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One problem is that our policy makers will happily throw out public money to build new sports stadiums, but they will turn around and say that we cannot afford better public transit

Piling on here, but Cincinnati and Pittsburgh should definitely have been on this list. The way the parking lot is completely hidden underground with an entire neighborhood built on top of it between the Reds and Bengals stadiums in Cincinnati was completely brilliant.

"Serving all five boroughs: Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and New Jersey" That's some top-notch Staten Island shade and I am here for it

Shocked Pitt didn’t make the list. All three major sports venues are literally walkable from downtown. The minor league soccer stadium is as well. PNC and The place formerly known as Heinz Field are also on the light rail line and are very well-integrated into the North Shore.

Ah yes, the five boroughs of NYC - Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and New Jersey 😂

How is Pittsburgh not on this list? Acrisure Stadium is shared by Pitt and the Steelers and is right beside PNC Park, a bridge's walk away from downtown and each has its own light rail station. Highmark Stadium, home of the Riverhounds, is likewise but on the opposite side of the Monogahela from downtown, again with its own light rail stop. And PPG Paints Arena is only a ten minute walk from downtown.

Best thing about the Vancouver downtown stadiums (aside from Skytrain being right there) is the urban Costco across the street with their food court facing the street and open to everyone. Before the game you can get a Costco hot dog for $1.50 or a cheap slice of pizza and scarf it down just before entering the stadium so you won't have to pay >$8 inside the stadium for a similar "meal".🤪

A little surprised to see Pittsburgh passed over completely. All of their professional sports arenas are right there downtown. Steelers and Pirates stadiums are a fairly short walk away from each other.

Surprised Denver didn't at least make honorable mention. The MLS stadium is an F, but the other three are all walkable from downtown and transit accessible.

I love the concept of the Philadelphia Sports Complex. Putting all of your major teams into the same area devoted entirely to the sports scene is really cool and unique.

I am very surprised at Pittsburgh not even meriting an honorable mention - especially given it's historical overrepresentation in @CityNerd content!

Cleveland OH being left off this is kinda odd. Especially considering the criteria. All three major sports arenas are located in or near the downtown area. All three are accessible via rail transit, all three are close to or directly connected to decent parking.

Houston has three major league sports stadiums all in the heart of the city. NBA Houston Rockets (Toyota Center), MLB Houston Astros (Minute Maid Park), and MLS Houston Dynamo (Shell Energy Stadium) all are downtown, even walking distance. It gets crazy down there if sports games overlap. And it very rarely happens but sometimes all three sports have games, usually a team is deep in the playoffs when that happens.

Stadiums might be the urban planning thing Houston got right. 3 are downtown and the NRG and Astrodome are connected via light rail.

I'm curious as to where Cleveland is on this list. I would think the venues wouldn't rank spectacularly, but also none of them overly poorly. Back when the Cavs were in Richfield, definitely, but since the late '90s I would think it's at least decent.

I'll be that Toronto guy you predicted - BMO field is surrounded by some parking but that parking also serves the exhibition grounds, multiple conference centres, a small minor league arena, a concert venue, public parklands, and several other facilities. It's also served by regional rail and soon to be served by the subway. It's also hard to imagine a more accessible arena than Scotia Bank - it's attached to Union station so anyone in the region can take a direct train to the game, and it also has great subway access

What about Cleveland (NFL, MLB, NBA) and Pittsburgh (NFL, MLB, NHL)? All are in or adjacent to their downtowns.

The design of Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena is quite unique, and it's the Nokia of NHL arenas considering its age! I know Detroit is the Motor City, but kudos to them for actually moving their teams out of the suburbs. Downtown Detroit has improved a lot, not to mention the food culture is great! They're definitely on the right track. Also yeah, sports complexes with multiple venues may sound like a good idea on paper, but once it's all said and done, is a huge sea of parking really worth it? Especially in a very urban environment like Philly? It completely ruins the city's charm. Add housing and restaurants to fill in all that parking, and then it would integrate perfectly. Historical mention for Jersey City and the demolished Roosevelt Stadium which was built in 1936 and demolished in 1985. It would be a very important in 1946 when Roosevelt Stadium hosted the Jersey City Giants' season opener against the Montreal Royals, marking the professional debut of the Royals' Jackie Robinson. In his five trips to the plate, Robinson got four hits, including a three-run homer, scored four runs and drove in three. The Royals had a 14-1 victory. This is why there is a statue of Jackie Robinson at the Journal Square Transportation Center. Nowadays, the site is the private Society Hill, but NJCU has an athletics complex there. JC still has an armory that has been used for track and field, basketball, and boxing by JSQ.

