Top 10 Biggest Sports Venue Development Fails

[@torstenscholz6243]

Miami Arena is also an honorable mention. It was in use for exactly 20 years, from July 1988 to July 2008, and got demolished shortly after. And in Europe, a spectacular arena failure was the London Docklands Arena - basically an old harbor shed converted into an indoor arena, thus looking like a big, boxy warehouse from the outside, and located in a former harbor area, with absolutely terrible road and public transport access and very little parking space. It was in use for only about 16 years, from 1989 to 2005, and got demolished in 2006.

[@sboyle71177]

The Panthers facility in Rock Hill, SC was a mess. They redid I-77 and the surrounding roads to accommodate higher traffic just for the whole thing to go tits up.

[@thephantomeagle2]

not to mention all the trees and wetlands that were ruined.

[@thedrunkenwobblies1331]

How Olympic stadium in Montreal missed this list is beyond me.

[@BuildingTales]

That's a good one for sure! For this list I left olympic venues off just because there are so many of them that had major problems.

[@russkelly1684]

@drunken wobbles: totally agree; it deserves a video of its own. Whole complex should hold a Guinness Record for amount of concrete used.

[@Marylandbrony]

​@BuildingTales In general these are collapsed or seldom used stadiums. Not disappointments with semi-regular use.

[@thedrunkenwobblies1331]

@@Marylandbrony The roof of Olympic Stadium has partially collapsed twice. They are currently spending another 250 million dollars to repair it with no tenant. Also, the stadium wasn't the only building on that chunk of land with engineering failures. And there really isn't a more expensive venue in terms of how much it has cost in terms of building it and repairing it. I believe the initial cost, adjusted for inflation, is something like 5 billion.. So almost twice as expensive as SoFi in LA if you count just the building. The roof, which was a huge engineering feat and what cost a ton of money, never even worked.

[@mentalillnesstheatrepodcas7686]

Absolutely. Kind of ridiculous to cover a high school in Texas and, somehow, miss The Big Owe >

[@chuckinhouston9952]

Thanks for using your own voice instead of some stupid AI voice.

[@burdyo85]

Coulda fooled me!

[@Jaded7981]

@@burdyo85 He knows how to pronounce words.

[@barrybach3685]

Great video man! You gained a new subscriber! I look forward to seeing more content!

[@BuildingTales]

Thanks, appreciate the kind words! Lots more videos on the way!

[@danielvandersall6756]

Lucas Oil in Indianapolis is a favorite of mine--spent millions on an opening roof, that is almost never opened. Got the roof, but forgot to install any drainage on the field. So if there's the slightest chance of rain, the roof is going to be closed. Brilliant.

[@JBM425]

There was a new arena project in Port Huron, Michigan in the early 2000s that was privately funded adjacent to an outlet mall in the outskirts of the city. The current McMorran Arena in downtown Port Huron only seats about 3,000 and this new arena would have tripled that. Construction began, and about 1/3 of the support columns had been built when financing fell through. It was essentially abandoned in place, and nobody stepped up to take over the project. I’m not sure if it was finally razed for redevelopment.

[@JBM425]

Update: the remains of that unfinished arena in Kimball Township were finally demolished in July 2014. Ironically, around 2006, a new arena was built just down the river in Windsor, Ontario using not only the plans for the Kimball Township arena, but also some of the materials originally intended for the Kimball Twp. facility!

[@zerodos_02]

Phoenix Trotting Park is a good shout. It was open for 2 years in the 50's, cost a bunch for the time, and eventually closed only to sit mostly dormant until torn down a few years ago.

[@johnchambers8528]

I would add to the list an abandoned horse race track. The rebuilt Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. This building was a new stadium to be a primer place for thoroughbred and harness racing that replaced the old burned down thoroughbred grandstand. It was to rival the Meadowlands in north Jersey. Unfortunately it was built just as casino gambling was growing in Atlantic City, New Jersey. That caused the interest in horse racing to decline and while it did attract good crowds for big race days it never lived up to its expectations. Eventually it closed down and today is the site of mixed use purposes like retail and residential and other uses.

