Sports stadiums are an undeniably important building for sports teams of all kinds. However, their use has notable limitations outside of hosting sports events. That isn’t to say that all stadiums are incapable of hosting other events; stadiums like MetLife are strangers to hosting concerts from world-renowned artists.
That said, stadiums could easily be something more for the general public, and luckily, colleges and universities already have the blueprint. University stadiums, both indoors and outdoors, are typically in constant use outside of hosting games by athletes and other students. It’s a perfect multi-use opportunity, where the school gyms can be housed, for people to exercise, study, have classes, or just hang out.
Stadiums of all kinds outside of universities have the ability to provide similar public services to the public because, whether sports teams want to admit it or not, sports stadiums impact the lives of the locals who live around them. Increasingly, it has become harder for people outside school settings to engage in recreational activities, especially with the decline of YMCAs. Now more than ever before, there has been a call for accessible ways of staying active.
Sports stadiums can provide not just for adults, but also for local schools that don’t have the proper equipment to host certain types of sports on campus. So long as sports teams continue to use public funds, the public should have a say in how these stadiums run and whether they should include supporting the local population with their services.
