All over the world, there are giant stadiums that have been abandoned. While it’s much more common in poorer cities that have hosted the Olympics in the past, the problem is certainly not exclusive to those spots.
How can these stadiums get built and then just sit unused, you ask? Well, there are many reasons this can happen. A deserted stadium can be the result of poor city planning; or, an unexpected economic hardship could strike the region. Sometimes, a major sports team that was the sole tenant of a stadium leaves town, and there’s no other local team big enough to replace it. Some cities have been pretty irresponsible, by spending billions of dollars on a sports venue, with no long-term plans on how it will be used after the event it was needed for ends.
The list of possible reasons a stadium becomes abandoned goes on and on. For today’s list, we went online and looked for some eerie photos of stadiums that have been abandoned, or simply interior photos of stadiums that look a little chilling. We stayed mostly within North America here but snuck in a few from past Olympic games from around the world (as many reading this may have suspected, they’re mostly from Brazil and Greece).
Read on to see some of the eeriest stadium photos you’ve ever laid eyes on. It’s hard to believe that some of these stadiums still occupy land here in North America.
20 Alonzo Herndon Stadium - Atlanta, Georgia
The first stadium we’ll visit for today’s list is Herndon Stadium, which is still standing today in Atlanta, Georgia. Herndon is an old stadium, built in 1948, and hasn’t been used much in recent years. It was a field hockey venue for the 1996 Olympic Games, but that’s the most recent time it’s been in regular use.
Today the venue sits unused and in disrepair, as can be seen by the above photo. It looks a lot eerier than it needs to thanks to the ominous cloud cover the day this photo was taken. There are currently no plans to tear down the stadium.
19 Faliro Olympic Stadium - Athens, Greece
We head outside of North America for the first of six times on the list, this time visiting the Faliro Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece. This venue was built specifically for the beach volleyball events for the 2004 Olympic Games, and it was completed just weeks prior to the opening ceremonies.
The stadium then proceeded to host beach volleyball matchups for the following two weeks, and then pretty much hasn’t been used since. As anyone can tell from the photo, nature has taken over at the venue, as it has been overgrown with foliage. City council officials, however, did recently propose to re-purpose the venue into a courthouse.
18 Roosevelt Stadium - Jersey City, New Jersey
Roosevelt Stadium, formerly in Jersey City and the old home of the Brooklyn Dodgers for all of 15 games, is the first stadium to show up on our list that is no longer with us. Demolished in 1985, the stadium was first opened in 1937 and fell into disrepair beginning in the late 1970s. By 1983, it was wholly deserted.
Today a gated community called Droyer’s Point sits on the land that Roosevelt Stadium once occupied. As we can see in the above photo of somewhere in the concourse of the venue long after it had been abandoned, vandals had their way with the historic stadium before the bulldozer finally came along in ’85.
17 Miami Marine Stadium - Miami, Florida
I’d consider the Miami Marine Stadium to be the most unique “stadium” to appear on the list here, and that’s because all it really is is a 6,500-seat venue that overlooks Florida’s Biscayne Bay. It was declared unsafe after Hurricane Andrew rocked the region in 1992, but since it has made its way onto the National Register of Historic Places (added in 2018).
As such the venue is more or less guaranteed to stay put for a long while unless of course, another hurricane rolls around with other ideas. As we can see in the above photo, graffiti artists have had their way with the stadium, but if you ask me it looks pretty great.
16 Buckwalter Stadium - Meridian, Mississippi
The next stadium on the list is indeed one of the most forgotten of them all, as it doesn’t even have its own Wikipedia page (that’s the greatest measure of recognition in the 21st century, obviously). Let's take a look at Buckwalter Stadium, located in the old fairgrounds of Meridian, Mississippi.
This venue, which to the best of my knowledge still stands today (although I can’t find recent confirmation of this), has not hosted a professional sports team since 1955, when the Cotton States League’s Meridian Millers played there. Since then, it’s been empty, as most can probably tell by just looking at the above photo.
15 Aquatics Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
For our next international visit, we head to Brazil, where many venues built specifically for either the 2016 Summer Olympics or 2014 FIFA World Cup already sit abandoned and in ruins. The Aquatic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro is one of them, and as we can see it simply looks sad today.