I live in Ottawa. Currently our NHL arena is in the middle of a giant suburban parking lot, 25km from downtown in the extreme west end of the city. It sucks to get to by bus, and if you drive it can take up to an hour just to get out of the parking lot. There's nothing around there but box stores and car dealerships. It just sucks. Luckily the Ottawa Senators are in the process of being sold, and the new owners will almost certainly be moving the team downtown to an area right at the nexus of our developing transit system. Most of the city and fanbase are pretty excited about that, though there is this vocal minority who's popped up recently, who want the arena to stay where it is. I'm finding it funny going through their arguments, because it's like a bingo card of anti-urbanist myths. Like they can't understand where everyone will park, or that a good many people would choose to take transit by choice. One guy even told me that transit is for poor people, and it's unethical for those of us with means to invade their space just for a sports game?

I'm curious to see where Pittsburgh would have stacked up on this list...PNC Park and Heinz field both have bus and ferry service and awesome downtown views. UPitt shares Heinze field. The Penguins arena is nestled right in downtown. The River hounds have a stadium built next to Station Square on the other side of the river from PNC Park....

What's crazy about United Center in Chicago is that it sits right next to the Blue line and like, two blocks from the Green line, and it still has that many parking spaces.

Living in Philadelphia. I love the fact that the sports complexes are segregated from the rest of the city. Center city has enough to do. Not having to deal with traffic on games days living less than two miles from the stadiums is amazing. Only people in the suburbs who don’t have live next to stadiums and can look at them on google maps want downtown arenas.

“All the 5 boros… Manhattan Bronx Queens Brooklyn …and New Jersey” I see what you did there 😂

Montréal deserves a dishonorable mention because of the Bell Cenrte. CP Rail had begun process of exiting being a railroad in Canada in the 1980s. After selling off what it could of its Québec trackage, it then splt the remaining tracks into separate company (while CP Rail held onto real estate below tracks) hoping it would go bankrupt and ease the Transport Canada decision to allow tracks to be removed. Part if its wet dream was to get trains out of Windsor station so it could turn this into real estate development. Commuter trains had already been transfered to government who was paying CP for use of tracks so CP could't stop the trains or remove tracks, but the real estate apetite was greater. Meanwhile, the owners of the hockey team wanted to have an area with more high-priced suites and said the perfectly fine Forum at the Atwater métro was inadequate. As a result, CP rail struck a deal with the government whereby in exchange for CP Rail promising to keep its head office in Montréal, the government would allow redevelopment of Windsor station, preserving only the historic landmark building. And to make sure the trains could NEVER EVER return to the station, the new hockey areana was built below, at and above track level (unlike Madison Square Gardens that was built above.). So your video has factual error because trains do not pass under the area, the arena provice an impassible obstacle and trains stop outside on outdoor uncovered platforms. There si a small heated space within arena building that allows one to walk from the remaining platforms to an outside passage to the street. If you look at intersection of de la Montagned and ave des Canadiens 45.4959254 -73.5708728 on street view, I dare you to find any signage to find where the entrance to the the station called Lucien L'Allier is. From Windsor Station, there was direct acess down to Bonaventure station and walking from Peel to the downtown core was fast. Now peoople have to walk from de la Montagne. Oh, and part of CP exiting Québec was selling the whole complex to a shopping mall company (Cadillac Fairview) who developped every inch it was allowed, including the condoes over the outside passage to the train platforms (but condo won't allow any signage to entrance) and office towers, all designed to forever prevet the use of Windsor station as a train station ever again. The owners of the Canadiens promised the new arena would generate lots of revenues and pay taxes. CP Rail promised it would keep head office in Montréal. As soon as all approved and the tracks were cut off from Windsor station, CP Rail annoucned it was moving its head office to Calgary, and the owners of the hockey arena went to city to declare the arena would lose money and they needed subsidies/tax break. Meanwhile, Montréal forever lost a key transport infrastructure downtown. Unlike other cities where 2 railways built a very large "Union station", Montréal had retained disctinct midsize CN and CP stations downtown, leaving only the CN station now, and worse, the REM construction not only stole the tunnel, removed electrification of all tracks (it was 25kvAC) so it could put 1500vdc on its 2 tracks, but also placed its 2 tracks on track 9-10, forever preventing re-opening of tracks 5-6, 7-8 that were west of 9-10. Those had been closed sicne late 1980s after the big VIA rail cutbacks but with plans to increase services, the lack of tracks is now a major problem. (it was part of reason the Amtrak Adirondak train took so long to restart post pandemic because the owner of Central station is now another shopping mall company who would rather lease floor space to shops than run a train station. On a positive note: when the Allouettes vacated the former sports facility called Olympic Statium to choose the Molson Stadium they organised transit very well with frequent shuttle buses betwen métro and the stadium as well as having guides to help those walking to stadium take the right paths to it. Very customer focused aproach to make them enjoy the experience of the game.