[@Lee-y8w2b]

I'm glad they were able to save the Pyramid in Memphis. One of my favorite pro sports arenas.

[@BuildingTales]

Agreed! Such a unique building, glad its getting a lot of use now!

[@JimboInTheHouse1]

I'd be real mad if I was a non-football player or fan and my school tax money went to build that monstrosity.

[@joshuamountz6891]

I would have considered the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio. Built as the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers in hopes of building up the town of Richfield. The problem was that nobody wanted to move there ,the weather during the winter can be awful at times, and no easy access to most of the communities east or west of the town

[@BuildingTales]

Hadn't heard of the one before, I'll definitely look into it! Thanks for the suggestion!

[@joshuamountz6891]

@@BuildingTales at the time it was built there was no easy access to Richfield from the western countries just a bunch of country back roads

[@davidbfitz13]

It was basically built in the middle of a remote forest and has since reverted back to that.

[@AEMoreira81]

I always thought it was built there because it was halfway between Cleveland and Akron. The problem was that Richfield is extremely rural and you needed a car to get there, and the only true access there was directly at the OH 303 interchange with I-271. Ultimately, downtown revitalization brought what's now Quicken Loans Arena to downtown. After Richfield Coliseum was torn down, it was reclaimed by nature.

[@lauraskonce3502]

"The House That Nick Built," a reference to Nick Miletti, the owner of the Cavaliers at that time.

[@shaunnichols1743]

Oakland Coliseum. They took all the money for maintenance and renovations and used it to build a massive upper deck that ruined the atmosphere and never even got used. Meanwhile the stadium authority was so in debt they couldn't even do things like replace plumbing and repaint the walls so the whole stadium fell into disrepair.

[@patrickdare5356]

Isn't this where the dugouts flooded because the sewer system backed up?

[@shaunnichols1743]

@@patrickdare5356 More or less. They tend to have issues when it rains. The field is below sea level and built on what is essentially reclaimed marshland. Combine that with not spending on upkeep for a couple decades and things tend to get poopy.

[@chrismickunas8130]

Ah Kemper, can’t even count the number of KC Blades games, concerts and other events I’ve been to there. Even though I was not even 10 when the roof collapsed I still remember those stories after it happened.

[@billmcg1676]

Also, the ballpark at Arlington. Texas summer heat and outdoor baseball stadium: no bueno 😂

[@BuildingTales]

Very true! Its a shame about that, because otherwise it seems like a really cool stadium.

[@billmcg1676]

@@BuildingTales Yeah, I never went there but it looked really cool. I guess one of the local colleges still uses it for football but as we all know baseball stadiums do not work well with football fields so it looks wonky. And it only lasted 20 years for the Texas Rangers.

[@AEMoreira81]

Indeed, until its replacement was built, they had a hard time attracting free agents. But they should have known since the problem existed with Turnpike Stadium.

[@MrDougman59]

There was a San Francisco PCL baseball stadium, Ewing Field, built in 1914 only used for that purpose for one year.

[@BuildingTales]

Very cool! I hadn’t heard of that one before!

[@georgeblangfordjr.1771]

The Miami Marine stadium was featured on CSI Miami

[@99somerville]

Also an Elvis movie in the early 60s.

[@shakey2634]

Kemper Arena in Kansas City can hardly be termed a failure. Yes, it did suffer storm damage, but it has hosted thousands of events over many years.

[@BuildingTales]

Well there was that one little collapsing incident...

[@skidawg22]

Kemper was recently repurposed as a community center.

[@AEMoreira81]

...now known as Hy-Vee Arena (the city also sold the building and got it back on the tax rolls).

[@bapples]

6:20 ironically in 1981 KC Hyatt walkway collapse two years later led to the death of 114 people.

