million in 2023). He ended his ranching life and returned to New York, where he escaped the damaging label of an ineffectual intellectual. On December 2, 1886, Roosevelt married his childhood friend, Edith Kermit Carow , at St George's, Hanover Square , in London , England. Roosevelt felt deeply troubled that his second marriage

1075-475: A 2–1 D.C. United loss to the New York Red Bulls. On September 5, 2019, Events DC announced plans to demolish the stadium by 2021. Officials said the decision would save $ 2 million a year on maintenance and $ 1.5 million a year on utilities. One year later, they hired a contractor to oversee the demolition, which was expected to begin in 2022 and cost $ 20 million. In July 2022, Events DC announced that

1290-576: A 2–1 loss to the LA Galaxy . However, later that year the stadium hosted the Redskins' final home game in Washington, D.C. After nearly a decade of negotiating for a new stadium with Mayors Sharon Pratt Kelly and Marion Barry , abandoning them in 1992 and 1993 in search of a suburban site and then having a 1994 agreement collapse in the face of neighborhood complaints, environmental concerns and

1505-517: A Maryland insurance businessman, made a statement in August 1964 which he claimed that Matthew McCloskey , a former Democratic National Committee chairman and Kennedy's ambassador to Ireland , paid a $ 25,000 kickback through Reynolds and at the instruction of Baker to the Kennedy-Johnson campaign as payback for the stadium construction contract. Baker later went to jail for tax fraud, and

1720-625: A Ranchman , Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail , and The Wilderness Hunter . Roosevelt successfully led efforts to organize ranchers to address the problems of overgrazing and other shared concerns, which resulted in the formation of the Little Missouri Stockmen's Association. He formed the Boone and Crockett Club , whose primary goal was the conservation of large game animals and their habitats. In 1886, Roosevelt served as

1935-523: A ball saved by former Senators pitcher Joe Grzenda from that teams ill-fated final home game—the ball Grzenda would have pitched to Yankee second baseman Horace Clarke when fans rioted and forced the forfeit. The last MLB game at RFK, a 5–3 Nationals win over the Phillies, was played on September 23, 2007, and in 2008 the Nationals moved to their new stadium. In 2008, RFK was once again primarily

2150-548: A city in mind, but it proved fruitless). In the mid-1990s RFK was planned to be the home of the yet-to-be-named Washington team, a charter franchise of the United League (UL) which was planned to be a third league of Major League Baseball (MLB). For much of the 1970s and 1980s, RFK was primarily known as the home of the Redskins, where they played during their three Super Bowl championship seasons. It also hosted several short-lived professional soccer teams and in 1983–1984

2365-723: 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

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2580-601: A combined assault with the Regulars, under Roosevelt's leadership, the Rough Riders became famous for charges up Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill. Roosevelt was the only soldier on horseback, as he rode back and forth between rifle pits at the forefront of the advance up Kettle Hill, an advance that he urged despite the absence of orders. He was forced to walk up the last part of Kettle Hill because his horse had been entangled in barbed wire . The assaults would become known as

2795-579: A concerted effort to uniformly enforce New York's Sunday closing law ; in this, he ran up against Tom Platt and Tammany Hall —he was notified the Police Commission was being legislated out of existence. His crackdowns led to protests. Invited to one large demonstration, not only did he accept, but he delighted in the insults and lampoons directed at him, and earned goodwill. Roosevelt chose to defer rather than split with his party. As Governor of New York State, he would later sign an act replacing

3010-615: A dispute in Congress (over what some members viewed as the team's racially insensitive name and the use of federal land for private profit), Jack Kent Cooke decided to move his team to Maryland. On December 22, 1996, the Redskins won their last game at RFK Stadium 37–10 over the Dallas Cowboys, reprising their first win there in 1961, before 56,454, the largest football crowd in stadium history. The Redskins then moved east to Jack Kent Cooke Stadium in 1997 , leaving D.C. United as

3225-401: A driving force for anti-trust and Progressive policies. A sickly child with debilitating asthma , Roosevelt overcame health problems through a strenuous lifestyle . He was homeschooled and began a lifelong naturalist avocation before attending Harvard College . His book The Naval War of 1812 established his reputation as a historian and popular writer. Roosevelt became the leader of

3440-613: 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

3655-753: 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

3870-658: A high and positive profile in New York publications. Roosevelt's anti-corruption efforts helped him win re-election in 1882 by a margin greater than two-to-one, an achievement made more impressive by the victory that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Grover Cleveland won in Roosevelt's district. With Conkling's Stalwart faction of the Republican Party in disarray following the assassination of President James Garfield , Roosevelt won election as party leader in

4085-612: A legislative investigation into corruption of the New York City government , which arose from a bill proposing power be centralized in the mayor's office. For the rest of his life, he rarely spoke about his wife Alice and did not write about her in his autobiography. In 1881 , Roosevelt won election to the New York State Assembly , representing the 21st district , then centered on the "Silk Stocking District" of New York County's Upper East Side . He served in

4300-463: A lieutenant of New York machine boss Thomas C. Platt , asked Roosevelt to run in the 1898 gubernatorial election . Prospering politically from the Platt machine , Roosevelt's rise to power was marked by the pragmatic decisions of Platt, who disliked Roosevelt. Platt feared Roosevelt would oppose his interests in office and was reluctant to propel Roosevelt to the forefront of national politics, but needed

4515-417: 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

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4730-585: 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

4945-470: 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

5160-518: A nine-man National Memorial Stadium Commission to study the idea. They intended the stadium to be a memorial to the veterans of the World Wars. The commission wrote a report recommending that a 100,000-seat stadium be built near the site of RFK in time for the 1948 Olympics , but it failed to get funding. Ignored in the early 1950s, a new stadium again drew interest in 1954. Congressman Charles R. Howell of New Jersey proposed legislation to build

