Stadium Series: Husky Stadium, Seattle

Officially known as Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium, through a sponsorship with Alaska Airlines, who maintain an air hub at the nearby SeaTac Airport, Husky Stadium is the football stadium for the University of Washington, who compete in the Pac-12 conference’s North Division. Following renovations in 2013, the stadium seats 70,083, making it one of the largest stadiums in the Pacific Northwest region.

Originally built in 1920, with a capacity of 30,000, the stadium has undergone many changes in it’s near 100 year lifespan, and currently sits as a U-Shaped bowl, with the ope end facing Union Bay on Lake Washington, giving views of the Cascade Mountains on clear days. The U-Shape was specifically designed to shield the playing field from glare during afternoon games. The stadium sits as the centrepiece of the athletic village of the University of Washington, with their main indoor arena (the Hec Edmunson Pavilion), Husky Ballpark, Husky Softball Stadium (there was a game going on here when I walked round the site), Husky Soccer Stadium, and the rowing team’s Conibar Shellhouse all sitting within a few hundred yards of the stadium. The Seattle Link Light Rail has a station right at the stadium, which has proven popular for supporters who are not attending from campus.

The stadium has been long regarded as one of the loudest in college football, partly due to the design of the stadium, with most of the spectators housed in the two sideline stands, which both overlap each other and have large cantilever roofs. A game in 1992 was recorded by ESPN as reaching 133.6 decibels, which is the loudest recorded level at any college sporting event. The Seattle Seahawks have also used the stadium, first for five games in 1994, when the Kingdome’s roof required emergency repairs, and for the entire 2000 and 2001 seasons when CenturyLink Field was under construction.

Stadium Series: Bruins Field, Clallam Bay

On our travels round the Olympic Peninsula on our way to Cape Flattery, the most north-westerly point in the continuous United States, I stumbled upon a high school with a football stadium in one of the most remote settlements I’ve ever visited. Clallam Bay is a Census Designated Place with a population of just 363, but the high school also takes in students from neighbouring Sekiu and other, even smaller nearby places.

The Clallam Bay High School Bruins play at Bruins Field, which sits behind the school. While their fierce rivals, Neah Bay Red Devils also have a team and are situated some 20 miles further northwest, they have just a field with no actual stadium facilities at their school. Which leads me to believe – and I may be wrong about this – that Bruins Field is the most north-westerly stadium in the “Lower 48”.

Clallam Bay play in the North Olympic Division 1B, the class for the smallest schools in the state. Bruins Field is a largely open area, with two small enclosure like structures on one side, one with removable metal bleachers, and the other filled with permanent wooden bleacher seating. The other side of the pitch contains a small section of uncovered metal bleachers, which I assume are for visiting players and team officials. The natural grass field is floodlit, and despite the remoteness of the setting, a fully operational electronic scoreboard. The facilities here are extremely basic compared to other high school stadiums I’ve seen, but with the picturesque setting on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the remote location of the town, it’s more than adequate for the school and their team. A real hidden gem of a find.

Stadium Series: Olympic Stadium, Hoquiam

When you’re driving through a place as small as Hoquiam (population 8,726) and see multiple road signs for something called “Olympic Stadium” it seems to me like an absolute no brainer decision to make a quick stop and check it out. I’m glad I did, as this behemoth of a stadium is both unusual and spectacular, and could almost be a tourist destination on it’s own. The City of Hoquiam applied for a Civic Works Administration Grant to build an all wooden stadium in 1932. The application was approved, but it took six years for construction to begin with the stadium being opened in October 1938. The stadium was renovated in 2005 and added to U.S. National Register of Historic Places a year later. It is named after the nearby Olympic Mountain range, and the Olympic Peninsula, where Hoquiam is located.

The stadium has been home in the past to several independent minor league baseball teams, but since opening has mainly been home to the Hoquiam High School Grizzlies football team, with the annual game against their fierce rivals and near neighbours Aberdeen High School Bobcats regularly filling the stadium to it’s 9,000 seated capacity and beyond. Jack Elway, father of Denver Broncos legend John Elway, and a former college football player and coach was an alumni of the school, who currently play in the Evergreen 1A division.

The natural grass field can accommodate both American Football and baseball, with floodlights and two large scoreboards also present. The stadium is entirely constructed out of wood, with all 9,000 seats being wooden bleachers. The L-shaped grandstand is huge and extends down one side and one end of the football field. The angle of the stand was chosen to give some shelter from wind and rain coming off the Pacific coast. This is a wonderful stadium and community hub. It’s one of the most unusual stadiums I’ve seen, and it’s one I’m really glad I stopped by for a look at.

Stadium Series: Spartan Stadium, Forks

Forks is a city in north west Washington with a population of 3,783, probably best known as being the setting for the Twilight series of books and films. It is named after the the forks in the nearby Quillayute, Bogachiel, Calawah, and Sol Duc rivers, which was a piece of information I was glad to receive, as I could not figure out where the name came from given that there’s literally one road through the town. Forks High School is the only High School in the Quillayute Valley School District, and their sports teams are known as the Spartans, with the football, soccer, track & field and lacrosse teams all sharing the charming Spartan Stadium.

