(Image: Brandon Davis)
Vast monuments to human achievement and competition, the world’s stadiums and arenas are the crowning glory of many a city. A place where sporting careers are made or broken, where rock stars live out their fans’ dreams, they can seem like the optimistic embodiment of everything a nation values. But sometimes, those dreams turn sour.
Due to lack of money, or interest, or a sudden shift in local priorities, many stadiums have closed their doors. When that happens, these huge structures have been left to decay pending an uncertain future – vast monuments of sporting prowess once reverberated with life, now eerily silent. This article explores a variety of abandoned stadiums and arenas around the world, some of which have been demolished while others endure.
Pontiac Silverdome, Michigan (USA)
(Image: Brandon Davis)
When Pontiac local C. Don Davidson first conceived of his 80,000 seater sports stadium, it must’ve seemed like the good times would never end. The Detroit metropolitan area was still riding high from a long economic boom that hadn’t quite finished, and the brand new stadium was sure to provide a boost. For a while, it did. The Detroit Pistons called it home. Wrestlemania III was held there before 93,000 cheering fans. Led Zepplin, The Who, Elvis and Bruce Springsteen all played it. Surely, this was an example of something going right in the beleaguered Michigan city.
(Image: Brandon Davis)
You can probably guess what happened next. Detroit and its surrounding area fell into an economic death spiral, Pontiac went down with it. First the Pistons moved stadium. Then the Lions followed suit. For a brief time, Jehovah’s Witnesses used it as a meeting place but, by 2006, the writing was on the wall. Despite a brief revival in 2010 and a promise to pour millions of dollars into it, the Pontiac Silverdome dream finally collapsed for good in 2014. The owners stripped the stadium and auctioned everything. By the end, nothing was left.
(Image: Brandon Davis)
Today, the stadium is an eerie ruin. The seats are gone, the roof has fallen in and wind whistles through the empty stands. As a piece of urban decay, it’s beautiful. As a symbol of the decline suffered by the region, it’s almost unbearably tragic.
Washington Coliseum, Washington, DC (USA)
(Images: Aaron DeNu – @AaronDeNu)
Built to house hockey tournaments way back in 1941, the Washington Coliseum eventually became famous for something else altogether. On February 11, 1964, The Beatles played their first ever US concert there before 8,092 hysterical fans. It started a trend of celebrity association that lasted well into the latter half of the 20th century. Bob Dylan played, the Rolling Stones set the stage alight, and Joe Frazier punched the stuffing out of everyone who came at him.
(Image: Steve Fernie)
Decline began to set in in the 1970s. In a deeply unpopular move, the stadium was briefly converted into a makeshift jail for housing Vietnam War protesters in 1971. Two years later, the nearby (and much bigger) Capital Center was opened, and the Coliseum fell into obscurity. Although registered as a listed building in 2007, it suffered nearly a decade more of neglect, finally becoming a creepily empty car park.
(Image: Google Street View)
Luckily, things may be about to change. Last we heard (in 2014), the abandoned Washington Coliseum was set to undergo a major renovation, becoming an outdoor department store. Hopefully the investment will help keep its legacy intact.
Estadio Lluís Sitjar, Mallorca (Spain)
(Image: Remoto13)
Looking like the forlorn ruins of an abandoned stadium following a cataclysm, the Estadio Lluís Sitjar was once the pride of Mallorca. The home of RCD Mallorca, it saw plenty of fixtures and once brought streams of visitors into the area. Then, in 1999, the club relocated to the ultra-modern ONO Estadi. The rot began to set in.
(Image: Remoto13)
For the next eight years, the stadium limped along as a training ground for the reserve team. In 2007, they too finally decamped, and the whole thing was left to crumble. An old-school stadium originally built in 1945 from durable concrete, its death was awesome to behold. Rather than being shuttered away or decaying out of sight, it simply disintegrated before local residents’ eyes. Seats were torn out. Balconies caved in. Graffiti was sprayed across every visible surface. The pitch went to ruin and the whole place eventually became a wasteland.
(Image: Google Earth)
At time of writing, there’s no news on the abandoned stadium’s eventual fate, but given space is at a premium on the island, a demolition order seems a likely bet for the near-future.
Osaka Stadium (Japan)
(Image: via borsonline.hu)
When the Nankai Hawks left for greener pastures in 1988, no-one could have guessed at Osaka Stadium’s bizarre fate. Built on a former World War Two bombsite in 1950, the typically-Japanese glass-and-concrete behemoth was a prime candidate for reopening with a new team. Or simply being turned into a full-time concert stadium. After all, Michael Jackson had recently played there to sell-out crowds, as had Madonna. But the company that purchased it had other, stranger ideas. They would turn it into a communal housing block.
(Image: via borsonline.hu)
With the abandoned stadium’s stands remaining intact, the pitch was demolished and transformed into a housing showcase. Three intersecting streets were built across its grounds, along with a car park for visitors. Although the plan was to eventually tear it down and build an office and shopping complex, it remained as a model village right up until 1998 – ten whole years later. A fitting tribute to Japan’s strength of vision, not to mention sense of adaptive reuse, in the last days of the bubble economy.
Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield (UK)
(Image: David Dixon)
Of the myriad stadiums on our list, Don Valley in Sheffield, England, had possibly the shortest lifespan. Opened to great fanfare in 1990, and capable of seating 25,000, it was for a long time the second largest athletics arena in England. It was for a time the home ground of the Sheffield Eagles and Rotherham United, and hosted the World Student Games. It was considered one of the city’s true success stories, a place everyone could enjoy. So why did it close down?
(Image: Google Earth)
Sheffield City Council found itself having to make £50 million of cuts to its budget. In 2013, in a highly controversial move that was opposed by many in the city, it was decided that the best place to get much of this from was the stadium. In September that year, Don Valley Stadium was finally closed.
(Image: Google Street View)
It stood empty for a mere two months before demolition began, resulting in the whole thing being torn down by early 2014. A sad end to one of the region’s greatest public spaces. (See also: Sheffield’s Abandoned City Airport.)
The Astrodome, Houston (USA)
(Image: Texas.713)
Nicknamed – a touch hyperbolically – the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’ upon its opening in 1965, the Houston Astrodome was a technical marvel. It’s vast, curved roof allowed for year-round use even in Texas’ blisteringly hot subtropical climate, while simultaneously making the place look like the inside of a spaceship. In its long lifetime, it hosted the first ever indoor baseball game, performances by Judy Garland and the 1992 Republican National Convention.
(Image: Texas.713)
Yet, none of this could help the Astrodome avoid its ultimate fate. In 2008, the fire department decided it ran afoul of multiple building regulations, leading to vast tracts of the stadium being closed. The killer blow was delivered five years later, in 2013, when some sections were demolished.
(Image: Texas.713)
Although it was listed on the register of National Historic Places in 2014, it continued to languish; an empty shell that would barely rank in the top thousand wonders of the world, let alone eighth. At the time of writing, concrete plans are taking place to redevelop the abandoned stadium. What the future holds is unknown.
Old National Stadium (Singapore)
(Image: One° North Explorers)
Opened in 1973, Singapore’s old National Stadium was one of the most-popular destinations in the city state. Still eulogised today as a place with an almost fairytale-like ability to bring people together, it became emblematic of the country’s exploding economy; a bright vision for an even-brighter future.
(Image: One° North Explorers)
While many on this list fell victim to local malaise or economic decay, the Old National Stadium met with a different fate entirely. With an economy that seemed destined to forever leap from strength to strength, in 2007 the stadium was closed so work could begin on the blisteringly hi-tech New National Stadium. On the Old Stadium’s last open day, 45,000 locals gathered to celebrate its passing – one of the biggest crowds in the stadium’s history.
(Image: One° North Explorers)
For the next few years, the abandoned stadium stood empty, quietly gathering dust. It wasn’t until 2011 that it was finally pulled down, bringing to a close an entire Singaporean era. (More Singapore urbex here.)
Abandoned Olympic Softball Stadium, Athens (Greece)
(Image: AFP News Agency via YouTube)
When Athens plowed billions in funding into its 2004 Olympic bid, the country was riding an all-time high. Greece had just been admitted to the Eurozone, its economy was unassailable and the Olympics were finally about to come home. Fast forward slightly over ten years, and all that optimism has faded. The country’s GDP is contracting at a level equivalent to the Great Depression. Youth unemployment is out of control. And on the outskirts of Athens, a number of Olympic stadiums sit abandoned and unloved.
Although this malaise has far from affected all the former venues (some are still in use), the Softball Stadium is as quiet as a tomb. The grounds are fenced off, the pitch overgrown, and the stands left to sweat and bleach white in the harsh glare of the Ionian sun. Seats are rotted, broken, and the whole place seems to give off an aura of despair. As a symbol of the great heights Greece has recently fallen from, it’s practically unassailable.
Faliro Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre
(Image: Vic Stefanu via YouTube)
Like the abandoned softball stadium before it, Athens’s Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre has been left barely a shadow of its former self. Originally opened as part of the grand 2004 Olympics complex, it has since fallen into disuse and disrepair; the untrodden sands of its court now a haven for weeds and vegetation.
Although still in better shape than many on our list, the stadium is nonetheless showing signs of the strain of abandonment. The Perspex sheets separating audiences from the action below are cracked and damaged, their clear surfaces hidden beneath a layer of dust. Material lies strewn across the court. The once-blue seats are now faded, dying.
Many other Olympic venues suffered a similar fate. A 2014 report uncovered photos of swimming pools emptied of water and filled with trash, of bleachers missing most of their seats, and walls broken down and covered with graffiti. In Athens, at least, it seems the dream has died for good.
Small Abandoned Tennis Arena, Valencia (Spain)
(Images: Sento)
Finally, one last entry to prove it’s not just the big stadiums that are destined to fall to rack and ruin. On the very edges of Valencia, where the shore slopes gently down to meet the sea and the sand burns white hot in summer, sits this forlorn little tennis court. Modest in size, capable of only seating a couple of hundred, tops, it now can’t even draw that tiny crowd. Its seats are lost, its court reclaimed by local graffiti artists.
(Image: Sento)
Like Greece, Spain was hit incredibly hard by the recession. Entire downtown areas boarded up and closed. Villages emptied out. Homeowners lost everything. Tourists stopped coming. While Spain is now on a fast road to recovery (albeit a shaky one), the effects of the recession still linger. Empty houses. Unfinished buildings. Abandoned tennis courts. Not to mention entire abandoned international airports.
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