5375-801: A permit to the District to demolish the stadium. The stadium opened in October 1961 named the District of Columbia Stadium, but the media quickly shortened that to D.C. Stadium and sometimes, in the early days, as "Washington Stadium". On January 18, 1969, in the last days of the Johnson Administration , Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall announced that the stadium would be renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, in Kennedy's honor. The official renaming ceremony

5590-515: A poor section of Cambridge. Roosevelt did well in science, philosophy, and rhetoric courses but struggled in Latin and Greek. He studied biology intently and was already an accomplished naturalist and a published ornithologist . He read prodigiously with an almost photographic memory. Roosevelt participated in rowing and boxing , and was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi literary society,

5805-450: 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

6020-550: 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

6235-416: 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

6450-401: A reporter asked if he would support Blaine, Roosevelt replied, "I decline to answer." In the end, he realized he had to support Blaine to maintain his role in the party and did so in a press release. Having lost the support of many reformers, and still reeling from the deaths of his wife and mother, Roosevelt decided to retire from politics and moved to North Dakota . Roosevelt first visited

6665-707: A site in Washington's Northwest Quadrant ) and he'd have to pay rent and let others run the parking and concessions. The Senators' attendance figures had suffered after the arrival of the Baltimore Orioles in 1954 and Griffith then grew to prefer the less racially-defined demographics and profit potential of the Minnesota market. In 1960, when the American League granted the city of Minneapolis an expansion team , Griffith proposed that he be allowed to move his team to Minneapolis-Saint Paul and give

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6880-478: A speech convincing delegates to nominate African American John R. Lynch , an Edmunds supporter, to be temporary chair. Roosevelt fought alongside the Mugwump reformers against Blaine. However, Blaine gained support from Arthur's and Edmunds's delegates, and won the nomination. In a crucial moment of his budding career, Roosevelt resisted the demand of fellow Mugwumps that he bolt from Blaine. He bragged: "We achieved

7095-565: A stadium with facilities to accommodate the Olympic Games". The following year a model of the proposed stadium, to be located near the site of the future RFK Stadium, was presented to the public. By 1941, the National Capital Planning Commission had begun buying property for a stadium, purchasing the land between East Capitol, C, 19th and 21st NE. A few years later, on December 20, 1944, Congress created

7310-460: A stadium, again with hopes of attracting the Olympics. He pushed for a report, completed in 1956 by the National Capital Planning Commission entitled "Preliminary Report on Sites for National Memorial Stadium", which identified the "East Capitol Site" to be used for the stadium. In September 1957, "The District of Columbia Stadium Act" was introduced and authorized a 50,000-seat stadium to be used by

7525-608: A strong candidate due to the unpopularity of the incumbent Republican governor, Frank S. Black . Roosevelt agreed to become the nominee and to try not to "make war" with the Republican establishment once in office. Roosevelt defeated Black in the Republican caucus, and faced Democrat Augustus Van Wyck , a well-respected judge, in the general election. Roosevelt campaigned on his war record, winning by just 1%. As governor, Roosevelt learned about economic issues and political techniques that proved valuable in his presidency. He studied

7740-473: 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

7955-801: 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

8170-478: A victory in getting up a combination to beat the Blaine nominee for temporary chairman...this needed...skill, boldness and energy... to get the different factions to come in... to defeat the common foe." He was impressed by an invitation to speak before an audience of ten thousand, the largest crowd he had addressed up to then. Having gotten a taste of national politics, Roosevelt felt less aspiration for advocacy on

8385-556: 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,

8600-541: 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

8815-605: 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

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9030-593: 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,

9245-553: Is owned and operated by Events DC , the successor agency to the DC Armory Board, a quasi-public organization affiliated with the city government, under a lease that runs until 2038 from the National Park Service , which owns the land. In September 2019, Events DC officials announced plans to demolish the stadium due to maintenance costs. In September 2020, the cost was estimated at $ 20 million. Demolition of

9460-476: Is the youngest person to become U.S. president . As a leader of the progressive movement , he championed his " Square Deal " domestic policies, which called for fairness for all citizens, breaking bad trusts , regulating railroads, and pure food and drugs . Roosevelt prioritized conservation and established national parks , forests , and monuments to preserve U.S. natural resources. In foreign policy , he focused on Central America , beginning construction of

9675-717: 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

9890-471: The $ 24 million venue was in 1960 on July 8, and construction proceeded over the following 14 months. The existing venue for baseball (and football) in Washington was Griffith Stadium , about four miles (6 km) northwest. While Redskins' owner George Preston Marshall was pleased with the stadium, Senators' owner Calvin Griffith was not. It wasn't where he wanted it to be (he had preferred to play at

10105-498: The 1882 , 1883 , and 1884 sessions of the legislature. He began making his mark immediately: he blocked a corrupt effort of financier Jay Gould to lower his taxes. Roosevelt exposed the collusion of Gould and Judge Theodore Westbrook and successfully argued for an investigation, aiming for the judge to be impeached. Although the investigation committee rejected the impeachment, Roosevelt had exposed corruption in Albany and assumed

10320-447: The 1886 election . Roosevelt accepted the nomination despite having little hope against United Labor Party candidate Henry George and Democrat Abram Hewitt . Roosevelt campaigned hard, but Hewitt won with 41%, taking the votes of many Republicans who feared George's radical policies. George was held to 31%, and Roosevelt took third with 27%. Fearing his political career might never recover, Roosevelt turned to writing The Winning of

10535-526: The 1892 presidential election , the winner, Grover Cleveland, reappointed him. Roosevelt's close friend and biographer, Joseph Bucklin Bishop , described his assault on the spoils system: The very citadel of spoils politics, the hitherto impregnable fortress that had existed unshaken since it was erected on the foundation laid by Andrew Jackson , was tottering to its fall under the assaults of this audacious and irrepressible young man... Whatever may have been

