Browsing: Stadium

London’s Wembley Stadium isn’t the only unique location in which the Los Angeles Rams will be playing in this week.

The Baltimore Banner‘s Hayes Gardner reported last week that the Rams will spend the days leading up to their Week 7 game in London practicing at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home of MLB’s Baltimore Orioles.

The stadium featured a pair of partial fields, as seen in pictures by Kevin Richardson (via Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun):

The Rams were in town to face the Baltimore Ravens in Week 6, a game they won by the score of 17-3. That game comes ahead of a game in London that will see the Rams take on the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Rather than flying back to the West Coast in the intervening week, the Rams will remain in Baltimore before traveling to the United Kingdom, Gardner reported.

The Rams are expected to use the playing field at Camden Yards along with both the team and visitors’ clubhouses and dining areas, The Baltimore Sun’s Todd Karpovich reported.

The Maryland Stadium Authority approved the plan during board meeting on Oct. 7, per Gardner.

The Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium was initially discussed as an option to host the Rams, but stadium authorities expressed concern the field would be damaged ahead of the Ravens’ next home game against the Chicago Bears on Oct. 26, Gardner reported.

The Rams gained access to the ballpark starting Saturday and lasting for one week, per Gardner. Karpovich reported the Rams will pay for staff, security and insurance while using the stadium.

There won’t be any scheduling conflict with the Orioles, which were eliminated from postseason contention in mid-September and played their final game of the MLB season on Sept. 28.

Source link

LOS ANGELES — As the third-oldest active ballpark in Major League Baseball, Dodger Stadium is filled with displays celebrating the rich history of one of the most storied franchises in the game.

And every now and then, a visiting player does something so notable that it’s worth recording for posterity.

As of Thursday, Kyle Schwarber is one of them. Just one day after the Phillies’ slugger launched a moonshot of a home run off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, the Dodgers installed a plaque commemorating the Statcast-projected 455-foot blast around where it landed beyond the Right Field Pavilion seats.

By giving Schwarber a plaque, the Dodgers have recognized him as one of a handful of players who have hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium. The others are Willie Stargell (Pirates, 1969 and ’73), Mike Piazza (1997, Dodgers), Mark McGwire (1999, Cardinals), Giancarlo Stanton (2015, Marlins) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (2021, Padres).

Schwarber’s majestic blast to right field cleared the seating bowl, but hit off the top of the pavilion roof. Even so, the Dodgers decided that it qualified as leaving the ballpark, taking into consideration the renovations in recent years that have changed the architecture in the area behind the outfield pavilions.

That makes Schwarber only the second left-handed hitter to accomplish the feat, joining Stargell. Both are the only ones who have done it out to right field.

Shohei Ohtani was very nearly the first to join Stargell in that regard in July 2024, when he clubbed a projected 473-foot shot to right that stands as the second-longest homer at Dodger Stadium in the Statcast era (since 2015), second only to Stanton’s 475 footer that left the yard. But Ohtani’s big blast did not clear the pavilion roof, one of the team’s criteria.

It may be only a matter of time until Ohtani has a plaque of his own out there. But for now, Schwarber and Stargell are in an exclusive club within an exclusive club.

Source link

A number of Dallas Cowboys fans chanted “MVP” as Dak Prescott ran off the field during Week 5’s 37-22 win over the New York Jets.

Prescott heard, but he’s not getting ahead of himself.

“I mean, my ears work, so I heard it, but I didn’t hear it. It’s Week 5. I don’t care,” he told reporters. “I don’t care if it was Week 17. I’ve told y’all what I want to win, the team goals. Right now, the success and the continued success is going to happen, [and] it’s just a beneficiary of all the guys in that locker room.”

While the Cowboys are only 2-2-1 this season, Prescott has undeniably gotten off to a strong start and continued it on Sunday, finishing 18-of-29 for 237 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. He now has 1,356 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions through five games, and of late has had to do it without superstar receiver CeeDee Lamb.

“Look, I think we’re spoiled,” head coach Brian Schottenheimer told reporters. “I think he’s one of the best players in the league. He’s certainly one of the best teammates and leaders out there that I’ve ever been around. The guys believe in him. He’s playing with a ton of confidence right now.”

Prescott has always been an excellent September-through-November quarterback. The knock on him traditionally has been that he doesn’t maintain that level once the more important games roll around later in the season or during the playoffs.

For now, however, he has some fans thinking MVP.

Source link

Three years ago this Wednesday, 135 football fans died at the Kanjuruhan stadium in Indonesia after security forces deployed teargas and created a stampede for the exits. 1 October 2022 was the nadir of a curve that had been sliding downwards for decades. This is a country that, in this century alone, has seen its FA president run the federation from a prison cell while facing corruption charges, the creation of rebel national leagues, federations and national team Fifa bans and fans being killed by other fans.

In March 2023 there were more negative headlines when the country was stripped of hosting the Under-20 World Cup just months before kick-off after the governor of Bali said that Israel would not be welcome on the island. Erick Thohir, former owner of Inter and DC United and current co-owner of Oxford United, had just become boss of PSSI, as the federation is known, and did his utmost to save the tournament. Football fans braced themselves for Fifa punishment and more chaos to come. Instead, the world governing body was sufficiently impressed with the efforts of Thohir, who has been a cabinet minister for years, to give the country the Under-17 World Cup in November. It was a success and brought some much-needed positivity.

