Weird stadiums

What a great thread, I love the pictures of the fields.

I know Steubenville doesn't have a lot of room, but the place is very neat.
 
Very cool. You might be able to convert it to a nice baseball facility if you wanted in the spring.
Withrow recently built a baseball facility on campus that opened a few years ago. It's Ron Oester Field, who was a Reds player, World Series Champion, and Withrow alum.

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I personally can't stand turf infields for baseball, but it's way nicer than what they used to have, which was worse than most Knot-Hole fields. I just don't understand newer trend of having turf around the bases and pitcher's mound. I also don't understand the purpose of transitioning to grass for the outfield as I have seen more and more of these turf infield baseball facilities.
 
Notre Dame College in South Euclid has what is best described as a miniscule stadium. Maybe they can seat 1,000 but not sure.
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It's so small that they have a CYO vibe in that more folks are standing along the fence than can fit into the stands>
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Oh wow that thing is tiny. I stand corrected.
 
I have seen a few on here about small colleges. There are definitely some weird and cool small college stadiums in Ohio that fit the description of many stadiums here. I have seen games at just about every small college stadium in Ohio.

Weirdest/Coolest would have to be DIII's Mt. Union in Alliance. I believe it's the oldest football stadium in Ohio. It has 1 side that is super old with a cool awning (home side) and the visitor's side is ultra modern. As a bonus, you get to see some of the best football in the nation for a super discount DIII ticket price!

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Another weird stadium is Selby stadium, home to Ohio Wesleyan. It is a large stadium with good site lines, but the few times I've been there, it's been mostly empty and the seats were VERY far from the field. I do say check it out as they have a pretty picturesque campus in Delaware Ohio.
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Withrow recently built a baseball facility on campus that opened a few years ago. It's Ron Oester Field, who was a Reds player, World Series Champion, and Withrow alum.

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I personally can't stand turf infields for baseball, but it's way nicer than what they used to have, which was worse than most Knot-Hole fields. I just don't understand newer trend of having turf around the bases and pitcher's mound. I also don't understand the purpose of transitioning to grass for the outfield as I have seen more and more of these turf infield baseball facilities.

It’s all about lowering maintenance time and cost. Infield turf greatly reduces the field prep after rains. Don’t need it in the outfield since little maintenance is needed there after rains and it saves the cost of turfing the OF.
 
It’s all about lowering maintenance time and cost. Infield turf greatly reduces the field prep after rains. Don’t need it in the outfield since little maintenance is needed there after rains and it saves the cost of turfing the OF.
In theory I agree. But if you are already mowing the outfield, are you actually saving money? Like I have asked numerous times, I have never seen a school's actual side by side cost data showing that turf is cheaper. Does it justify hundreds of thousands of dollars to install and replace in 10-15 years? Does it justify the maintenance that is involved in turf, it isn't maintenance free as most people think.

I'm not trying to pick a fight, I'm genuinely curious.
 
In theory I agree. But if you are already mowing the outfield, are you actually saving money? Like I have asked numerous times, I have never seen a school's actual side by side cost data showing that turf is cheaper. Does it justify hundreds of thousands of dollars to install and replace in 10-15 years? Does it justify the maintenance that is involved in turf, it isn't maintenance free as most people think.

I'm not trying to pick a fight, I'm genuinely curious.

You are correct that a field turf surface needs to be properly maintained, from what I understand the cost actually is a wash if a field turf surface is properly maintained. Now the really difference in baseball is limiting cancelled events because of rain soaked muddy infields for not only games but also practice. Also many levels can use the same field and not worried about repeated usage beating up the surface. The 2nd point is especially true in the football/soccer/lacrosse stadium situation. The main stadium can now hold all of these sports and there is no complaint from girls sports that they are getting screwed and the varsity football team isn't playing in a mud pit come week 10 of the season.

Now the real knock on field turf is that the jury is still out on how it is health wise. That ground up tire rubber that is used as the base gets into open cuts and scrapes and has been known to cause some nasty infections. Some think it's a staff infection nightmare getting ready to happen down the line.
 
Another weird stadium is Selby stadium, home to Ohio Wesleyan. It is a large stadium with good site lines, but the few times I've been there, it's been mostly empty and the seats were VERY far from the field. I do say check it out as they have a pretty picturesque campus in Delaware Ohio.
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It's mostly empty because the vast majority of OW students that would have a fleeting interest in football are spending it watching college football, getting drunk and/or stoned. Selby's beyond awesome. Pretty sure the biggest crowd it holds is for the lacrosse game vs Denison.
 