Really proud of Detroit; having the tigers, lions, red wings, and pistons all right downtown is quite amazing for such a car centric city. Here's to hoping Detroit will continue to improve.

I'm biased as a native, but Cleveland seems like an oversight here-especially considering the history of relocating venues from outer-lying suburbs into the downtown fabric (similar to Detroit, as you mention). In the 90s, the Gateway Project brought the Guardians and Cavs onto the same block, just a ten-minute walk from transit-connected Tower City. Cleveland Browns Stadium is a bit of a hike out to the lake shore, but not too far away to stumble over from pre-game festivities. As a car-dependent suburbanite, driving to the RTA park-n-ride (ugh, I know) before catching the Rapid downtown in high school was my first brush with transit of any kind. Thanks as always for the great content, Ray!

As a St. Louis native, CITYPARK is absolutely S tier. I have been many times, and only by our light rail. We have tons of stuff to do/eat/visit nearby, and I have friends who live almost next door to the stadium

Leafs catching strays on CityNerd is the content I didn't know I needed.

For what it’s worth, Angels Stadium in Anaheim was built in 1966, and it did did host the MLB Angels and LA Rams between 1980-1994.

I'm a car-driving rural right winger. We probably have very little in common, but we definitely both love sports. And I like to hear perspectives from urbanists on what they desire in a city. A true functioning America has robust and healthy cities and thriving rural areas.

The SkyDome is another stadium that was built for both baseball and football, and is still standing. Of course, they kicked the football team out about a decade ago, and have been making renovations to make it less multi-purpose

I was initially surprised to see Cincinnati not included in the honorable mentions, but I guess a lot of cities do stadiums correctly. If we could get actual rapid transit maybe we would appear on this list in the future.

I’m glad to see St Louis on the list, and as an urbanist, I really am a fan of Citypark. There are a number of developments being planned in the area, in additional to a planned light rail nearby, and best of all, it was built on land previously occupied by a bunch of parking lots and a unfinished underutilized highway interchange Edit: one other thing I’d like to add was the land prior to the interchange and parking lots had once been a thriving black-majority community demolished in the name of urban renewal. They have a thoughtful memorial created in a prominent corner of the stadium grounds along with a row of the house addresses that once stood there. While this obviously doesn’t atone for the destruction of the community, it was really nice to see such a prominent recognition of the mistakes of the past. Now if we could get rid of the rest of the highway still separating many vibrant communities from the main urban core of the city… but removing that interchange was a start, and thank god they didn’t finish that highway project, which would have ripped through many more neighborhoods of our city

Someday maybe Denver could place. Setting aside the travesty of the Rapids being all the way out in Commerce City, the other venues (Mile High, Ball, Coors) are all so close together that there’s been talk about a single mixed use corridor plan connecting them all.

I know you said that the White Sox Stadium is an E tier ballpark, but honestly it’s pretty accessible considering all the surface parking. I used to live in the neighborhood adjacent to it and would walk to games. Not to mention the Red line access, Metra access, and orange line a half mile away and it’s deceptively C tier imo.

Love your content! But no Pittsburgh? North Shore facilities with the 'T', PPG Paints Arena central location and station square has Highmark Stadium.

La Stade Olympique (round, domed stadium) in Montreal is still standing. But it lost both its MLB and CFL tenants years ago. :)

The splicing and editing on this one is tremendous!

"Cascadian Urbanist Overlords" That phrase made my day.

Coors Field in Denver isn't terrible, but all the other stadiums bring it down, especially Dick's Sporting Goods Park. At least there are proposals to turn the parking lots between Ball Arena and Mile High into high density mixed use development and that area is already served by light rail. Dick's Sporting Goods Park is a lot cause though. The silver lining is that the Rapids Supporters group offers supporters busses (and away team busses) from several downtown bars, it really makes being a carless Rapids season ticket holder more doable.