A man mourns in front of a memorial to victims of the 2022 stampede at the Kanjuruhan stadium that killed 135 people. Photograph: Juni Kriswanto/AFP/Getty Images

That would be nothing compared to qualifying for the World Cup and the national team are only 180 minutes away. When Fifa expanded the tournament to 48 teams, it hoped that China and India would make it but Indonesia, the fourth most populous nation on the planet and with more passion for the game than those other sleeping giants, would be quite a consolation. On 8 and 14 October, Team Garuda face Saudi Arabia and Iraq in a three-team round-robin playoff. The winner goes to North America.

Whatever happens, Indonesia is part of the final dozen in Asia, an almost unthinkable improvement on past attempts. Thailand and Vietnam, two more successful south-east Asian nations, reached the final round of qualification for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments and managed a combined total of six points from their 20 games. Indonesia got double that tally from half the matches, notably beating Saudi Arabia, China and Bahrain while drawing with Australia.

Naturalisation is the main driver. The former Dutch colony has gone heavy on European-born players (mostly from the Netherlands) with Indonesian heritage. This year, as many as eight or nine have started games. Patrick Kluivert was appointed as the national team head coach in January after the dismissal of the South Korean Shin Tae-yong. Results werenâ€t the problem but the former Barcelona striker was seen as a better fit for a team that had basically become European and communicated in Dutch and/or English. Indonesia are not the first or last to go down this route in Asia but few have done it so as aggressively and with such swift results. There have been concerns about the identity of this national team but getting to the World Cup would allay most of those, for now at least.

Ramadhan Sananta of Indonesia celebrates the 1-0 victory over China in Jakarta in June. Photograph: Zhizhao Wu/Getty Images

The same can be said about Kluivertâ€s coaching career in relation to his exploits on the pitch, with spells in charge of Curaçao and the Turkish team Adana Demirspor. Results so far have been OK. His first was a 5-1 loss in Australia, a scoreline that was harsh. The subsequent wins over Bahrain and China, the rivals for that all-important playoff spot, were the crucial ones and while there was no disgrace in losing in Japan, to do so 6-0 against an experimental team was a disappointment.

This is his biggest test. Facing Saudi Arabia in Jeddah (yes, the games are all taking place in Saudi Arabia and the hosts have a six-day rest between their games while the visitors play twice in three days) in front of 60,000 is going to be tough. Yet Indonesia drew there in the previous round of qualification and all the pressure is on the hosts who have not exactly impressed of late. Then it all comes down to a showdown against Iraq, a team with a history of talent but also of underachieving in World Cup qualification.

skip past newsletter promotion

Sign up to Football Daily

Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football

Privacy Notice:Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

after newsletter promotion

Patrick Kluivert addresses fans after Indonesia defeated China in June.
Photograph: Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images

Getting to the World Cup finals for the first time since 1938, and that was as Dutch East Indies, would give the whole football scene a boost. The national team may be in the top 12 in Asia and first in Asean but Indonesiaâ€s BRI Super League is ranked 25 on the continent and sixth in its own region. A rebranding ahead of this season promised to bring in more sponsorship and broadcasting revenue but these are still early days. A major issue is the ban on away fans. This has been in place since the disaster of 2022. Fifa has established an office in Jakarta to oversee an improvement in safety standards. The organisation was, according to reports, ready to lift the ban for the new campaign but changed its mind when its officials attended the final match of last season and Persib Bandung fans, celebrating their title win, let off flares and firecrackers that twice stopped the game. There are also still reports of salaries being paid late or not at all.

There are still issues then and while the World Cup would not solve everything, it would be another – and the biggest – sign of progress since that darkest day three years ago.

Source link

West Ham and Millwall hadn’t faced each other for four-and-a-half years when the two teams were drawn together in the League Cup back in 2009.

The Hammers had been promoted to the top flight some years prior while Millwall were languishing two divisions below in League One.

In their past six meetings, West Ham were winless against their great rivals and had not tasted victory over the South Londoners for the past 18 years, adding further fuel to the fixture.

You may like

Former Manchester United defender and United States international Jon Spector, speaking to FourFourTwo via a top live odds site, recalls the build-up to the match, in which Millwall’s visiting allocation was limited to 1,500 instead of the usual 3,000.

“It was surreal,” Spector says. “I remember we didn’t normally meet up as a team at a hotel for a home game. And so we did that, and we ended up then taking a bus to the stadium, because they knew that there could be some issues getting [there], they didn’t want the players driving their cars there and running into any problems.”

Jonathan Spector signed for West Ham from Manchester United in 2006 (Image credit: Getty Images)

The Hammers had begun the season with a win over Wolverhampton Wanderers but were beaten in their next match versus London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at Upton Park.

“We took the bus, and everything around the stadium was boarded up, the windows, it was as if they knew, we’re expecting trouble. Honestly, it was very strange, and it was as if, like in my time in Florida, you’re preparing for a hurricane to come through, and you board up the windows and all that.”