Sidney i believe used to be like this. I want to say the coaches in the press box were actually in a classroom.
100% correct. Julia Lamb. coaches in classrooms. locker rooms in the school. visiting team had to walk up/down the home side stairs to get to/from field. I believe the visiting bleachers were 12.4 inches behind the sideline, but my math might be off there.
 
Another weird stadium is Selby stadium, home to Ohio Wesleyan. It is a large stadium with good site lines, but the few times I've been there, it's been mostly empty and the seats were VERY far from the field. I do say check it out as they have a pretty picturesque campus in Delaware Ohio.
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I've never been inside, but I enjoy looking at that medieval facade driving by on US 23, especially in the fall. Beautiful.
 
One of the Cincinnati public high schools has kind of a weird setup. Withrow maybe? All the seats are concrete and wrap around from one end to the corner of an endzone. Makes like an "L" around part of the field. And if I remember right, the places where there are no seats have hills behind them.
They also have hand held metal detectors, nothing says safe better then walking into a high school football game going thru metal detectors , a few years back Princeton played there and the security guard asked me if I felt safe walking to my car , I said maybe put the hot dog down and patrol the parking lot if there a issue in it typical ghetto
 
They also have hand held metal detectors, nothing says safe better then walking into a high school football game going thru metal detectors , a few years back Princeton played there and the security guard asked me if I felt safe walking to my car , I said maybe put the hot dog down and patrol the parking lot if there a issue in it typical ghetto
You do know Withrow is located in the richest neighborhood in Cincy Proper, I wouldn't consider that "typical ghetto" by any means.

It really shouldn't be a big deal to be wanded anywhere anymore... It happens at the Reds, Bengals, Kings Island, etc. I'm actually extremely surprised it isn't mandatory at every high school stadium.
 
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You do know Withrow is located in the richest neighborhood in Cincy Proper.

It really shouldn't be a big deal to be wanded anywhere anymore... It happens at the Reds, Bengals, Kings Island, etc. I'm actually extremely surprised it isn't mandatory at every high school stadium.
$$$$$$$$ is why it sin't mandatory at every game. I don't think I have been to a high school game where I had to go through metal detectors.
 
$$$$$$$$ is why it sin't mandatory at every game. I don't think I have been to a high school game where I had to go through metal detectors.
Well the metal detectors are quite a bit cheaper than the lawsuits that would follow a shooting. As ultra-cautious and do anything not to be sued as schools are, this is one of many super simple preventative measures that could prevent a tragedy.
 
100% correct. Julia Lamb. coaches in classrooms. locker rooms in the school. visiting team had to walk up/down the home side stairs to get to/from field. I believe the visiting bleachers were 12.4 inches behind the sideline, but my math might be off there.
The home locker room was an old boiler room with some toilets and a few benches. It was a pretty rough setup all around.
 
I've never been inside, but I enjoy looking at that medieval facade driving by on US 23, especially in the fall. Beautiful.

I played a couple games in Shelby and it was nothing special, the visitor's locker room was sub par and the folks said there were sections that had loose concrete and needed to be repaired. It is too big for a Div III team that doesn't draw very well, location is great but they might want to hit alums up to tear down the old cold concrete stands and put something up that is more in scale for the school.
 
100% correct. Julia Lamb. coaches in classrooms. locker rooms in the school. visiting team had to walk up/down the home side stairs to get to/from field. I believe the visiting bleachers were 12.4 inches behind the sideline, but my math might be off there.


Yup, but the home lockers were in a building in the northwest corner of the stadium. I remember being up in the school and having to walk through the home stands to get to the field. I liked starting the season out there.
 
You do know Withrow is located in the richest neighborhood in Cincy Proper, I wouldn't consider that "typical ghetto" by any means.

It really shouldn't be a big deal to be wanded anywhere anymore... It happens at the Reds, Bengals, Kings Island, etc. I'm actually extremely surprised it isn't mandatory at every high school stadium.

Withthrow HS and field is absolutely beautiful, from at least the outside, right in Hyde Park. Won't find many like it anywhere.
 
I played a couple games in Shelby and it was nothing special, the visitor's locker room was sub par and the folks said there were sections that had loose concrete and needed to be repaired. It is too big for a Div III team that doesn't draw very well, location is great but they might want to hit alums up to tear down the old cold concrete stands and put something up that is more in scale for the school.
I'm not sure what tearing down the concrete and fitting new stands to be "more in scale" actually accomplishes, though.

There's inherent value with Selby the way it is. While in a football context it may be less valuable, it still serves as a facilities draw to the Ohio senior who doesn't see any meaningful difference between OW and other Ohio D3's. And that draw may also extend a little bit nationally (however defined the sub-D1 level.) There's possibilities to utilize the space and facilities as is, further.