The school roll may only be around 290 students, but Spartan Stadium’s single stand has bench seating for almost double that amount of people, with standing room for many more. I’d estimate total seated and standing capacity to be somewhere in the 1,200 region. There appears to be space underneath the stand for changing facilities, but I’d not be surprised if the actual facilities were held in the large building on the opposite side of the playing field. The current school was built in two waves in 2000 and 2012, and if the stadium itself was not built in the first wave, it may actually be slightly older.

The stadium contains an artificial playing surface, marked for football and soccer, floodlights and a large electronic scoreboard. There are spectacular views over the Olympic mountains. Forks ply their trade in the Evergreen 1A conference.

Stadium Series: PLU Baseball Field, Parkland

Located in Parkland, a suburb of Tacoma, Washington, Pacific Lutheran University is a small, liberal arts college with a current enrolment of just over three thousand. It’s also where Kaitlin got her Bachelor’s Degree, so since we had a bit of spare time while visiting, we went to see the campus. While there I saw a small baseball stadium, and decided to have a look around.

The stadium was constructed in 2012, and features a first for me, a totally synthetic infield, with a natural grass outfield. The basepaths, bases and pitcher’s mound are all synthetic before the field transitions to grass past the diamond. It’s a pretty good little setup on the field.

The stadium has metal bleacher seating for what I estimated to be about 400-500 spectators. There is a large manual scoreboard in the outfield and substantial dugouts for the home and away teams. There’s also a fully serviced press box at the back of the bleachers. It’s a really nice setup for the NCAA Division III side. Division III is the lowest level of NCAA college athletics, catering for smaller schools. PLU play in the Northwest Conference and have won the Conference Championship on five occasions, including three of the last four years. Their women’s softball team, who also use this facility were NCAA Division III National Champions in 2012.

Stadium Series: Sunset Stadium, Sumner

Sumner is a city of around 10,000 residents around 35 miles south of Seattle and rather ominously, second in line to be hit by lahars in the vent of Mount Rainier erupting. Despite the threat of impending doom though, it is a delightful little place with some wonderful one off shops and restaurants.

At the end of Main Street, sits Sumner High School, and beside the school is the standard in this part of the world fully tricked out multi-purpose stadium. Sunset Stadium (sponsored by Chevrolet) is another in the line of fantastic high school stadiums I’ve seen on my travels, and another that is used by the larger community than just the Sumner High School Spartans football team. The Spartans play in Class 4A in the South Puget Sound District, the highest class of high school sport in Washington.

Sumner High School was formed in 1898, and Sunset Stadium was first built in 1959, before undergoing a huge $1.7 million redevelopment at the turn of the century. The redevelopment turned the site into the excellent ground that stands today. The stadium contains a full sized artificial pitch, lined for American football, football and lacrosse, and is surrounded by a fully artificial 400m 8 lane running track. There are also long jump pits with removable covers and a large electronic scoreboard behind one of the goals.

There are two large, bleacher seated stands on either side of the field. The main stand has seating for 2,400 spectators, while the “away” stand on the opposite side seats around 900, giving a total seated capacity of 3,300, with plenty of space for standing room if the occasion required.

A nice feature is the Sumner “Wall of Fame” adjacent to the main entrance, which celebrates the championship teams that have come from the school over the years. Sunset is an excellent facility, well utilised and what I can imagine a wonderful place to play.

Stadium Series: CenturyLink Field, Seattle

**Full disclosure, I did a tour of this stadium, and this post is pretty picture heavy as a result**

Standing just one mile from the centre of Seattle, CenturyLink Field was opened in 2002 as Seahawks Stadium, before becoming known as Qwest Field in 2004, and CenturyLink Field in 2011. Home to the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL and Seattle Sounders of the MLS (The USL version of the Sounders from 2003-2007 and the current MLS side since 2009.) The capacity of the stadium is 69,000, and it can be expanded to 72,000 for special events. Capacity is usually restricted to around 40,000 for Sounders games, but the upper tiers can be opened for significant games (usually derbies with Portland.)

The stadium took eighteen months to build and replaced the Seahawks’ previous home the Kingdome, which sat on the same site. The stadium is built in a large U-shape, leaving one end partially open, giving views of downtown Seattle (in fact, I got pretty much my best view of the Space Needle! The stadium was constructed on the smallest footprint of any NFL stadium, with the upper tiers cantilevered above the lower tiers. Coupled with steep angled tiering, the stadium boasts some of the best views available in a stadium of it’s size, and allows for the famous loud atmosphere to develop.

The stadium has twice held the world record for loudest stadium, with a level of 136.6 decibels recorded during a September 2013 game against San Francisco. This record was beaten by fans in Kansas City, before it was broken again in Seattle with a decibel level of 137.2 recorded in a December 2014 game against New Orleans. Kansas City Chiefs fans have once again taken hold of the record, but CenturyLink is widely known as one of the loudest stadiums in the world, with visiting teams often finding it hard to adjust to the hostile environment. Seahawks fans are known as the “12th Man” in honour of the boost they give their team. Seismic activity has been recorded during games at the stadium on multiple occasions.