10750-639: The 1912 Republican presidential nomination . He founded the new Progressive Party and ran in 1912 ; the split allowed the Democratic Woodrow Wilson to win. Roosevelt led a four-month expedition to the Amazon basin , where he nearly died of tropical disease . During World War I, he criticized Wilson for keeping the U.S. out; his offer to lead volunteers to France was rejected. Roosevelt's health deteriorated and he died in 1919. Polls of historians and political scientists rank him as one of

10965-603: 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

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11180-565: 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

11395-482: The Alps in 1869, Roosevelt discovered the benefits of physical exertion to minimize his asthma and bolster his spirits. Roosevelt began a heavy regimen of exercise. After being manhandled by older boys on the way to a camping trip, he found a boxing coach to train him. Roosevelt was homeschooled. Biographer H. W. Brands wrote that, "The most obvious drawback...was uneven coverage of...various areas of...knowledge." He

11610-801: 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

11825-674: 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

12040-663: The Asiatic Squadron with the backing of Roosevelt, later credited his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay to Roosevelt's orders. After giving up hope of a peaceful solution, McKinley asked Congress to declare war on Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War . With the beginning of the Spanish–American War in 1898, Roosevelt resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Along with Army Colonel Leonard Wood , he formed

12255-721: The Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1897. Secretary of the Navy John D. Long was in poor health and left many major decisions to Roosevelt. Influenced by Alfred Thayer Mahan , Roosevelt called for a build-up in naval strength, particularly the construction of battleships . Roosevelt also began pressing his national security views regarding the Pacific and the Caribbean on McKinley and was adamant that Spain be ejected from Cuba. He explained his priorities to one of

12470-432: 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

12685-412: 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

12900-429: 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

13115-426: The Dakota Territory in 1883 to hunt bison . Exhilarated by the western lifestyle and with the cattle business booming, Roosevelt invested $ 14,000 ($ 457,800 in 2023) in hope of becoming a prosperous cattle rancher. For several years, he shuttled between his home in New York and ranch in Dakota. Following the 1884 United States presidential election , Roosevelt built Elkhorn Ranch 35 mi (56 km) north of

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13330-411: The Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and the prestigious Porcellian Club . In 1880, Roosevelt graduated Phi Beta Kappa (22nd of 177) with an A.B. magna cum laude . Henry F. Pringle wrote: Roosevelt, attempting to analyze his college career and weigh the benefits he had received, felt that he had obtained little from Harvard. He had been depressed by the formalistic treatment of many subjects, by

13545-455: 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

13760-514: The First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment . His wife and many friends begged Roosevelt to remain in Washington, but Roosevelt was determined to see battle. When the newspapers reported the formation of the new regiment, Roosevelt and Wood were flooded with applications. Referred to by the press as the "Rough Riders", it was one of many temporary units active only during the war. The regiment trained for several weeks in San Antonio, Texas ; in his autobiography, Roosevelt wrote that his experience with

13975-421: 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

14190-500: 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

14405-485: The New York National Guard enabled him to immediately begin teaching basic soldiering skills. Diversity characterized the regiment, which included Ivy Leaguers , athletes, frontiersmen, Native Americans , hunters, miners, former soldiers, tradesmen, and sheriffs. The Rough Riders were part of the cavalry division commanded by former Confederate general Joseph Wheeler . Roosevelt and his men landed in Daiquirí , Cuba, on June 23, 1898, and marched to Siboney . Wheeler sent

14620-457: The Panama Canal . Roosevelt expanded the Navy and sent the Great White Fleet on a world tour to project naval power. His successful efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize , the first American to win a Nobel Prize. Roosevelt was elected to a full term in 1904 and groomed William Howard Taft to succeed him in 1908 . Roosevelt grew frustrated with Taft's brand of conservatism and tried, and failed, to win

14835-425: The Rough Riders , a unit that fought the Spanish Army in Cuba to great publicity. Returning a war hero, Roosevelt was elected New York's governor in 1898 . The New York state party leadership disliked his ambitious agenda and convinced McKinley to choose him as his running mate in the 1900 presidential election ; the McKinley–Roosevelt ticket won a landslide victory. Roosevelt assumed the presidency aged 42, and

15050-582: The United States Civil Service Commission , where he served until 1895. While many of his predecessors had approached the office as a sinecure , Roosevelt fought the spoilsmen and demanded enforcement of civil service laws. The Sun described Roosevelt as "irrepressible, belligerent, and enthusiastic". Roosevelt clashed with Postmaster General John Wanamaker , who handed out patronage positions to Harrison supporters, and Roosevelt's attempt to force out several postal workers damaged Harrison politically. Despite Roosevelt's support for Harrison's reelection in

15265-409: The Washington Federals of the USFL . In 1980 , it hosted the Soccer Bowl , the championship game of the NASL . Major changes to the stadium came in 1996. Following the success of hosting matches in the 1994 World Cup and 1996 Summer Olympics , RFK became home to one of the charter teams of the new Major League Soccer . On April 20, 1996, it played host to the first home match of D.C. United ,

15480-462: 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

15695-643: The "Allied Architects of Washington, in cooperation with the Fine Arts and National Capital Park and Planning Commissions and the Board of Trade." Plans were further developed in 1932 when the Roosevelt Memorial Association (RMA) proposed a National Stadium for the site and Allied Architects, a group of local architects organized in 1925 to secure large-scale projects from the government, made designs for it. A "National Stadium" in Washington

15910-637: 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

16125-508: 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

16340-507: 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

16555-822: 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

16770-664: 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

16985-582: The Battle of San Juan Heights. The victories came at a cost of 200 killed and 1,000 wounded. In August, Roosevelt and other officers demanded the soldiers be returned home. Roosevelt recalled San Juan Heights as "the great day of my life". After returning to civilian life, Roosevelt preferred to be known as "Colonel Roosevelt" or "The Colonel"; "Teddy" remained much more popular with the public, though Roosevelt openly despised that moniker. Shortly after Roosevelt's return, Republican Congressman Lemuel E. Quigg ,