I have absolutely fallen in love with St. Louis recently... I moved there recently and have been delightfully surprised by the goings on here. I got rained out of a Cardinals game and I'm slightly bummed but the nearest Metro Station is 10 minutes from my house so I can't complain. I would love a more Walkable city but St Louis is kinda taking my heart since I'm gonna be here for awhile.

“Vancouver is the best city in the continent” if you have a lot of money. If you can handle winter and the French language, Montreal is actually the best city in the continent.

2:49 “the stroads of sports venues” is the best thing I think I’ve ever heard as an urbanist sports enjoyer

Indianapolis is a good shout. Minor league baseball, pacers/fever, colts and future home of Indy elevan are all downtown Indy

A key part of Toronto is that the main transit hub for the entire Greater Toronto Area, Union Station, is basically attached to Scotiabank Arena. It's a five minute walk from Roger's Center. And one GO train stop away is BMO Field/Coca-Cola Colliseum.

Thanks for another great video. You are now the only reason I still log on to YT. What lurks behind everything you talk about in your videos? Car dependence.

Someone namedropped Brisbane, so I'm gonna say it... Of Australia's state capitals, at least 4 would comfortably make this top 10 if not top 5 if they were included in the same way the MLB included us in their schedule back in 2014. Sydney has so many fields, but the most notable ones are clustered in two locations with good public transport access and connection to the city centre, though the Olympic Park venues are a little bit in the middle between Parramatta and the CBD they have both their own station and second within a walkable distance. The Moore Park site is walkable from Central but also accessible via light rail and several bus lines. Melbourne goes without saying. Jolimont and Docklands sites both lie central to the city and are well-covered by trams and/or rail. Both Sydney and Melbourne also have a list of suburban teams (in the nrl and afl respectively) that also see significant traffic and generally sit better than american equivalents. Even Perth does a pretty good job for its venues. We are sports mad and it shows in our planning priorities. Visiting the US and going from Vancouver and Seattle to... Phoenix made it clear that the same passion is not found everywhere. Glendale is an atrocity.

I remember when Candlestick Park in San Francisco was so bad it blew its own electric transformers in the middle of a game 😅

I'm confused- how did DC and Boston get on this list when their stadiums are far from Downtown, meanwhile Cleveland's stadiums/arenas are right downtown and have light rail right next to it, and they aren't on the top 10 list at all?

Your conversation with Dr Gerald looks really important. I guess I'll finally have to sign up for Nebula. Thank you!

St. Louis’s new soccer stadium is also great cause they put it over the remains of I-755, a planned inner belt highway that was never built due to local opposition. We somehow got out of some of the horrible urban highways Kansas City has. On the St. Charles side is some truly awful urban design. My highschool moved their graduation to possibly the most disgusting arena in our area. The Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri. It’s literally just in the middle of a forrest along the river. Some poor soul asked if you could park anywhere nearby and walk to it, and it’s just impossible. Exists in an island of parking 30 minutes from anything else. It’s just such an ugly building too. St. Charles has a special place in my heart, as one of the most unpleasantly designed places. Just infinite suburban hell, and Missouri’s fastest growing suburb.

I find it hilarious so many Kansas City residents are up in arms about moving their baseball stadium downtown, because of course - "Where will we park?!" As if downtown Kansas City isn't just 50% surface parking in the first place.

Haven't seen your content until now. Good stuff!

I think Philly got it mostly right. Traffic is already so bad in a tight street clustered city. The stadiums are only in one side of the city but as you said a sub and bus puts you right there. I feel like putting them anywhere else would be a nightmare

Cleveland shoukd have been up there with the Cavs and Guardians in Downtown, and though there could be better uses for lakefront property, the Browns play by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The soccer team, the Cleveland Crunch play at the IX center, a large multipurpose building by the airport. And yes there is an RTA rapid to the Airport and local shuttle busses to the IX.

I think the Moda Center in Portland is a good example of a venue that allows people to feel like it’s own separate thing but also feel integrated into the city. It’s part of a plaza with the old Memorial Coliseum which still hosts basketball and hockey occasionally as well as other events. There’s a couple parking structures right next two it but everything else around it is the actual city with not flat lots. People can commute relatively easily as well

Nashville's football stadium, hockey arena, and MiLB baseball stadium are all downtown. They are also all within walking distance of each other. The largest MLS stadium in the U.S. is also within its city limits.