The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.

Those anticipating potential trouble must have been cursing Millwall striker Neil Harris when he struck during the first half to give the third tier side a surprise lead.

Hammers man Jack Collison struck the upright, while Millwall fans clashed with police in what was a fraught encounter from start to finish. Mark Laird almost doubled the visitors’ advantage with a long-range effort during the second half, hitting the stanchion behind the goal instead of the back of the net.

Upton Park is no longer home to the Hammers (Image credit: Getty Images)

Trouble continued in the stands as swathes of Upton Park stewards and police did their best to keep West Ham supporters at bay, as they made repeated attempts to reach the Millwall section.

You may like

Spector recalls an ‘electric’ atmosphere on account of what happened next.

Just as the Hammers appeared to be heading out of the competition, teenager Junior Stanislas connected with Frank Nouble’s cross to level the game with three minutes left of normal time.

“There were multiple pitch invasions and so it was a very interesting time.

James Tomkins is apprehended by a West Ham supporter (Image credit: Getty Images)

“So the pitch invasions were all from, if I remember correctly, West Ham fans, so I wasn’t really kind of concerned, and it was one or two people here or there, that was it. So it wasn’t like a whole mob of people.” Spector added.

After a brief delay in clearing the pitch of spectators, the match went to extra-time. Following the restart, West Ham were awarded a penalty for handball inside the area, which Stanislas tucked away for his second of the night. Once again, fans invaded the pitch.

“Interestingly enough, that was the first game my wife – we were not married at the time – but first game she had ever attended in England”, Spector adds. “I remember after the game, her saying, ‘Are all the games like this?’ And I said, no, not at all, not at all! So she certainly remembers that game as well.”

Zavon Hines added a third late on to secure West Ham’s passage to the next round but with emotions already heightened, disorder spilled out onto the adjoining streets around Upton Park at full-time.

Carlton Cole of West Ham United is mobbed by fans during the Carling Cup second round match between West Ham United and Millwall (Image credit: Getty Images)

One Millwall supporter was stabbed, and the Football Association subsequently condemned the scenes, issuing West Ham with a £115,000 fine. Ex-Hammers boss Harry Redknapp urged football’s authorities to prevent the two clubs from ever playing each other in a cup match again.

Eighty arrests were made, while West Ham banned 54 supporters for life. The two teams have played each other since, although the last time they met was in 2012.

Spector went on to play for Birmingham City, Orlando City and Hibernian before retiring in 2019. He won 39 caps for the United States.

Source link

A new San Siro is on the horizon, with Milan’s two giants on the cusp of upgrading the iconic stadium.

Ranked at no.10 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best stadiums in the world, the venue is an icon of Italy, standing out on the horizon for its distinctive slatted roof and turrets – but as the old ground approaches its 100th birthday this December, time is running out to see a game there.

With plans a-foot for a new San Siro, the future of both Milan and Inter Milan is about to look very different.

The San Siro is almost 100 years old

Then there’s the urban regeneration of the local area. Just as Tottenham Hotspur have looked to make N17 a hub beyond just a football ground, Milan and Inter could both benefit from more shops, restaurants and public spaces on the site of the ground, increasing their revenue further.

The new San Siro will be on the same site

The two nearest top-flight stadiums that the pair could temporarily play are Atalanta’s Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia (24,950 seats) and Como’s Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia (13,602 seats).

Barcelona sold their stadium naming rights (Image credit: Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

In 2019, designs for a stadium tentatively named Nuovo Stadio Milano were released.

Though these plans were shelved, it gives an indication that both clubs would seemingly be open to ditching both the ‘San Siro’ name and the ground’s proper name, ‘Stadio Giuseppe Meazza’ – but realistically, the ground would likely take on a sponsor’s name (like Juventus’s Allianz Stadium) and still be known by fans as… the San Siro.

Milan fans in the Curva Sud at the San Siro (Image credit: Alamy)

The new San Siro is set to be a 71,500-seater venue, after the two clubs submitted a feasibility plan.

This is a reduction from the 80,018 that the San Siro currently holds, and even the limited capacity of 75,817 – but both clubs will hope that an improvement in the experience, including new opportunities for hospitality – will increase the matchday revenue substantially, despite the drop in attendance.

‘The Rings of Milano’ design(Image credit: Milan / Inter)‘The Cathedral’ design(Image credit: Milan / Inter)

In 2019, Milan and Inter revealed two shortlisted designs for their new home, but those two plans were for a 60,000-seater ground and won’t be used this time, with a new architect on board.

Foster + Partners – the firm behind Wembley Stadium and Lusail Stadium – have been selected to work alongside Manica on the design of a new stadium.

Source link

Does Big Match John have what it takes tonight? SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)… …

Clayton Kershaw got a farewell worthy of his 18 years at Dodger Stadium on Friday.One day after announcing his plans…

A bus has passed Manchester United’s Old Trafford base, ridiculing head coach Ruben Amorim’s tactics.The Red Devils boss is known…

Dodgers fans pay up, in significant numbers and in significant amounts, to watch their team on SportsNet LA: Home team,…