The stadium was constructed with built in earthquake insurance. The roof of the stadium was built using a friction pendulum damper system, which allows the roof to move independently of it’s supports in the event of an earthquake. It was the largest scale roof to utilise the technology at the time of construction. During construction, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Seattle, and the technology worked as planned, with only minimal damage sustained, and no delays to the building schedule.

CenturyLink is a wonderful stadium, well designed and beautifully situated. It’s well worth taking a look at if you get the chance.

 

Stadium Series: Angel Stadium, Anaheim

Despite being opened in 1966 and being the fourth oldest active stadium in Major League Baseball, Angel Stadium is classed as a modern-style ballpark, and has been home of the Los Angeles (formerly California and Anaheim) Angels since opening. The modern-style classification is based on a 1950s and 60s trend of baseball clubs building purpose built, baseball only stadiums, moving away from the multi-purpose stadiums that had been the norm before that time.

Angel Stadium, which was originally known as Anaheim Stadium (and currently known in full as Angel Stadium of Anaheim) is as you would expect, located in Anaheim, California, only a couple of miles away from Disneyland. Th stadium has a seating capacity for baseball of 45,477. In 1980, the NFL team the Los Angeles Rams moved into the stadium, much to the chagrin of many baseball fans who had become accustomed to the excellent sightlines and closeness to the pitch. With the Rams as tenants, many seats were moved further from the action, and while attendance records were set, a lot of fans were unhappy about the lack of atmosphere in the stadium. The capacity at this time was 64,593 for baseball and 69,008 for football.

The Rams relocated to St Louis in 1994, and as such, the stadium was renovated again to become a baseball specific venue. Work was completed in time for the 1998 season, and saw a return to the stadium that Angels fans had grown to love. The most notable moment in the stadium’s history was the 2002 World Series. Game 7 was played in Anaheim, and saw the Angels win their first Championship. An urban legend had said that the stadium had been built on an ancient Indian burial ground, and this win saw the “curse” lifted.

One of the main features of the stadium actually sits in the parking lot. The 230 feet tall “Big A” sign and marquee which has become a symbol of the club. The halo atop this structure lights up for every Angels win and has led to the term “Light up the Halo!”

Stadium Series: Art Crate Field, Spanaway

Part of our holiday has been Kaitlin showing me around her old haunts. Bethel High School in Spanaway, Washington, was where she went to high school, and something that has always fascinated me about American culture is the incredible emphasis placed on high school sports. As a result, Bethel High School, despite having an enrolment of around 1,700 students, has a stadium with a maximum capacity of 3,500. Art Crate Field is that stadium.

The stadium is an impressive multi-purpose facility with two large seated, cantilever roofed, stands, concession stands and a huge scoreboard. The synthetic turf pitch, able to hold football, American football and lacrosse is surrounded by a full size 8 lane running track. There is an impressive electronic scoreboard at one end of the pitch. Facilities like this aren’t unusual in American high schools, which is mind boggling to me.

Bethel (known as the Braves) play in the South Division of the 4A South Puget Sound league in Washington’s West Central District. 4A is the highest classification in Washington High School sports. League winners compete in a state wide tournament at the end of each season to determine a State Champion. Bethel were boy’s basketball champions in 2005 and Kaitlin played clarinet in their pep band at the game! Mike Blowers, who had a ten year career in Major League Baseball, Caesar Rayford, who played for the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL, former UFC fighter Rick Story and 1990 Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope are Bethel alumni.

Several other local schools also use the facilities, seen as the jewel of the crown in the Bethel School District. The stadium is named after Art Crate, who was an important figure in the early days of the Bethel School District.

Stadium Series: Tacoma Dome

The Tacoma Dome is more of an arena than a true stadium, but given that it is the largest (by volume) wooden domed arena in the world and is large enough to hold American Football on a full size field, I’m willing to overlook that technicality.

The Tacoma Dome opened in 1983 and was inaugurated with a concert by David Bowie on August 11th that year. It can seat up to 23,000 people, and unlike similarly sized arenas, has little in the way of fixed seating. Instead, the venue can be configured for a variety of different sports and events in a way that can maximise the seating capacity. The arena holds 17,100 for basketball, 20,0824 for indoor soccer and around 10,000 for American Football.

The Dome played home to the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA for the 1994-95 season, while the KeyArena was under renovation, and also to the Seattle Sounders for the 1994 season. The arena has also been home to two minor league hockey teams over the years and is a frequent home for Washington State high school sports finals. The venue is used frequently for large scale indoor concerts.

The Dome strikes a familiar figure in the Tacoma skyline with it’s distinctive shape being one of the most noticeable features of the city. The shape has also led to it being known colloquially by locals as “the Tit of Tacoma.”