17200-547: 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

17415-704: 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

17630-548: The Civil Service Reform Association called "superior to any civil service statute heretofore secured in America". Chessman argues that as governor, Roosevelt developed the principles that shaped his presidency, especially insistence upon the public responsibility of large corporations, publicity as a first remedy for trusts, regulation of railroad rates, mediation of the conflict of capital and labor, conservation of natural resources and protection of

17845-601: The FBI investigated the awarding of the stadium contract, although McCloskey was never charged. The stadium was renamed in January 1969 for U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy , who had been assassinated in Los Angeles seven months earlier. The announcement was made by Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall on January 18, in the last days of the Johnson Administration . The dedication ceremony at

18060-657: The Ford Franchise-Tax bill, which taxed public franchises granted by the state and controlled by corporations, declaring that "a corporation which derives its powers from the State, should pay to the State a just percentage of its earnings as a return for the privileges it enjoys". He rejected Platt worries that this approached Bryanite Socialism, explaining that without it, New York voters might get angry and adopt public ownership of streetcar lines and other franchises. Power to make appointments to policy-making positions

18275-943: 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

18490-762: The National Stadium into a 100,000-seat memorial to Theodore Roosevelt , suitable for hosting inaugurations, possibly on the National Mall or Theodore Roosevelt Island . This attracted the attention of the RMA, which suggested the East Capital location. This would allow the Lincoln Memorial , then under construction west of the Capitol, and the Roosevelt memorial to become bookend monuments to

18705-460: The Navy's planners in late 1897: I would regard war with Spain from two viewpoints: first, the advisability on the grounds both of humanity and self-interest of interfering on behalf of the Cubans, and of taking one more step toward the complete freeing of America from European dominion; second, the benefit done our people by giving them something to think of which is not material gain, and especially

18920-895: 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. Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.   R. ,

19135-501: The Police Commission with a Police Commissioner. In the 1896 presidential election , Roosevelt backed Thomas Brackett Reed for the Republican nomination, but William McKinley won the nomination and defeated William Jennings Bryan in the general election. Roosevelt strongly opposed Bryan's free silver platform, viewing many of Bryan's followers as dangerous fanatics. He gave campaign speeches for McKinley. Urged by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, President McKinley appointed Roosevelt as

19350-573: The Redskins won them all. They are the only team to win five NFC titles at the same stadium. In the subsequent Super Bowls , Washington won three ( XVII , XXII , XXVI ). The Redskins' last game at the stadium was a victory, as 56,454 saw a 37–10 win over the division champion Cowboys on December 22, 1996 . The Washington Senators of the American League played at RFK Stadium from 1962 through 1971 . They played their first season in 1961 at Griffith Stadium . In its ten seasons as

19565-463: The Rough Riders on a parallel road northwest running along a ridge up from the beach. Roosevelt took command of the regiment; he had his first experience in combat when the Rough Riders met Spanish troops in a skirmish known as the Battle of Las Guasimas . They fought their way through Spanish resistance and, together with the Regulars, forced the Spaniards to abandon their positions. On July 1, in

19780-819: The Senators and Redskins at the Armory site. It was signed into law by President Eisenhower on July 29, 1958, with an estimated cost of $ 7.5 to $ 8.6 million. The lease for the stadium was signed by the D.C. Armory Board and the Department of the Interior on December 12, 1958. The stadium, the first major multisport facility built for both football and baseball, was designed by George Dahl , Ewin Engineering Associates (since 1954 part of what became Volkert, Inc. ) and Osborn Engineering . Groundbreaking for

19995-407: The Senators' home field, RFK Stadium was known as a hitters' park, aided by the stagnant heat (and humidity) of Washington summers. Slugger Frank Howard , (6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), 255 lb (116 kg)), hit a number of "tape-measure" home runs, a few of which landed in the center field area of the upper deck. The seats he hit with his home runs are painted white, rather than the gold of

20210-975: The Stokers. In their first season, the Whips were one of the league's top teams and they were staffed by the Aberdeen Football Club of the Scottish Football League or the Aberdeen Dons. They finished 5–2–5, good enough to win the Eastern Division and play for the USA Championship against the Los Angeles Wolves . The owners estimated that they needed to attract 16,000 fans per game, but they never broke 10,000 and averaged only 6,200. Towards

20425-560: 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

20640-594: The Washington social set. Soon after, he realized he had missed an opportunity to reinvigorate a dormant political career. He retreated to the Dakotas; Edith regretted her role in the decision and vowed there would be no repeat. William Lafayette Strong won the 1894 mayoral election and offered Roosevelt a position on the board of the New York City Police Commissioners . Roosevelt became president of commissioners and radically reformed

20855-607: The West , tracking the westward movement of Americans; it was a great success, earning favorable reviews and selling all copies from the first printing. After Benjamin Harrison unexpectedly defeated Blaine for the presidential nomination at the 1888 Republican National Convention , Roosevelt gave stump speeches in the Midwest in support of Harrison. On the insistence of Henry Cabot Lodge , President Harrison appointed Roosevelt to

21070-677: The Whips folded in October 1968. No team has a longer history with RFK Stadium than the Howard Bison football team, who played there 42 times over nearly 46 years (the Detroit Tigers are 2nd by ~8 months, having played their first game there April 9, 1962, and their last on June 20, 2007). Between their first game in 1970 and last, in 2016, they earned a 22–17–3 (.560) record, winning more games at RFK than any other college football program. Multi-purpose stadium In North America, multipurpose stadiums were primarily built during

21285-568: 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

21500-449: 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

21715-502: The benefit done our military forces by trying both the Navy and Army in actual practice. On February 15, 1898, the armored cruiser USS  Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, Cuba , killing hundreds of crew. While Roosevelt and many other Americans blamed Spain for the explosion, McKinley sought a diplomatic solution. Without approval from Long or McKinley, Roosevelt sent out orders to several naval vessels to prepare for war. George Dewey , who had received an appointment to lead