The bigger problem IMO is that the school (for whatever reason) doesn't utilize the space very well. If the school can get better parking created *or*, IDK, charge for parking in the lots adjacent to the stadium come event time and have everyone else park at the academic halls/in the public parking surrounding the stadium, then that would give Selby an inch to be considered for hosting more prominent local events. See no reason why they can't try to get a 2-year deal going with gate-splitting to host Hayes/Buckeye Valley or any intra-Delaware County matchup.
 
I have seen a few on here about small colleges. There are definitely some weird and cool small college stadiums in Ohio that fit the description of many stadiums here. I have seen games at just about every small college stadium in Ohio.

Weirdest/Coolest would have to be DIII's Mt. Union in Alliance. I believe it's the oldest football stadium in Ohio. It has 1 side that is super old with a cool awning (home side) and the visitor's side is ultra modern. As a bonus, you get to see some of the best football in the nation for a super discount DIII ticket price!

View attachment 7250

Another weird stadium is Selby stadium, home to Ohio Wesleyan. It is a large stadium with good site lines, but the few times I've been there, it's been mostly empty and the seats were VERY far from the field. I do say check it out as they have a pretty picturesque campus in Delaware Ohio.
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Selby Stadium was built in the late 1920s. Its listed capacity was 9100 fans which makes it the largest stadium in NCAA DIII, but here's what you have to remember: In those days, there wasn't much distinction between colleges as far as being DI, DII, DIII, etc. At that time, OWU was routinely playing against the likes of Ohio State and Michigan who had already built their enormous stadiums. OWU saw what could happen about 20 miles downstream on the Olentangy River. If anything, OWU was probably dreaming of having to expand their facility someday. Instead, it is as you said generally a very empty stadium on game day.
 
I'm not sure what tearing down the concrete and fitting new stands to be "more in scale" actually accomplishes, though.

There's inherent value with Selby the way it is. While in a football context it may be less valuable, it still serves as a facilities draw to the Ohio senior who doesn't see any meaningful difference between OW and other Ohio D3's. And that draw may also extend a little bit nationally (however defined the sub-D1 level.) There's possibilities to utilize the space and facilities as is, further.

The bigger problem IMO is that the school (for whatever reason) doesn't utilize the space very well. If the school can get better parking created *or*, IDK, charge for parking in the lots adjacent to the stadium come event time and have everyone else park at the academic halls/in the public parking surrounding the stadium, then that would give Selby an inch to be considered for hosting more prominent local events. See no reason why they can't try to get a 2-year deal going with gate-splitting to host Hayes/Buckeye Valley or any intra-Delaware County matchup.

OWU hosted a HS playoff game a few years ago. I'm not sure how that went. The parking situation on campus has sucked for a long time.
 
Interesting - identical configuration on both stadiums. I'm guessing those are long jump runways in front of the visitor bleachers? And what is that structure in the middle, even with the 50?

I see long jump runways on the ends and a pole vault pad in the middle. It's actually a clever layout. You could have pole vault and long jump running in the same direction to take advantage of the wind direction. At many facilities, you have 1 PV pad at 1 end of a runway, so you can only vault 1 direction, and it's often the same case with the long jump with 1 pit at 1 end of a runway.

Pushing the away stands back allows for better sight line too watch those field events, but it doesn't do much for the atmosphere at a football, soccer, or lacrosse game.
 
I don't think so, unless they've changed the requirements lately. At Hamilton Township, we have two high jump pits outside of one endzone, and separate LJ and PV runways in the other endzone. Bleachers on both sides are right up to the track. And we've hosted District meets a number of times in the last 5 or 6 years.

Maybe we're grandfathered in, I dunno.

The NFHS has regulations for how the track and field event sites are to be constructed and marked, but there are no track and field facility requirements as far as the OHSAA is concerned with regard to seating arrangement and whatnot. Some facilities are obviously more suited to host postseason caliber meets than others thanks to amenities like large restrooms, ample parking, space for team camps, location, etc. The District Boards select the meet sites, and the most limiting factor is often who actually wants to host the meets. Many places don't want them. There's not a lot of money to be made, and you need to come up with a large and reliable labor force to host a district or regional meet, so the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
 
I'm pretty sure that the first two Class A playoff state championship games were played at OWU back in 1972 & 73.
You're right about that. The game or games I'm referring to were within the past 5 or 6 years after OWU installed turf. I'm pretty sure the place hosted a DI playoff game.

EDIT: It was a DI regional final in 2012. Pickerington North played Hilliard Davidson at OWU.
 
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The school is also redoing Branch Rickey Arena, which...

:-( (I’ll miss the soon-to-be “old” design.)
 
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