It’s really a shame that Brazil built all of these state-of-the-art venues for what is essentially two months’ worth of sports, including the Paralympics. It always seems that the poorer the country, the worse it looks after the IOC packs up and leaves, and today Brazil is already a shining example of why only wealthy countries should ever host the Olympics.
14 Hinchliffe Stadium - Paterson, New Jersey
Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey, has been in proverbial limbo for quite some time now. You see, former mayor of Paterson Joey Torres had plans to spearhead the revitalization efforts, and he had committed to seeing it through to the end of his term this year (2018). Unfortunately, he left office in 2017 and accepted a plea deal in response to charges of corruption, so that pathway to revitalization has died.
The venue won’t be demolished any time soon, as it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2013. The stadium was built in 1932 and was designed by the Olmsted Brothers, an influential U.S. architectural firm of the late 1800s and early 1900s.
13 Maracana Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
We head back to Brazil for another colossal waste of taxpayer money, this one in the form of Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. To be fair, at least this structure was already there when the nation won its bids to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games, but it was renovated at a high cost in preparation for the events.
Today, the stadium sits in disrepair as interested parties debate who is in charge of what and whether or not the stadium is still even fit to host events of any kind. They held tours of the stadium for about six months after the 2016 Olympic Games, but those were halted thanks to vandalism.
12 Avanhard Stadium - Pripyat, Ukraine
This is another stadium that’s found outside of North America, but for an article that promises eerie photos of abandoned stadiums, there was no way we could leave this one out. Avanhard Stadium in Pripyat, Ukraine was abandoned, along with everything else in the area, immediately following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
As most can probably tell from the above photo, there doesn’t appear to be any plans to hold any matches at the old stadium in Pripyat anytime soon. If human civilization does ever decide to take over the region again, they’ll have to clear-cut the pitch before Stroitel Pripyat reclaims its home field.
11 Pontiac Silverdome - Pontiac, Michigan
Next up we have a recently demolished venue in the Pontiac Silverdome. This stadium served as home to the Detroit Lions from 1975 to 2001, and it met its final demise earlier this year when crews completed the three-plus month demolition project.
The Pontiac Silverdome was first closed in 2006 but later served as home to the Detroit Mechanix, which is Detroit’s team in the Ultimate Disc League (of course, those reading already knew that). It was closed again in 2013, this time for good. As we can see, it was in disrepair, and the photo above is taken after they took apart the dome and much of it just scattered across the field.
10 Scotiabank Saddledome (Flooded) - Calgary, Alberta
This is a little different entry for this list, as it’s a picture of a venue that is still in use. However these photos may be among the eeriest of all, so we decided it fair to include the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. These pictures are from 2013 when a flood rocked the region and the Saddledome flooded all the way up to the eighth row of seats.
With the flood occurring in June, summer events that were scheduled for the Saddledome had to be canceled, and crews got to work in an attempt to restore the facility for the start of the hockey season. They were able to pull it off, and to be honest, looking at some of these photos, that surprises me.
9 Hellinikon Olympic Softball Stadium - Athens, Greece
Back to Greece, we go for yet another sad photo, this one featuring the Hellinikon Olympic Softball Stadium. Built specifically to host Olympic softball at the 2004 Athens games, the venue itself was rather quaint, with the ability to seat just 3,400 spectators during competition.
Since softball action wrapped up in the summer of 2004, it appears that not a soul has returned to the park, for softball or any other purpose, other than to photograph its demise. As we can see from the above photo, the field would need a little maintenance if the venue were to host, well, anything in the near future.
8 The Dome in St. Louis - St. Louis, Missouri
Officially called The Dome at America’s Center, the old home of the St. Louis Rams was not supposed to come to this in 2018, but it’s getting late very early. Unfortunately for state taxpayers in Missouri, this venue is still being paid for out of their pockets; in 2021, the debt will finally be covered.
The Dome still hosts the odd concert, and often it’s a big one. For instance, Taylor Swift played a show there in September of 2018. But it’s not rare for the venue to go months in between hosting events, which is sad for a stadium located in the heart of downtown St. Louis. For well over 300 days a year, it looks like it does in the above photo. The good news? Pro football is returning to The Dome in 2020! XFL, baby!