[@BuildingTales]

Crazy that a whole stadium roof can come down with no casualties, but that walkway incident was so devastatingly awful

[@mattanderson6336]

Didn’t they determine the walkway was way over limit for weight restriction? Too many people watching a dance exhibition?

[@bapples]

@ engineering failure and too many people at the dance yup.

[@Cody-WW]

Both buildings are still standing in KC too. drive by them weekly

[@_NoDrinkTheBleach]

Campbell's Stadium was a heartbreaking failure. It was one of the best features of the Camden waterfront.

[@BuildingTales]

Agreed... shame to see it torn down. Camden needs all the nice things it can get, so to see a gem like that prematurely torn down is kinda a shame.

[@guyfaux3978]

@@BuildingTales Its counterpart in Northern NJ, Newark, had Eagles/Bears Stadium, also part of a redevelopment project. After almost 20 years it too got redeveloped.

[@johnchambers8528]

@@BuildingTalesThe problem was not the stadium. It was the baseball league that failed. Without other teams to play there was no use for the stadium. Its location just off the riverfront May also hurt the attendance at that site. You had a long walk from any transit line and most people were afraid of crime in Camden.

[@PhillyBagel]

The Atlantic League built taxpayer subsidized ballparks in Camden, Newark, Atlantic City, and Bridgeport, CT. They league never made money on those inner city teams and they all folded. Camden and Newark were demolished and the Atlantic City location will be leveled soon. Bridgeport was heavily modified into a concert venue and is unrecognizable as a ballpark. Amazingly, Gary, Indiana has a ballpark facing similar challenges but they’re doing well because they’re in a different independent league.

[@davidbfitz13]

@@guyfaux3978I used to enjoy going to Bears games in Newark. I always wanted to see the Camden park but it never happened.

[@marklittle8805]

The Olympic Stadium in Montreal is the poster child for failure. It was not finished on time, it was souless for baseball and it has had a number of structural issues

[@BuildingTales]

Yep that's definitely a big one!

[@David-lx4yb]

Do the Montreal Alouettes still play there?

[@BBB-Schmuck]

He's too young to remember that. You're going back to 1976...this kid looks 22, he'll have to look it up.Bruce Jenner had a pecker back then and won decathalon.

[@marklittle8805]

​@@David-lx4ybthey do not. They hosted an Eastern Final a few times there and a Grey Cup was there but the Als play out of Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University. A far cosier little stadium

[@csnide6702]

souless for baseball -- tell that to the fans who SANG during the games.

[@ItsJustStevesWorld]

Evergrande Stadium, at 100K, would’ve been the largest football only stadium in the world? Ahem. The Big House, Ohio Stadium, Beaver Stadium, Kyle Field, Tiger Stadium, Neyland Stadium, Bryant-Denny Stadium, and DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium would all like a word.

[@BuildingTales]

Football as in the soccer variety

[@willijs8]

How is it a failure if it's repaired and still in use?

[@BuildingTales]

Generally it’s considered preferable if your stadium doesn’t collapse

[@1utube01]

The Pyramid was overpromised and underdelivered by the developer Sidney Schlenker, but Memphis time and time again made the most of the disappointment, to this day. It hosted not only sports events, but one of a kind cultural artifact exhibitions, and was instrumental in luring the NBA. Instead of being abandoned or torn down, it has been repurposed to continue generating revenue as a Bass Pro Shop. And that is to their credit.

[@kingdommanlegacyministries7769]

I've been in the trades my whole adult life, 40+ years, running million $ jobs & doing thousands of individual jobs.... ANYTHING not passing code is the problem & responsibility of the whole permit & inspection process.

[@afterburner94]

The google earth views made that top 10 video rise above anything else. Gelreat job editing it together ! Its staggering the amount of money poured into failed sport stadium or buildings whil money would have been better spent on regular infrastructure like roads and bridges.

[@BuildingTales]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[@mikejacobs7464]

Videotron center in Quebec City and Sprint Center also in Kansas City should have been mentioned due to both the facilities were built specifically to lure a major league (NHL or NBA) team to which neither venue has managed to get!

