There are certain stadiums in sports that many teams have trouble playing in. Why? Could be the consistency of how a team performs, the boisterous fans or how the stadium is built…or maybe it’s superstition. Here are some of the stadiums that players have said are the toughest stadiums to play in.
Lumen Field
The home of the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders FC, Lumen Field is an environment that many visiting teams dread on their schedule. Formerly known as CenturyLink Field, the stadium is regularly packed with fans that are commonly known as the “12th man”. The stadium was designed to retain the noise emanating from the screaming fans and creates vibrations similar to earthquakes. Seahawks loyalists love to boast about their two Guinness World Records for loudest crowd roar at an outdoor stadium. The visiting teams are clearly affected by the noise – as demonstrated by an increase in false starts and delay of game penalties. Unpredictable weather in Seattle only adds to the opposing teams’ uneasiness when playing at Lumen Field.
Cameron Indoor Stadium
Cameron Indoor Stadium is a famous (and some may say infamous) place to visit in the college basketball world. Duke University’s college students are dubbed as the “Cameron Crazies”. Many gather in “The Zoo”, a student section that holds 1,200 seats, in ridiculous outfits and painted bodies. They are situated close enough to the court where the visiting players can feel the immense pressure. Throughout the game, the fans perform hilarious pranks and sometimes chirp (less-than-kind) one-liners to the opposition. Despite the stadium’s low capacity as compared to other notable college stadiums, no team looks forward to coming through the doors of Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Bridgestone Arena
Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators, is located in downtown Nashville. It was designed at an angle on the corner of Broadway and 5th Avenue in physical homage to the historic Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. Fans often pre-party in country music themed bars before entering the stadium feeling “happy” and ready to cheer on their team. During intermission periods, live concerts perform in the stadium to hype up the crowd. One of the most notable traditions involves the fans throwing a catfish onto the ice (yes, you read that right) which naturally causes everyone in the stadium to erupt in cheer. Wouldn’t you?
A catfish hits the ice in Nashville!!! @PredsNHL @WKRN #Smashville #Predators #catfish pic.twitter.com/qblvFY4rZq
— Amelia Young (@ameliayoung) June 9, 2017
In a poll of 61 NHL players, Bridgestone Arena was voted the hardest stadium to play in. Some of the league’s best players, like Patrick Kane, claimed that the fans in the stadium are always bouncing up and down and that the bass is jacked up. Not to mention the Predators are consistently a great team that has made the playoffs thirteen times out of the last seventeen seasons.
Bryant-Denny Stadium
Home of Alabama University Football, Bryant-Denny Stadium has a number of reasons why it is so tough to play in. For one, Nick Saban’s team has arguably been the most dominant team in all of college football over the years- with players looking more like members of an NFL team than a college team. And to call the fans passionate would be an understatement; the Crimson Tide easily fill up the stadium’s 101,821 seats, ranking as the seventh largest stadium in the USA. Only four opposing teams have come out of Tuscaloosa with the elusive win in the past decade, all AP top 25 teams. (Say what?!!!)
Picture Credit: Google Creative Commons Licenses