21930-553: 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

22145-516: The boomtown of Medora, North Dakota . Roosevelt learned to ride western style, rope, and hunt on the banks of the Little Missouri . A cowboy, he said, possesses, "few of the emasculated, milk-and-water moralities admired by the pseudo-philanthropists; but he does possess, to a very high degree, the stern, manly qualities that are invaluable to a nation". He wrote about frontier life for national magazines and published books: Hunting Trips of

22360-415: 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

22575-655: 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

22790-432: 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

23005-516: The city in San Diego, and the latter was shot down by commissioner Bowie Kuhn , who had planned to expand the league with four teams (aiming for Seattle, New Orleans, Toronto and Washington that would see an 14-team NL and AL). The expansion for 1977 was later reduced to two teams to be placed in the American League with Toronto and Seattle , and the next wasn't until 1993 (speculation for expansion had started as early as 1989 with Washington as

23220-490: The decision. Former GW player Harry Ledford believed that most people were unwilling to drive on Friday nights to D.C. Stadium, which was perceived as an unsafe area and lacked rail transit. Maryland and Virginia were nationally competitive teams that drew potential suburban spectators away from GW. RFK Stadium was home to the Washington Redskins for 36 seasons, from 1961 through 1996 . The football field

23435-403: 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

23650-526: 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

23865-501: 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

24080-536: The eighth to go up 7–5, but the game was forfeited (9–0) to the Yankees after unruly fans stormed the field with two outs in the top of the ninth. Subsequent efforts to bring baseball back to RFK, including an attempt to attract the San Diego Padres in 1973 , and a plan to have the nearby Baltimore Orioles play eleven home games there in 1976 , all failed. The former was derailed by lease issues with

24295-556: The end of the 1966 season , while the Senators moved to Dallas-Fort Worth at the end of the 1971 season, and became the Texas Rangers , playing in Arlington Stadium . In 1961, Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall refused to integrate his team with black players, but President Kennedy forced his hand by refusing to allow the team to play in the stadium, which was on Federal land, unless he desegregated

24510-544: The end of the 1967 season, the Whips resorted to organizing British Isles sporting contests such as cricket, hurling, and rugby before games in hopes of luring expatriates. In 1968, to stay viable, they negotiated a reduction in the lease payment and reduced admission prices by one-third; among other discounts. The USA merged with the National Professional Soccer League to form the new North American Soccer League . Despite problems on and off

24725-442: 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

24940-487: 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

25155-479: The expansion team to Washington. Upon league approval, the team moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season and Washington fielded a "new Senators " team, entering the junior circuit in 1961 with the Los Angeles Angels . The stadium opened in autumn 1961 as District of Columbia Stadium, often shortened to D.C. Stadium. The new venue opened for football even though construction was not completed until

25370-514: 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

25585-442: The feelings of the (fellow Republican party) President (Harrison)—and there is little doubt that he had no idea when he appointed Roosevelt that he would prove to be so veritable a bull in a china shop—he refused to remove him and stood by him firmly till the end of his term. In 1894, reform Republicans approached Roosevelt about running for Mayor of New York again; he declined, mostly due to his wife's resistance to being removed from

25800-545: The field, the team found itself in a battle for a playoff spot and towards the end of the season crowds swelled to as much as 14,227 in what proved to be the deciding match for the NASL Atlantic Division title. This September 7, 1968, match against the Atlanta Chiefs was the last for the Whips at D.C. Stadium. That season, the team went 15–10–7 drawing an average of 6,586 fans. After a tour of Europe,

26015-458: The fires is unknown. In November 2022, a sale of stadium seats was announced ahead of the 2023 demolition. As of October 2023, crews have begun gutting areas of the site, though structural demolition has not begun. On May 2, 2024 the NPS announced that it had determined the stadium could be demolished with no significant impacts to the natural, cultural and human environment, meaning they could issue

26230-403: 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,

26445-531: The following spring. Its first official event was an NFL regular season game on October 1, ten days after the final MLB baseball game at Griffith Stadium . The Redskins lost that game to the New York Giants 24–21 before 36,767 fans, including President John F. Kennedy . This was slightly more than the attendance record at Griffith Stadium of 36,591 on October 26, 1947 (in a game vs the Bears ). At

26660-582: The fourth game of the World Series , and was the largest ever for a professional sports event in Washington. The previous largest baseball opening day figure had been 31,728 (on April 19, 1948 ). When it opened, D.C. Stadium hosted the Redskins, the Senators , and the GWU Colonials football team, all of whom had previously used Griffith Stadium: the GWU Colonials shut down their football team at

26875-404: The fullest, and defend their borders. It has been believed Roosevelt's naval ideas were derived from Mahan's book, but naval historian, Nicolaus Danby felt Roosevelt's ideas predated Mahan's book. In 1880, Roosevelt married socialite Alice Hathaway Lee . Their daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt , was born on February 12, 1884. Two days later, the new mother died of undiagnosed kidney failure , on

27090-403: 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,

27305-536: The greatest American presidents. Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, at 28 East 20th Street in Manhattan . He was the second of four children born to Martha Stewart Bulloch and businessman Theodore Roosevelt Sr. He had an older sister ( Anna ), younger brother ( Elliott ) and younger sister ( Corinne ). Roosevelt's youth was shaped by his poor health and debilitating asthma attacks, which terrified him and his parents. Doctors had no cure. Nevertheless, he

27520-476: The headquarters of New York's 21st District Republican Association. Though Roosevelt's father had been a prominent member of the Republican Party , Roosevelt made an unorthodox career choice for someone of his class, as most of Roosevelt's peers refrained from becoming too closely involved in politics. Roosevelt found allies in the local Republican Party and defeated a Republican state assemblyman tied to

27735-547: The home of its first professional soccer team, the Washington Whips . They played 23 regular-season games at D.C. Stadium over 16 months, putting together a 13–5–5 (.674) home record as well as losing an exhibition against Pelé and his standout Brazilian club Santos FC , for a total RFK record of 13–6–5 (.646). 20,189 fans attended the Santos exhibition, more than three times as large as a typical Whips match, making it