Another problem with DC's arenas: Capital One arena has displaced local businesses and Chinese residents in chinatown. The 76ers are planning to do the same thing to Chinatown in Philly. It's being built above Jefferson Station, but let's face it. A lot of those Regional Rail trains only run once every hour. Most people are going to drive. SEPTA doesn't have the budget to improve transit as efficiently as it would need to to handle 19,000 sports fans 150 days of the year. I'm worried Chinatown will be destroyed for parking garages and generic chain stores.

Mike here- while I'm still recovering from Chicago's C-Tier ranking, I can't disagree with Chicago's evaluation- while the Fire play at soldier field, the Bears leaving for Arlington Heights in the future is a major bummer for our sports fabric. I also currently suffer by living on the North side as a Sox fan :( Excited to see you and Alan at the National gathering! Cheers.

Don't get me started on the Meadowlands! I've been to the now-abandoned Izod Center twice, for Ringling Bros and for Smuckers Stars on Ice when I was a kid, the sad quality of the arena just added on to the fact it was in a sea of parking next to a mall that took forever to complete. And now after both the Nets and the Devils left the Izod Center for Brooklyn and Newark respectively, they're in home arenas that they can be proud of! And both the Barclays and Prudential Centers have helped move Downtown Brooklyn and Newark in the right direction. Not to mention all the transit with Newark Penn Station by the Prudential Center and Atlantic Ave on the subway at Barclays Center! Sure the Meadowlands has its own NJ Transit line but it's always a headache whenever there's a big event because of the way it was designed, and it interrupts the rest of the system which is the same reason why they won't run regular train service for the American Dream mall. Their Mass Transit Super Bowl strategy back in 2014 was a mess because the line couldn't handle the crowds. Also, on the topic of the NYC metro, tbf UBS Arena is NEXT to the city limits and while the Islanders no longer have subway access due to the move from Barclays Center, it's still served by the LIRR's Elmont station full-time which is on the Main Line (Belmont Park station is closer but that's just for race days now). Compared to their old Nassau Coliseum home (which had no LIRR station at all), it's still an upgrade.

I feel like Minneapolis is one of the few cities that has appropriately integrated an NFL stadium into their downtown, and I think that warrants a bump up the list ahead of a city like Boston.

Denver will be #1 on this list when the basketball/hockey and football stadium parking lots are redeveloped into a skyscraper park with the river mile project.

Wake up babe. New CityNerd video out

I agree with other posts. I am surprised that Cleveland is not on the list. All three venues are downtown. I was in Cleveland last July for a Yankees game. Downtown was very walkable and everyone from my hotel walked to Progressive Field. There were also a ton of bars and restaurants in the area. Have you visited these venues or are you doing your research from a Google map?

wow, 18 mins of your joyous disposition......what a treat

gained a subscriber today. video was awesome and this guy seems awesome. love this topic

I'm surprised Cleveland wasn't on this list given that all the stadiums are within a fifteen minute walk of the central public transit hub (even if the rail system is a bit rudimentary).

Cleveland should have got a mention (maybe not even honorable). Espeically if the pedestrian bridge to the football stadium gets built.

Props for calling them the Bullets! I'm surprised FedEx Field didn't drop DC further down the list but Capitol One Arena, Nats Park, and Audi Field are all great venues!

i understand as seattleites we're supposed to hate taking the monorail for absolutely no reason, but i have to say, it is effectively a branch line of link while we wait for ballard. and while the monorail is hard to call a real system, its actually pretty fast and reasonably frequent for whats really a tourist attraction.

love to see seattle so high up this list! i wonder what it would be like if the SODO arena for the sonics had been approved, and we had the kraken and a reborn Sonics playing there, instead of at Climate Pledge, which will definitely be the best arena/stadium location in the city once Link reaches it

If you would have included XFL, I think Orlando would have made the list. The citrus bowl is used by the xfl, wrestlemania, and EDC Orlando, which is on the same street as the soccer stadium which is on the same street as the Amway, all downtown.

In defense of the United Center, every other team in the NBA has spent the last three decades trying to have a more iconic player intro than the Bulls have with "Sirius" starting in a darkened arena, quickly followed by "AAAAAAAAAND NOW"

Thank you for the STL love! City Park is incredible!