[@BuildingTales]

Both good suggestions! I'm going to need to make a part 2 video!

[@bradleyminoski2020]

At least with the Sprint Center, they constantly get concerts, wrestling and the Big 12 tourney to make up for that.

[@dickensonfarms]

​@bradleyminoski2020 same can be said for Centre Videotron. The Remparts Major Junior team plays there and regularly tops the CHL. The Quebec Peewee Hockey Tournament is also held there

[@AEMoreira81]

Videotron was built to replace the Colisee Pepsi, which opened in 1949. It closed when Videotron closed in 2015. Colisee Pepsi was used for storage until 2023, but as that building is 75 years old, I expect it to be demolished.

[@zionavey1673]

Miami marina is not a fail. It's still standing. The sport died out for racing. The marina has stood the test of time.

[@geoff3103]

honorable mention: Seetgeek stadium in Bridgeview Illinois

[@BuildingTales]

Appreciate the suggestion!

[@scarpfish]

"Sports venues can be a very good investment" Said no one looking at the financials of building such facilities ever.

[@BuildingTales]

Seems like a bit of a generalization...

[@shaunnichols1743]

Depends. Football stadiums have a pretty bad history for return on investment, but baseball parks are actually a decent value because they are guaranteed to be open 80+ days a year which is enough to support restaurant and hotel districts. If you look at places like San Francisco or Denver the ballpark changed the entire surrounding neighborhood for the better.

[@wshwe]

@@shaunnichols1743The owners of the Giants privately funded their stadium. They didn't beg for corporate welfare.

[@shaunnichols1743]

@wshwe I agree with you and FTR I am a Giants fan. However, they did get tax breaks and the right to buy properties surrounding the park. So it wasn't like they did the city a favor.

[@wshwe]

@ They did do the City a favor. They could gone somewhere else like the 49ers did.

[@bobzelley5100]

Have you been to the Camden stadium. It was the poorest population and most dangerous of any stadium ever built in the lower 48. It was built to spend money .

[@levioattes6669]

Could’ve thrown hitters proposed mega-stadium in here aswell

[@antonellogiannuzzi6609]

You should look about the Calatrava's Sails in Rome. It was supposed to be an olymplic like sport city but it was never finished

[@BuildingTales]

Definitely will, thanks for the suggestion!

[@CrystalClearWith8BE]

Imagine I wanted to propose and build a new sports complex that includes a new soccer stadium for the national spccer team, a two arenas for multiple sports such as basketball, volleyball, and badminton, the sport I play with. I want to reclaim land to build a sports complex since space in my metro area is limited, but how do I do that without failure? Also, reclaimed land cost a lot of money to invest with too.

[@johnmaster3748]

Kemper Arena's roof was an engineering failure. But before and after, the building served its function. It was eventually superseded by a more modern arena. But the building was repurposed successfully. I am not sure that qualifies as a failure of development.

[@BuildingTales]

That's a fair perspective! It is pretty impressive that despite the initial problems, it has seen so much use in the decades since

[@jamesfields2916]

Agreed.

[@MichaelSmith-mi2vr]

Kemper Arena has hosted NCAA tournament games as well as the 1988 Final 4, where Kansas defeated Oklahoma in the championship n

[@jamesfields2916]

@@MichaelSmith-mi2vr Cost me a lot of money! I had Oklahoma iny pool

[@masaharumorimoto4761]

XL Center is so cool looking, it's like an X-Files building, maybe they used that in B-Roll, looks like one of the random places Scully would be doing an autopsy.

[@justsamoo3480]

It’s wild that Tor Vergata arena complex in Rome isn’t mentioned on this list.

[@BuildingTales]

Part 2 is in the works!

[@Happymali10]

I think you cut the audio for number 3 off a tad early.