27950-715: 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

28165-687: The host of D.C. United , though it also hosted a college football bowl game , the Military Bowl , from 2008 to 2012, before it moved in 2013 to Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland . On July 25, 2013, the District of Columbia and D.C. United announced a tentative deal to build a $ 300 million, 20,000–25,000-seat stadium at Buzzard Point . Groundbreaking on the new soccer stadium, Audi Field , occurred in February 2017, and on October 22, 2017, RFK hosted its last MLS match,

28380-536: 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

28595-413: 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

28810-411: 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

29025-475: 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

29240-419: The most heavily attended soccer game in DC history at the time. The game was heavily promoted in the local press and the Whips, who were struggling to attract fans to their regular matches, provided additional incentive through a "Meet Pelé" contest. RFK served as the venue for the inaugural match of the United Soccer Association (USA), a May 26, 1967, match between the Whips and the Cleveland Stokers , won by

29455-411: 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

29670-408: 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,

29885-441: 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

30100-411: The opening game was delayed following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. , so Vice President Hubert Humphrey got the privilege. President Nixon was to throw out the first ball at the 1969 game to celebrate baseball's centennial, but it was postponed due to rain and so Nixon chose instead to greet the Apollo 11 astronauts. Vice President Spiro Agnew filled in. In 1967, D.C. Stadium became

30315-443: 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

30530-407: The organization. In 1962, Marshall relented and selected Ernie Davis first overall in the 1962 draft . However, Davis refused to play for the team and was traded for Bobby Mitchell , with Marshall later signing four other black players for the season as the last NFL owner to integrate. In 1961 and 1962, D.C. Stadium hosted the annual city title game, matching the D.C. Public Schools champion and

30745-416: 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

30960-441: 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

31175-660: 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

31390-425: The playoffs. In its twelfth season, RFK hosted its first professional football playoff game on Christmas Eve 1972 , a 16–3 Redskins' win over the Green Bay Packers . It was the city's first postseason game in three decades, following the NFL championship game victory in 1942 . The stadium hosted the NFC Championship Game five times ( 1972 , 1982 , 1983 , 1987 , and 1991 ), 2nd only to Candlestick Park , and

31605-400: The police force: he implemented regular inspections of firearms and physical exams, appointed recruits based on their physical and mental qualifications rather than political affiliation, established Meritorious Service Medals , closed corrupt police hostelries, and had telephones installed in station houses. In 1894, Roosevelt met Jacob Riis , the muckraking Evening Sun journalist who

31820-444: The political machine of Senator Roscoe Conkling closely. After his election victory, Roosevelt dropped out of law school, later saying, "I intended to be one of the governing class." While at Harvard, Roosevelt began a systematic study of the role played by the United States Navy in the War of 1812 . He ultimately published The Naval War of 1812 in 1882. The book included comparisons of British and American leadership down to

32035-477: The poor. Roosevelt sought to position himself against the excesses of large corporations and radical movements. As chief executive of the most populous state, Roosevelt was widely considered a potential presidential candidate, and supporters such as William Allen White encouraged him to run. Roosevelt had no interest in challenging McKinley for the nomination in 1900 and was denied his preferred post of Secretary of War . As his term progressed, Roosevelt pondered

32250-422: 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

32465-452: 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)

32680-410: The postseason. They had a home record at RFK of 363–441 (.451), representing the most games, wins, and losses by any team at RFK in any sport. The stadium hosted the All-Star Game twice, in 1962 (first of two) and 1969 , both won by the visiting National League. Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all attended games there. President Johnson was scheduled to throw out the first pitch in 1968 , but

32895-544: The problems of trusts, monopolies, labor relations, and conservation. G. Wallace Chessman argues that Roosevelt's program "rested firmly upon the concept of the square deal by a neutral state". The rules for the Square Deal were "honesty in public affairs, an equitable sharing of privilege and responsibility, and subordination of party and local concerns to the interests of the state at large". By holding twice-daily press conferences—an innovation—Roosevelt remained connected with his middle-class base. Roosevelt successfully pushed

33110-401: 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

33325-399: The reform faction of Republicans in the New York State Legislature . His first wife and mother died on the same night, devastating him psychologically. He recuperated by buying and operating a cattle ranch in the Dakotas . Roosevelt served as assistant secretary of the Navy under McKinley, and in 1898 helped plan the successful naval war against Spain . He resigned to help form and lead

33540-442: The removal of hazardous materials had begun and would "take several months," and that demolition would "be completed by the end of 2023." In the same month, several fires occurred inside the stadium. The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department firefighters and emergency workers responded and extinguished them. They indicated that the fires were in "below grade levels". No injuries were reported, and cause of

33755-404: The rest of his life. His father, a devout Presbyterian , regularly led the family in prayers. Young Theodore emulated him by teaching Sunday School for more than three years at Christ Church in Cambridge. When the minister at Christ Church, which was an Episcopal church, eventually insisted he become an Episcopalian to continue teaching, Roosevelt declined, and began teaching a mission class in

33970-435: The rest of the upper deck. Howard came to the Senators from the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965 . He hit the Senators' final RFK homer, in the sixth inning on September 30, 1971. With two outs in the top of the ninth, a fan riot turned a 7–5 Senators lead over the New York Yankees into a 9–0 forfeit loss, the first in the majors in 17 years. These Senators' only winning season came in 1969 at 86–76 (.531) ; they never made

34185-423: The rigidity, the attention to minutiae that were important in themselves, but which somehow were never linked up with the whole. Roosevelt gave up his plan of studying natural science and attended Columbia Law School , moving back into his family's home in New York. Although Roosevelt was an able student, he found law to be irrational. Determined to enter politics, Roosevelt began attending meetings at Morton Hall,

