Enterprise Center was built on the site of the old Kiel Auditorium, and in fact was originally called Kiel Center. The auditorium was attached to the opera house, and both shared the same stage. Kiel was home to the NBA's St. Louis Hawks until they moved to Atlanta, as well as the Billiken basketball team for many years. Enterprise Center replaced the St. Louis Arena (called the Checkerdome for a few years when Ralston Purina owned the building and the Blues).
You forgot about Francis Olympic Field. I know it's capacity is very small, has 3,300 seats, but this stadium has something that no other stadium in the city nor the overwhelming majority of stadiums in the world had the honor of hosting. They hosted the 1904 Summer Olympics. You have made exceptions on some venues who don't qualify for the capacity limit before when it's important to mention, this should have been one of them in my opinion.
Only 4000, but nicely redone in the early 80s. Wash U's Field House was also overlooked. It held Presidental debates, and occasional NBA games from 1955-68 featuring the St. Louis Hawks in the NBA.
This has always been the Channel I relax to. You have no idea how happy this makes me to see my home city represented! This has finally come full circle for me. Don't ever change your style or this channel up. It is my favorite and i have no idea how I stumbled across it, yet I am so happy I did. Thanks for your work.
@@CodeBlue_EMT-P You mean like the Browns, the Hawks, the NFL Cardinals, and the Rams? Just kidding, St. Louis is still a great sports town despite all those losses.
One other thing to note is that, at the time I’m writing this, World Wide Technology Raceway is the only NASCAR/Indycar oval that has a karting track inside of it. You can see it at the 7:58 mark by the red roofing and red barriers just inside the area of Turns 1 & 2. The kart track is called Gateway Kartplex and I have been racing there for the past three years. First off in their iDrive rental kart series. Then moving up to 4-cycle race karts last year. You can absolutely race karts there whenever Indycar and Formula Drift are in town. However, they have to tear down the track whenever NASCAR is in town. So many haulers and not enough space makes it difficult to keep the track running when they’re in town. But once NASCAR’s visit is done, the kart track gets rebuilt and is ready for karting action once again. At this point in my life, Gateway Kartplex and World Wide Technology Raceway is my racing home. And I a hope it can stay that way for as long as it can.
Great video, you did a really good job covering the sporting venues here in the Lou. Although, one of the more notable ones you missed is for Washington University. Their football field was used in the 1904 Olympics and World's Fair.
I have an idea for a video that might be a little different. Showing off where every NFL quarterback went to high school. It would be kind of neat to see which guys played in fancy versus not-so-fancy high schools and to see who came from cities or from rural areas.
I wish Francis Olympics Field was included despite being small. While cities around the world can only hope to host the Olympics one day, St. Louis claimed that more than a century ago. It has accomplished something that cities like NY, Chicago, Dallas, etc can only hope to in the near future. Even as they deride St. Louis as a stagnant city, they wish they had this piece of history. Stay proud.
If you're going to include racetracks, I-55 Raceway is a 1/3 mile dirt oval in the southern suburb of Pevely, has a capacity of 7,000, and has hosted a few nationally-televised events. And as others have mentioned, Francis Field at WU deserved an honorable mention as a former Olympic venue (along with its adjacent Francis Gymnasium).
Question some of your stadium choices here specifically one that you completely ignored. Believe it’s called Fawcett Field for Washington University, which is closer into town and family Arena. And that stadium hosted the 1904 Olympics.
Always at a loss to explain how St. Louis has managed to lose TWO football teams over the years, the Cardinals and the Rams, while hockey and baseball continue to thrive there. The Cardinals from been around since 1892 and the Blues since 1967. If anyone from St. Louis sees this, I'd be interested in getting your point of view. Fun Fact: The Gateway Arch was designed by architect Eero Saarinen, who also did Ingalls Rink a.k.a. the Whale at Yale University that has also featured on this website in the past.
I live in St Louis and if I remember correctly, they lost the Cardinals to Arizona because St Louis wouldn't build a new stadium for them (they were currently playing in the baseball stadium at the time). They lost the Rams because of "stadium issues" but the real reason is that ownership was already planning on moving the team to LA anyways. The dome does need improvements besides the planned turf replacement. The Enterprise center got a huge makeover a couple of years ago and the building looks a lot better.
@@bradosborne8464 Thanks, I thought stadium issues might have been the problem. We watch lots of hockey on TV and have seen a few Blues games during the course of the season and yes, the Enterprise looks pretty good these days.
No better fans than St. Louis baseball fans in the entire country, educated, dedicated and they play the right way, and cherish the right things. If you look at the history of St. Louis you would realize it could have become the NYC, that NYC became. Big city, old city, lots of culture, and a great great Baseball/Soccer town. Great video as always! 👏