[@BuildingTales]

Yea, im still kinda new to video editing so its still a little clunkier than I would like ... but definitely working on it and hopefully future videos will be a little smoother!

[@raccoon874]

*Montreal's Big O doesn't even get a spot? Man, you didn't do your research. Would have been #1 likely.*

[@mattknicky8919]

No Greece or Brazil olympic stadiums?

[@BuildingTales]

I made a video specifically about some of the failed olympic venues a month or two back so for this particular list I decided to leave those ones off. But they definitely are some of the most striking examples of failed sports venues!

[@torstenscholz6243]

TBH, a video about every Olympic venue or FIFA World Cup stadium that was rarely used after these events would be very long.

[@toneale]

This list is incomplete without including the Alamodome.

[@BuildingTales]

Stay tuned for part 2!

[@SantaDog81]

Kemper Arena seems to have a small theme with things falling from it.

[@johngladding2315]

How about the football/baseball stadium in Sacramento. Abandoned hallway through

[@WanderingCanadian1]

Why is the first stadium a fail exactly? Its still in use, it just had major deficiencies, which were fixed. That shit happens, but the stadium is in use now, so not really a fail

[@firebird6522]

Not sure how you could consider the Allen football stadium a failure. The construction and the design firms did a bad job and they had to fix it at no cost to the school district. It's now been fixed and has been in use ever since. So how is that a failure? Is it over-the-top for a high school stadium? Probably everywhere but Texas. I don't live anywhere near Allen and have nothing to do with them, but I took a closer look and the school district is a very good one, most of the kids go to college, there are few dropouts, and the local taxpayers had a choice to approve the spending for the stadium. So where's the failure?

[@BuildingTales]

Thanks for watching! Interesting thought!

[@bd5av8r1]

Kemper Arena: I was there at the WWE pay per view when Owen Hart fell from the rafters to the ring.

[@MichialMathews]

HARTFORD Whalers, Not New England Whalers.

[@BuildingTales]

NEW ENGLAND Whalers

[@cuseyeti_one8three]

They originated in Boston as the New England Whalers.

[@whiskeyrunner43]

That was the WHA team, wasn't it?

[@mattanderson6336]

The Minneapolis Metrodome with multiple roof deflations. Built solely to keep the Twins from moving.

[@Alan-lv9rw]

Just because the contractor screwed up doesn’t mean the plan to build the stadium was a bad idea.

[@BrandanTheBroker]

The less we talk about Kemper Arena as wrestling fans, the better 😢

[@leighreganarblaster9852]

The football stadium in 🇨🇳 can hold rugby league and union because it played on the same shape

[@jamesludwin6752]

By what metric is that high school stadium a failure? Problems developed. No cover up. They closed it they fixed it and the team hasnt lost a home game there since.

[@BradyKaynee]

And Kemper Arena is where the fatal accident of Owen Hart happened.

[@99somerville]

Somehow I know taxpayers got hosed on these structures.

[@BuildingTales]

Unfortunately it does seem to work out that way most of the time

[@DanB3286]

How did Hawaii Football stadium get left out

[@BuildingTales]

Will be a good one for part 2!

[@garyamaral1648]

Indoor shooting range? Irony in Memphis 🤔🤔

[@TonysMusic1974]

Your audio keep kicking out.

[@levioattes6669]

Campbell’s stadium was awesome, nothing beat the view

[@BuildingTales]

Agreed, the view from that spot is amazing! Wish I could have seen it back when the stadium was still up!

[@ThirdCoastGems]

I bet some six-figure "consultants" made out GREAT on all of these projects.

[@troyarrington5492]

The Miami marine stadium was in a video game. But I can’t remember which one 🤔

[@MBG141]

That would be Driv3r (Driver 3) in the Miami level. It's surprisingly not in GTA Vice City. Hopefully it's in GTA VI!

[@raymondlyons361]

The money spent on all this "special" infrastructure that could have been spent better in other areas.

[@BuildingTales]

Definitely!