34400-408: The same day as Roosevelt's mother Martha died of typhoid fever . In his diary, Roosevelt wrote a large "X" on the page and then, "The light has gone out of my life." Distraught, Roosevelt left baby Alice in the care of his sister Bamie while he grieved; he assumed custody of Alice when she was three. After the deaths of his wife and mother, Roosevelt focused on his work, specifically by re-energizing

34615-432: 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

34830-411: The school's last NFL draftee , led the Colonials to a 13–6 win. The final George Washington football game to date, and the last at D.C. Stadium, came on Thanksgiving Day , November 24, 1966, when the team lost to Villanova , 16–7. After the season was over, GW President Dr. Lloyd H. Elliott chose to reevaluate GW's football program. On December 19, 1966, head coach Jim Camp , conference coach of

35045-436: The ship-to-ship level. It was praised for its scholarship and style, and remains a standard study of the war. With the 1890 publication of The Influence of Sea Power upon History , Alfred Thayer Mahan was hailed as the world's outstanding naval theorist by European leaders. Mahan popularized a concept that only nations with significant naval power had been able to influence history, dominate oceans, exert their diplomacy to

35260-423: 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,

35475-407: 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

35690-493: 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,

35905-461: 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

36120-412: The stadium was held several months later on June 7. The Senators' final game was at RFK on Thursday night, September 30, 1971, with less than 15,000 in attendance. Rains from Hurricane Ginger threatened the event, but the game proceeded. Fan favorite Frank "Hondo" Howard hit a home run (RFK's last until 2005 ) in the sixth inning to spark a four-run rally to tie the game; the Senators scored two more in

36335-435: The stadium's only major tenant for much of the next decade, though from 2001 to 2003 they were joined by the Washington Freedom of the short-lived Women's United Soccer Association . After hosting 16 exhibition games after the Senators' departure, baseball returned to RFK temporarily in 2005. That year the National League 's newly renamed Washington Nationals made it their home while a new permanent home, Nationals Park ,

36550-416: 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,

36765-515: The state assembly. He allied with Governor Cleveland to win passage of a civil service reform bill. Roosevelt won re-election and sought the office of Speaker , but Titus Sheard obtained the position. Roosevelt served as Chairman of the Committee on Affairs of Cities, during which he wrote more bills than any other legislator. With numerous presidential hopefuls, Roosevelt supported Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont. The state Republican Party preferred incumbent president, Chester Arthur , who

36980-421: The state level; he retired to his new "Chimney Butte Ranch" on the Little Missouri River . Roosevelt refused to join other Mugwumps in supporting Cleveland, the Democratic nominee in the general election. After Blaine won the nomination, Roosevelt carelessly said he would give "hearty support to any decent Democrat". He distanced himself from the promise, saying that it had not been meant "for publication". When

37195-402: 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

37410-463: The surrounding area began in 2023; however, demolition of the stadium itself has not begun as of 2024. As of February 2024, there is an active bill in the U.S. Congress to extend the lease by 99 years . This bill passed the House on February 28, 2024, and is pending before the Senate . On May 2, 2024 it was announced that the stadium was set to be demolished. The idea of a stadium at this location originated in 1930 when plans were developed by

37625-416: 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

37840-422: The titleholder for the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference , played before capacity crowds on Thanksgiving Day . The November 22, 1962, game between St. John's , a predominantly white school in Northwest D.C., and Eastern , a majority-black school just blocks from the stadium, ended in a racially motivated riot. In 1964, the stadium emerged as an element in the Bobby Baker bribery scandal. Don B. Reynolds,

38055-451: 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

38270-402: 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

38485-404: The two great Republican presidents. The effort lost steam when Congress chose not to fund the stadium in time to move the 1932 Olympics from Los Angeles . The idea of a stadium gained support in 1938, when Senator Robert Reynolds of North Carolina pushed for the creation of a municipal outdoor stadium within the District, citing the "fact that America is the only major country not possessing

38700-438: 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

38915-488: 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

39130-452: 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

39345-403: The way they all did", and lived to respect him, though he swore at him, as the one of them all who was stronger than pull... that was what made the age golden, that for the first time a moral purpose came into the street. In the light of it everything was transformed. Roosevelt made a habit of walking officers' beats at night and early in the morning to make sure that they were on duty. He made

39560-413: The year, resigned citing the uncertainty. The next day, a member of the Board of Trustees announced that the school would drop football. On January 19, 1967, the decision became official. GW decided to use the football program's funding to eventually build the Charles E. Smith Center for the basketball team . Poor game attendance and the expense, estimated at $ 254,000 during the 1966 season, contributed to

39775-414: Was 22–35 (.386) during its D.C. Stadium years and never posted a winning record. The Colonials weren't much better at D.C. Stadium where their record was 11–13 (.458), facing off against Army twice and against a Liberty Bowl -bound West Virginia in 1964 (all losses). Perhaps their biggest win was the 1964 upset of Villanova , which came to Washington with a 6–1 record. Sophomore quarterback Garry Lyle ,

39990-415: Was a key role for the governor. Platt insisted he be consulted on major appointments; Roosevelt appeared to comply, but then made his own decisions. Historians marvel that Roosevelt managed to appoint so many first-rate people with Platt's approval. He even enlisted Platt's help in securing reform, such as in spring 1899, when Platt pressured state senators to vote for a civil service bill that the secretary of

40205-463: Was aligned northwest to southeast, along the first baseline. The Redskins' first game in D.C. Stadium was its first event, a 24–21 loss to the New York Giants on October 1, 1961 . The first win in the stadium came at the end of the season on December 17, over its future archrival, the struggling second-year Dallas Cowboys . The Redskins played 266 regular-season games at RFK, compiling a 173–102–3 (.628) record, including an impressive 11–1 record in

40420-400: 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

40635-400: 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

40850-440: 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

41065-498: Was an idea that had been pursued since 1916, when Congressman George Hulbert of New York proposed the construction of a 50,000-seat stadium at East Potomac Park for the purpose of attracting the 1920 Olympics . It was thought that such a stadium could attract Davis Cup tennis matches, polo tournaments and the annual Army-Navy football game . A later effort by DC Director of Public Buildings and Parks Ulysses S. Grant III and Congressman Hamilton Fish of New York sought to turn

