As a sports road tripper, my goal has always been to see new venues. Many of us sports travellers are about seeing as many games as possible, but I get bored going to the same stadium all the time; for me, it is traveling to new places that excites.
I use this page to keep track of how many venues I have visited. A venue is any stadium or arena that hosts a sporting event. The rules are simple - I must attend a regular season or playoff game at the venue for it to count. Pre-season games count only if played in a stadium that doesn't host regular season games, such as those in the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues. Arriving significantly late or leaving early (before the contest is decided) invalidates the visit, with some exceptions for smaller venues. Any quest such as Club 124 or all 160 minor league stadiums requires a full game to be seen.
I've simplified my rules for counting venues. The same building can be counted only once for the same sport, but can be counted again for different sports. So Barclays Center has three visits - one each for Islanders, Nets, and boxing. It does not count as a separate venue for the Long Island Nets or NCAA basketball, but it does count as a G. League venue and an NCAA basketball venue so those specific league counts are accurate. Similarly Staples Center counts once as a basketball venue, but twice as an NBA venue because both the Lakers and Clippers play there and you need 30 stadiums to complete the league. Because of these rules, the number of venues for each sport will be less than the sum of the league counts.
By doing this, I have reduced the total number of venues by 39. The goal is to avoid padding your numbers and after much soul searching, I decided that counting the same sport at the same building was doing just that. Some argue that by counting different sports in the same venue, I am padding the numbers, but I feel like the change in configuration does make it a different venue. Still, I have decided to track the unique venue count as well.
With these rules in mind, my total is now 981 venues with 902 unique. The breakdown by sport:
Baseball
League Total Notes
MLB 58 Includes Tokyo Dome and Hiram Bithorn Stadium, plus Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues
MiLB 195 Completed all 160 active minor league ballparks in 2017
Japan 27 Includes both majors, minors, college, and industrial leagues
NCAA 32 Includes two Division II visits
Independent 26 So many teams around, but quality of ball is not that good
Others 9 Minor league in Taiwan, Canadian College, Collegiate Wood Bat
Arizona Fall 6 My favourite league
Unique Total 342
HockeyLeague Total Notes
NHL 52 Includes Yoyogi Stadium, Saitama Super Arena, Yankee Stadium
AHL 44 All active rinks completed as of end of 2018-19 season, adding new venues
Minor 17 Includes ECHL, CHL and SPHL
Junior 32 Includes World Junior Championship and lower junior leagues
NCAA 13 Includes 2 club hockey
Others 6 Canadian College, Iceland, Germany, and 3 rinks in Japan, including the 1998 Olympics
Unique Total 152
BasketballLeague Total Notes
NBA 45 Includes one Summer League visit, one preseason neutral site, Amalie Arena, and Saitama Super Arena
NCAA 158 132 active Division I men's home venues, 9 inactive, 5 tournaments, 9 women, 3 lower division
G.League 13 Good value here for hoopheads
Japan 9 The bj league merged with the JBL to become the B.League
Others 13 Canadian College, Philippines, EuroLeague, Asean League, WNBA, International
Unique Total 226
FootballLeague Total Notes
NFL 43 Includes Wembley
CFL 10 Complete
NCAA 25 Still over 100 to see in Division I
Others 5 Canadian College, Aussie Rules, Arena League, X League in Japan
Unique Total 77
SoccerLeague Total Notes
International 21 Includes World Cup, Confederations Cup, Euro, and International Friendlies
MLS 17 League just keeps growing, includes Rentschler Field for TFC
J-League 14 Includes 1 JFL visit
Europe 13 Includes 6 Premier League
Tier II 11 Includes USL, NASL and PDL
NCAA 11 Not bad quality here. Not great, but not bad either.
Others 7 Includes 5 Singapore venues plus 1 each in Vietnam and Ecuador
Unique Total 89
Other SportsSport Total Notes
Racing 16 F1, Formula E, Indy and A1, NASCAR. Also horses.
Racquets 12 10 Tennis, 2 Squash
Rugby 12 Includes union, league, and sevens
Lacrosse 9 Indoor and outdoor
Sumo 8 Four tournament venues, three jungyos, one honozumo
Golf 7
Cricket 7
Fighting 6 MMA, Boxing, Judo, Muy Thai
Volleyball 5
Aquatics 3 Swimming, Diving, Water Polo
Handball 2
Rodeo 2
Athletics 1
Figure Skating 1
Hurling 1
Roller Derby 1
Softball 1
Table Tennis 1
Total 92
Here is the breakdown by country:USA 797
Canada 83
Japan 76
England 14
Singapore 11
Australia 9
Germany 7
Qatar 7
UAE 5
Philippines 3
France 2
Iceland 2
Thailand 2
Barbados 1
China 1
Denmark 1
Ecuador 1
Indonesia 1
Italy 1
Malaysia 1
Netherlands 1
Spain 1
Sri Lanka 1
Sweden 1
Taiwan 1
Vietnam 1
Here is the breakdown by decade and year more recently:1970s 3
1980s 20
1990s 59
2000s 188
2010 52
2011 23
2012 47
2013 62
2014 55
2015 82
2016 83
2017 63
2018 32
2019 48
2020 26
2021 41
2022 73
2023 24
Total 981
Updates are made here after every stadium visit so follow along if you have nothing else to do.Best,
Sean
