Why Are Modern Football Stadiums So Ugly?

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The newly-renovated Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid has been compared to an inkjet printer, the currently-under-construction Camp Nou in Barcelona has been accused of destroying tradition, and almost all modern football stadiums are criticised for looking the same.

But why is that the case, and are those criticisms even accurate?

In this video, HITC Sevens takes a deep dive into modern football stadiums, why they have such a bad reputation, and whether it's actually deserved.

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Turns out most people don't experience architecture as a drone operator.

Pletzmutz

Inkjet printers is the best description I've heard.

stevec

12:58 The Wikipedia article for the Ship of Theseus, somewhat ironically, has been revised so often that it doesn't have a single phrase left from the original article.

djalland

What bugs me are stadia being named after corporate sponsors instead of actual locations (roads, streets).

I work in stadium design and construction. Initial renderings are usually pretty interesting and unique. Then the contractor prices, it is over budget, and compromises are made. Sofi Stadium is an exception but it cost over $5 billion as the most expensive stadium in the world.

loganv

dear hitc sevens, my favourite Youtuber, please make a video about my favourite league, the Cymru premier. despite having one of the oldest football associations in the world, Wales have only had a domestic league for 32 years, please delve into its history and it's current situation.

ifan_

Same reason why most modern buildings overall are ugly. They're built for functionality and to be cost efficient. Beautiful buildings need time and money to pay for architects, specialist equipment etc, on top of standard construction costs. Plus, beautiful buildings need even more maintenance and restoration associated time and costs.

Even the archibald leitch old football grounds of the UK were designed/built on a functional and industrial basis, albeit on a more human scale conpared to today's spaceships.

EDIT: I wrote this all before finishing the video, and now acknowledge that I've just totally parroted the points that alfie had made in the video itself. I'm too clever for my own good sometimes.

Evemeister

Things have to get worse before they get better.

The #1 sport I follow is baseball, and from the 1950s through the 90s this happened a lot, be it in the US or Japan. Classic stadiums got turned in for more soulless multi-use stadiums or domes. It wasn't until the Baltimore Orioles built Camden Yards that people woke up to the fact that "oh yeah, these classic ballparks actually did look good" and the "retro-classic" movement came about.

Be it Comerica Park in Detroit, Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima, or Lions Park in Daegu, all (looks at Seoul's Gocheok Skydome), ok, *most* modern baseball stadiums look pretty damn good.

TheBrainSpecialist

SO what I got from this video is... people love complaining, whether it was a hundred years ago, or today, people just complain about stuff.

Halcryder

The Aviva stadium in Ireland is beautiful

od

Mind you, there's a bit of survivorship bias in architecture, where the more poorly built or less beloved old buildings are replaced and only the best survive. All of the Soviet era stadiums, especially in East Germany look the same to me, as they're all just a bowl in the earth with a running track, and therefore weren't as sentimentalised as say the San Siro

albertmillerelectricbooga

You could argue a lot of the old ones are ugly

But people like to defend them by saying they have character and history

retrorambles

It's a moot point. In 20 or so years when the new design trend comes along, those new stadiums will be ugly, soulless things, and these will be works of art. Assuming they last that long.

abm

I still think the new Wembley is meh and uniconic despite seeing my club and national team having some great moments there.

Emirates and Etihad are still characterless new builds to me with none of the charm of their predecessors too.

rogerioceni

I think ticket prices have the greatest effect on whether a stadium is "soulless". Arsenal vs Eintracht Frankfurt, with Arsenal being awful in atmosphere, but nobody would say Frankfurt's stadium is soulless.

Ticket prices, ultras, fan culture, etc. it's ultimately the people next you that determine whether a place has a soul.

mikexstad