I always love hearing people talk about the twin cities, but you seriously missed out on mentioning the st paul saints stadium. it is incredibly interwoven into the downtown, at the green line terminus, and the seasonal outdoor farmers market, really a lively part of the city. a few blocks from union station, i used to ride my bike down kellogg and park it right outside in like the 6th inning and the gates would be open and you could sit and watch the best part of a ball game. and they always had the best fireworks for the 4th. its a shame st paul is the unrecognized twin, theres so much charm there.

Interested how far up Cleveland was on the list. Definitely we’ll placed and transit accessible.

Surprised Columbus, Ohio didn't at least get an honorable mention. We got the hockey arena, baseball stadium, and soccer stadium all on the same street with a whole district of restaurants and bars (and expensive apartments). Probably what kills it is a lack of any rail system here.

5:46 There's a reason the Vikings and Loons have separate stadiums. When US Bank Stadium was built, the Vikings' owner added a clause to the lease that essentially gave them the right to purchase any MLS team that used the stadium as their home. The problem is that Minnesota United already existed and had a fanbase. MLS had to choose between the Minnesota United bid (built-in fan support but no stadium) and the Vikings bid (stadium but no existing fans). The league went with United. They started a stadium with the Gophers for a couple of years while Allianz Field was built.

I feel like Cincinnati does a pretty good job with the sports venues all being downtown and all feeling pretty accessible for pedestrians and decent for transit accessibility

Seattle's climate pledge Arena (Kraken/ Storm) is accessible by transit. Westlake Station Soundtransit, walk 2 min to Monorail on 5th. That will take you to Seattle Center for a pleasant walk to the stadium. Sonics coming soon. Vancouver should be ranked number two - only has NHL and MLS. Sorry CFL is not the NFL. Plus no MLB or NBA team

New Orleans has a great setup with the multi purpose/NFL Super Dome and NBA arena right next door to each other with the Champions Square event venue in between. Transit is handy (no rail) but street cars are Loyola Ave. about 1 block away. Parking is in multi level garage.

Imagine if they built transit under these massive stadiums and kept the stadiums close to each other so we can reduce the amount of space parking takes up.Madison Square Garden is a pretty good example of having everything come to your arena.Las Vegas do that with the Oakland...I mean the Las Vegas A's cause T-Mobile Arena and Allegiant Stadium are so close.

I would love to see your scathing critiques of the various B and C tier Canadian cities sometime. You talk about Toronto Montreal and Vancouver now and then since they're big enough to be on your American radar, but I'd love to hear you talk about Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Quebec City, Halifax etc. Maybe something like a cost-benefit analysis in the 10 largest Canadian metro areas.

Even though it has just 2 teams Baltimore is surprisingly good. Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium are right on the light rail. They close streets and get tons of people walking in from surrounding neighborhoods each game day. Technically the Ro Fo Arena is on the light rail too for whatever games can get played there.

The stadium siting in Seattle is just the best to me - bars/restaurants all around, in mixed-use areas (although true mixed-use west of 5th Ave and south of Pike/Pine seriously needs work to resuscitate the office tower canyon that basically died in the pandemic), and the SoDo stadiums have good access by bus, bike, train (both light and commuter), AND ferries. It's more of a pain to get to CPA, but I've found the monorail(!) is the best "last mile" connection from downtown until the Ballard rail line is finished in (checks notes) 2040.

Indianapolis has great sports infrastructure. Everything is downtown and the walkable. Lucas oil stadium and Gainbridge field house have sooooo many uses and are rarely vaccent

Thirty years ago Camden Yards in Baltimore was near universally heralded as an absolute triumph. If no longer in the top tier I imagine it certainly must have provided the blueprint for many others to follow.

Hey CityNerd, if you could post more videos on bike infrastructure (or lack of that rather) in north america and some thoughts on that, would be really helpful for all of us who do use bicycle as the main mode of transport, we really appreciate that Thanks for great videos

Toronto is a bit underranked IMO. Rogers Centre is centrally located and surrounded by tourist attractions (CN Tower, Aquarium, etc) and is walking distance to Scotiabank Arena which literally has condos, restaurants, and bars all around it - AND both arenas can be accessed by public transit without requiring more than 100 feet of walking outdoors (a big plus in the winter time!) BMO Field is a bit out of the way and has a large parking footprint, but that's also because it's a part of the Exhibition, which hosts major annual events and is home to a large outdoor concert venue, a banquet hall, and a convention centre. For a city with a mediocre (at best) metro system, the sports venues are fantastically located.