41280-429: Was constructed. On April 14, 2005, before a crowd of 45,496 including President Bush and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig , the Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5–3 victory in their first game at RFK. President George W. Bush , formerly a part-owner of the Texas Rangers (the former Senators), threw out the first pitch becoming the last president, and the first since Richard Nixon , to do so in RFK Stadium. Bush threw

41495-441: 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

41710-573: Was dedicated during the October 7, 1961, game against VMI, the first college football game there, which GWU won 30–6. The Colonials were forced to play their first three games on the road to allow the stadium to be completed. In the following years, because the Senators had priority, GWU waited until October (when baseball season was over) to schedule games. From 1961 to 1964 they played road games in September, and in 1965 and 1966 they played at high school stadiums in Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia . The Colonials had no real success at D.C. Stadium. GWU

41925-422: 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

42140-458: Was dropped within days, however, after several prominent members of Congress questioned the use of public funds for a stadium sponsorship. Similar proposals to sell the naming rights to the National Guard , ProFunds (a Bethesda, Maryland investment company), and Sony were formed and discarded in 2005 and 2006. The other team to move from Griffith to D.C. Stadium was the George Washington University Colonials college football team. The stadium

42355-590: Was energetic and mischievously inquisitive. His lifelong interest in zoology began aged seven when he saw a dead seal at a market; after obtaining the seal's head, Roosevelt and cousins formed the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural History". Having learned the rudiments of taxidermy , he filled his makeshift museum with animals he killed or caught. Aged nine, he recorded his observation in a paper entitled "The Natural History of Insects". Family trips, including tours of Europe in 1869 and 1870, and Egypt in 1872, shaped his cosmopolitan perspective. Hiking with his family in

42570-404: Was held on June 7, but by then many had already been referring to it as "RFK Stadium" or simply "RFK". Coincidentally, following the death of John F. Kennedy in 1963, the Armory Board had directed that the stadium be renamed for him, but the plan faltered when a few weeks later the Philadelphia city council passed a bill renaming Philadelphia Stadium as "John F. Kennedy Stadium". Robert Kennedy

42785-569: Was home to a National Football League (NFL) team, two Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, five professional soccer teams, two college football teams, a bowl game , and a USFL team. It hosted five NFC Championship games , two MLB All-Star Games , men's and women's World Cup matches, nine men's and women's first-round soccer games of the 1996 Olympics , three MLS Cup matches, two MLS All-Star games , and numerous American friendlies and World Cup qualifying matches. It hosted college football, college soccer, baseball exhibitions, boxing matches,

43000-451: Was known for passing the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act . Roosevelt succeeded in influencing the Manhattan delegates at the state convention. He then took control of the convention, bargaining through the night and outmaneuvering supporters of Arthur and James G. Blaine ; consequently, he gained a national reputation as a key politician in his state. Roosevelt attended the 1884 Republican National Convention in Chicago , where he gave

43215-444: 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

43430-456: 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

43645-435: 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

43860-414: Was not without connection to the stadium; as attorney general in the early 1960s, his Justice Department played a role in the Redskins' racial integration. Along with Udall, Kennedy threatened to revoke the team's lease at the federally owned stadium until it promised to sign African American players. His brother John attended the first event there and threw out the first pitch. In 2008, a nearby bridge

44075-406: 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

44290-562: Was opening the eyes of New Yorkers to the terrible conditions of the city's immigrants with such books as How the Other Half Lives . Riis described how his book affected Roosevelt: When Roosevelt read [my] book, he came... No one ever helped as he did. For two years we were brothers in (New York City's crime-ridden) Mulberry Street . When he left I had seen its golden age... There is very little ease where Theodore Roosevelt leads, as we all of us found out. The lawbreaker found it out who predicted scornfully that he would "knuckle down to politics

44505-411: 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

44720-415: Was played on April 9, 1962 , after two exhibition games against the Pirates had been cancelled. President John F. Kennedy threw out the ceremonial first pitch in front of 44,383 fans, who watched the Senators defeat the Detroit Tigers 4–1 and Senators shortstop Bob Johnson hit the first home run. The previous Washington baseball attendance record was 38,701 at Griffith Stadium on October 11, 1925 , at

44935-453: Was renamed for Ethel Kennedy , Robert Kennedy's wife. On April 14, 2005, just before the Nationals' home opener, the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission announced an agreement with the Department of Defense under which the military would pay the city about $ 6 million for naming rights and the right to place recruiting kiosks and signage in the stadium. In return, the stadium would be dubbed "Armed Forces Field at RFK Stadium". This plan

45150-452: 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 ,

45365-464: Was solid in geography and bright in history, biology, French, and German; however, he struggled in mathematics and the classical languages. In September 1876, he entered Harvard College . His father instructed him to, "take care of your morals first, your health next, and finally your studies." His father's sudden death in 1878 devastated Roosevelt. He inherited $ 60,000 (equivalent to $ 1,894,345 in 2023), enough on which he could live comfortably for

45580-455: Was soon after the death of his first wife and he faced resistance from his sisters. The couple had five children: Theodore "Ted" III in 1887, Kermit in 1889, Ethel in 1891, Archibald in 1894, and Quentin in 1897. They also raised Roosevelt's daughter from his first marriage, Alice , who often clashed with her stepmother. Upon Roosevelt's return to New York, Republican leaders approached him about running for mayor of New York City in

45795-411: 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

46010-414: Was the 26th president of the United States , serving from 1901 to 1909. He previously was involved in New York politics, including serving as the state's 33rd governor for two years. He was the vice president under President William McKinley for six months in 1901, assuming the presidency after McKinley's assassination . As president, Roosevelt emerged as a leader of the Republican Party and became

46225-516: 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),

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