In many ways, sports has a way of uniting people of different backgrounds and cultures. No matter what we go through in our personal and professional lives, we all seem to come together one way or another when it comes to sports.
In addition to rooting for your favorite teams, there are some venues that sports fans should visit in their lifetime. Here are 5 must see venues for sports fans.
Madison Square Garden – New York City
Known as the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Gardgen is host to the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, and St John’s Basketball. MSG is also host to boxing events, tennis tournaments, pro wrestling and high school basketball games.
When it comes to tradition and prestige, few venues compare to Madison Square Garden. This version of the Garden opened in 1968 and was host to the Fight of the Century in 1971 when Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier for the first time on March 8th 1971. Recently it went under a 1.07 billion dollar renovation to make it more modern. It currently seats 19,812 fans for basketball, 18,006 for hockey, and 20,789 for boxing.
If you are a true sports fan, you need to visit MSG at least once in your lifetime.
Next major event: April 25th WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko defends his titles against undefeated Bryant Jennings.
AT&T Stadium (Cowboys Stadium) Arlington, TX
AT&T Stadium otherwise known as Jerry World opened in on May 27th 2009. In just under six years of existence the stadium has hosted some of the biggest events in sports such as Super Bowl XLV, the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, 2014 NCAA Final Four, and in this past January it was host to the first NCAA playoff championship game as the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Oregon Ducks 42-20.
It took 1.15 billion dollars to build this stadium, making it one of the most expensive sports venues ever built. The most impressive feature of this stadium is their humongous video screen. This massive display weighs 600 tons, is 180 feet long and 72 feet tall. It’s made of 10.5 million LEDs. When replays are shown, they are automatically made into slow motion. There is simply no other video screen that comes close to this. Another plus for fans on the field level, is that they can view the Cowboys come onto the field while only being a few feet away from the players.
AT&T stadium has set itself as the benchmark for all modern day stadiums.
Next major event: September Dallas Cowboys season opener, and WrestleMania 32
Yankees Stadium- Bronx NY
No other team in professional sports has a richer history than the New York Yankees, which is why Yankees Stadium had to be on this list. The first regular season game took place on April 16th 2009 when the Yankees were defeated by the Cleveland Indians 10-2 in front of 50,287 fans.
The new Yankee Stadium is the third most expensive stadium ever built (US$1.5 billion), after Wembley Stadium in London and the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford New Jersey.
Yankee Stadium features a wide array of amenities. It contains 63 percent more space, 500,000 square feet (46,000Â m2) more in total, than the previous Yankees stadium, with wider concourses and open sight lines on concourses. The new stadium also has 56 luxury seats compared to the old stadium which had only 19. The stadium also has 19 elevators and more restrooms than the previous stadium, making better overall experience for fans.
In addition to hosting the Yankees, the stadium has played host to a 2010 college football game as the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame took on the Army Black Knights. The first NHL hockey event took place on January 26, 2014 between
New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils as part of the 2014 NHL Stadium Series.
Next major event: 2015 Yankees regular season currently in progress.
Lambeau Field- Green Bay Wisconsin
This selection is for the traditional football fan as Lambeau field is the oldest and most iconic stadium in the NFL. It has been the host stadium for the Green Bay Packers since 1957. The stadium has a capacity of 80,753
This stadium has been host to some of the greatest games in NFL history such as the 1967 Ice Bowl between the Packers and Dallas Cowboys, and the 2007 NFC Championship game between the Packers and the New York Giants.
While this stadium will not have the amenities as the other venues of this list, the stadium is currently going under a 380 million dollar renovation to make it more modern. Ideally, you would want to visit there from September to early November. That is unless you want to be there when it’s freezing to witness the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.
Next major event: Packers 2015 regular season.
Wimbledon Centre Court- London
It may be the center of the tennis world for only two weeks of the year (or slightly longer depending on the British weather) but there’s no tennis venue like Wimbledon, especially Center Court. Center Court holds 15,000 fans and the court opened in 1922. In recent years it has renovations such as adding a retractable roof in 2009.
Throughout the Wimbledon Championship fans not only get to see the greatest players in tennis while enjoying their strawberries and cream, but they also get to see past champions present in the stadium such as Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg.
If you’re a diehard tennis fan going to Wimbledon is something that should definitely be on your bucket list.
Next Event: The 2015 Wimbledon Championship schedule begins on June 29th until July 12th.