What about Cleveland? All sports arenas downtown, all easily accessible by transit, and the Guardians and Cavs play in venues well integrated in the urban fabric.

Something I'd be interested in is a video about the benefits of urban stadiums. In Philadelphia there's a big fight being had over the planned 76ers stadium in Center City, and a lot of the arguments I'm hearing are that having a giant stadium complex in South Philly is fine and is better for the city overall. Is there evidence that it's better to have a central city stadium?

I’m surprised Detroit didn’t rate higher on your list. The placement of three stadiums for four sports adjacent to the theater district with three large theatrical venues, ensure there is activity in the area almost always. The placement allowed for a few parking garages that service all venues. I would agree that Detroit’s Q-Line (streetcar) is not great transit but it serves as a great shuttle. It passes right through the stadium district and for those three blocks it’s separated from street traffic allowing it it not be caught in traffic. Unfortunately outside of those three blocks it shares the road with cars. As a shuttle it works well with the district as the parking garages charge $25-$30 during events but you can park in the midtown area and take the Q-Line to the stadiums. It works great for that. Little Caesars arena is a fantastic arena both architectural and to see sports and concerts. Ford Field has a great reuse and integration of the former Hudson’s warehouse. Hudson’s was a former department store chain. Instead of tearing down the warehouse, they only partially gutted it and integrated the football stadium into it. This preserved the brick exterior and its relation to the street scape. I will say the following regarding the Q-line. It’s limited distance makes it more like a shuttle than regional transit but it’s amazing to watch the development that it’s attracting. When Huntington Bank decided to build a new office building downtown, it’s located not on the riverfront but on Woodward near a stop on the Q-line. And in this current economy there are two more buildings under construction further south both next to stations on the Q-line. And all through midtown there has been and still is construction all along the Q-line. The new condos and apartments closest to the line tend to be 5 or 6 stories and those farther away are 3 or 4. I credit that streetcar as kickstarting the building as midtown is one of two growing areas. The other booming area in the city is CorkTown but that I feel is helped by Ford renovation of the old Michigan Central train station. For decades it was a sign of Detroit’s decay as it sat empty. Instead of trains it’s becoming a tech hub for autonomous vehicles. It’s set to open next year I believe. You should check it out.

I know we're getting knocked for our teams being the bottom 2 of the top 5 leagues(NHL and MLS), a minor league team, and a college team, but Columbus has 3 of it's major sports venues all located on one road within a 10 minute walk of each other and the other woven into the university neighborhood. I'd say we're definitely in the top 20! Especially if Hockey, Soccer, College football, or AAA Baseball tickle your fancy haha

Wrigley Field is so far above the average urban sports stadium experience that it alone should put Chicago at number 1. A Friday afternoon game there is an entertainment experience that cannot be matched anywhere else in this country. Oh, and you can have a Chicago hotdog too

Out of sheer curiosity, how did Calgary and Edmonton wind up placing? I suspect part of why they didn't make the initial list is due to only having CFL and NHL teams. I know Edmonton has struggled with baseball and soccer/football for a long while now, but the Metro line, while sadly not as long as it was during the initial stages of the pandemic (it used to go Nait to Century Park, now it only goes Nait to Health Sciences), and the South Valley Line has been plagued with a number of issues (including ooops, our bridge supports cracked), but I'm rather curious. Also curious about Calgary just because of the fact that hey, I used to live there, and their LRT line was actually rather useful as someone that walked and/or biked around the city.

YESSS! Finally a subscriber count - stadium capacity callout! I've missed those so much

Very surprised not to see Pittsburgh here. Acrisure, PNC Park, and the penguins stadium are all off major rail routes and walkable from downtown.

Two interesting things about Boston, from a Bostonian: 1. TD Garden is right above North Station which connects most of the North Shore directly to the arena through the commuter rail. It's perhaps the most accessible arena in the NBA and NHL because of that. 2. Gillette Stadium, while in the weirdest location, actually has a shopping area around the stadium, which gives it a little bit more of a purpose outside of football season. It's still in a horrible location, but the shopping mall and movie theater connected to it makes it a little less horrible.

The irony of the massive car parks is the fact that it will inevitably involve a bunch of walking despite the ostensible convenience of a car.