7 Candlestick Park - San Francisco, California
The historic Candlestick Park, formerly the home of the MLB’s San Francisco Giants and the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, was demolished in 2014, but there was about a six-month period between the time it was officially closed and the time they got around to dismantling the beast. The above photo is what the venue looked like after nearly six months of abandonment.
The Giants hadn’t played a game there in nearly 15 years by the time Candlestick Park was taken down, but the venue continued to host the 49ers, as well as concerts and other events. Its last event was actually a Paul McCartney concert, which is fitting because it’s also where the Beatles played their last full concert together as a band in 1966.
6 Bush Stadium - Indianapolis, Indiana
I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure it’s abnormal to have a full-size bush growing behind home plate, even if the name of the stadium is indeed Bush Stadium. This minor league baseball stadium has been demolished/re-purposed into apartments since it officially closed in 2001, but there was a good 10-plus year gap where the venue sort of just sat there.
The Indianapolis, Indiana venue was already an old stadium by the time they shut ‘er down (originally built in 1931). It had several tenants over the years, but it will forever be remembered as the former home of the Indianapolis Indians of (most recently) the Pacific Coast League.
5 Compadre Stadium - Chandler, Arizona
Compadre Stadium in Chandler, Arizona served as the spring training facility to the MLB’s Milwaukee Brewers from 1986 to 1997. That’s when the Brewers moved to Maryvale Baseball Park, leaving Compadre Stadium vacant and sort of just existing until it was finally demolished in 2014 in favor of a new housing development.
I can’t say I have any qualms about this choice made by the Chandler City Council, as clearly—if the above photo is to be believed—the park was simply taking up space in the Arizona municipality. The writing was on the wall early for Compadre Stadium; in 1986, the first year the Brewers used the facility, there was an explosion at the venue that severely burned members of the Brewers coaching staff.
4 Arena da Amazonia Stadium - Manaus, Brazil
One more venue outside of North America shows up here at No. 4 on the list, this one in the form of the Arena da Amazonia in Manaus, Brazil. This venue was built specifically to host matches during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It hosted exactly four soccer games from June 14 to June 25, 2014, and has since sat pretty much empty.
The building cost about $270M USD to construct, and if you’re thinking that’s sort of expensive for a venue that went on to host four soccer games, that’s because it is. Sure, other games and events have been held at the stadium, but never nearly to a full capacity. Today, the city is in talks to turn it into a correctional facility. Yes, that's right. The above photo is of the interior during construction. Can you picture where the cells will go?
3 Houston Astrodome - Houston, Texas
The Houston Astrodome officially opened its doors in 1965 after a nearly four-year construction project. Since then, the walls inside have borne witness to many incredible stories, most notably when they filled the venue with those who fled for higher ground ahead of (and after) the arrival of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
In 2014, the stadium was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, six years after it was declared non-compliant by the Houston Fire Department, rendering it more or less useless. Parts of the venue were demolished in 2013 after years of disuse, but most of the storied structure still looms at 8400 Kirby Drive.
2 Atlanta Georgia Dome - Atlanta, Georgia
According to some of his lyrics, Atlanta-based rapper Ludacris made some great memories at the Georgia Dome. The NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, of course, failed to win much of anything during their time spent playing home games at the Georgia Dome, and it’s entirely possible that Ludacris had more fond memories there than the entire franchise did over their 24-year run at the venue.
The memories are all that’s left of the Georgia Dome, as it was demolished in late 2017. At the time it was built it was the envy of the league, as it had the second-highest capacity of any stadium in the world.
1 Tiger Stadium - Detroit, Michigan
The thing that makes Tiger Stadium unique is that the demo job took almost as long as stadiums normally take to erect. While most of the demolished venues you’ve read about on this list were dismantled over a matter of days, Tiger Stadium started to come down in June of 2008 and wasn’t completed until September of the following year. Yep, a 15-month deconstruction.
The long, drawn-out demolition project was weird for sure, but as a result, there are plenty of cool photos of this historic venue of the stadium half torn-down. The MLB’s Detroit Tigers called the stadium home from 1911 all the way through the 1999 season.