[@morbital]

Looks like construction has restarted on Nou Mestalla as of January 2025!

[@praiserdusty]

Sadly almost none of these were "development" failures. They are all super successful a couple were just old and abandoned like the Miami one which had an excellent life and still technically being used by tourists as a destination. The high school stadium was just poorly designed in a hurricane prone area in a sport that would never recoup the cost so it was done cheaply.

[@BuildingTales]

Interesting perspective...

[@jimrinard1969]

Look into the Rosemont Horizon!

[@BuildingTales]

Will do! Appreciate the suggestion!

[@JL-sm6cg]

It's now Allstate Arena, and it does get a lot of use, though mainly by concerts and the WWE. What was its original purpose, though?

[@jimrinard1969]

@@JL-sm6cg when it was being built it collapsed due to faulty bolts I believe.

[@JL-sm6cg]

@jimrinard1969 oh, that i wasn't aware of. I was thinking usage rather than it falling apart.

[@davdhartung9817]

College basketball and minor league hockey ​@@JL-sm6cg

[@donreed]

11/09/24: 08:05 that's the ugliest building ever built in America. OK, one of the 100 Worst. But then again, CT is pretty much a wasteland, so at least it's logical that such a horrible design ended up in Hartburnford.

[@leighreganarblaster9852]

Football because it’s call football over there and the the 2nd F in FIFA stand for Football

[@briancleveland6115]

The first one isn't a fail, it's still being used.

[@BuildingTales]

Interesting perspective

[@briancleveland6115]

@BuildingTales Prospective ? It's actually the truth, it's still being used.

[@juanalejandropulido320]

Im here to say that Mestalla stadium just restar the construction

[@BuildingTales]

Hopefully they get through it this time around!

[@stevenbauer4799]

Richfield coli. ohio. Built for cavs wha nhl played there. Built so far away from cleveland it should have had a pennsylvania address.

[@JBM425]

Wrong. It should have had a Canton or Akron address. It was built to the south/southwest of Cleveland, not to the east.

[@octavius9685]

Crazy how Texans are proud of being "free" and "less regulation" but cant even build a damn HS football stadium thats safe, let alone those cardboard houses...

[@jokerz7936]

Anything built for the Olympics or FIFA.

[@johnjensen6246]

Now the BROWNS are clamoring for a NEW STADIUM? Tru?

[@ivwed]

Hartford Whalers not New England

[@BuildingTales]

The name changed

[@Godzillajeff]

That Levi stadium Qin California is UGLY.

[@LongHornBeastMode]

Careful. Allen high school stadium was actually used and still is used and is a huge success. Not failure please do better research

[@BuildingTales]

The video clearly states that the stadium reopened after the multimillion dollar fixes and has been in use ever since.

[@gregb6469]

Do 12,000 fans attend high school games there? How many students does that school have?

[@terracub]

I think you should point out that it can be a great investment for the investors because it's paid for by public money. And they get screwed every single time

[@BuildingTales]

Very true! I shoulda clarified that part for sure! Does seem like the taxpayers are usually the ones getting the short end of the stick

[@CurtisDavis-ok1eq]

Sad, Huh?

[@bjste8840]

Too many commercials not worth your time.

[@BuildingTales]

Thanks for watching!

[@Sportsthebest542]

Camden sucks

[@haraldgrundetjern2184]

Deutsches Stadion shold be on this list, and we shold be tankful that it was never built

[@BuildingTales]

Haven't heard of that one, I'll definitely look into it!

[@torstenscholz6243]

Well, you said it yourself, it was never built. If we included every stadium or arena that was planned but never built, this would be a very extensive video.

[@PeaceToAll-sl1db]

some crazy projects on the list Don't forget to vote for Donald Trump for President

[@bradleyminoski2020]

No thanks pal. I want a actual competent person running things!!!

[@PeaceToAll-sl1db]

@@bradleyminoski2020 kamala harris is a fool - she has the vote of the DEI, the racists and the ignorant