The most influential decision in sports in the last twenty-five years was not made by a general manager, coach, or athlete. In fact, it wasn’t even made on a field, pitch, court, or rink. Instead, this decision originated in the office and on the drafting tables of the architecture firm HOK. The architects and engineers decided, going against three decades of stadium designs, some of which were their very own, to not create another generic multi-sport indoor arena for the next Baltimore Oriole park. Rather, they designed a stadium that was considerate of its context, integrated beautifully within the city, and invited the citizens of Baltimore to enjoy watching their Orioles play. More on stadium design and Oriole Park after the break.
From a period beginning in the nineteen-sixties and lasting until the opening of Baltimore Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992, sports stadiums were designed as large indoor arenas that could hold upwards of 70,000 spectators and be used for multiple sports. These generic domes popped up in cities across the country, from New Orleans to Minnesota, from Oakland to Atlanta. They were generally located on the outskirts of a city, where there was ample room for parking, making the arenas often feel disconnected from any specific, unique location. This detached, distant existence led to a decrease in overall attendance for many baseball and football teams. One can infer that this decrease is because the stadiums all felt similar, and thus the physical act of going to a sporting event lost its unique appeal for fans. The stadium, and by extension the team, did not appear to belong to the city any longer, and fans stopped caring so much.
