National profile of venue
This mark judges how famous, or well-known the venue is in the country in which it is based. Most leading venues will tend to scorehighly on this mark.

International profile of venue
This is a much more varied mark, since a venue which scores highly in its own country, may score poorly elsewhere. For instance, Lord’s cricket ground is a 9 for the previous mark, but only around a 5 for this mark.

National profile of event hosted
Judging how important the sport is in the country of the venue.

International profile of event hosted
Judging how important the sport is world-wide.

Aesthetics/Design/Architecture/Quirk factor of venue
Judging the venue for all things to do with its appearance. Some large stadia are rather soulless and lack imagination. Others, like the Bird’s Nest in Beijing score very highly for ‘quirk factor’ and excellence of design. This mark applies for venues that are not structures just as easily – like golf courses or marathon courses. Are they challenging, beautiful and unusual, or plain, uninspiring and drab?

History/tradition of venue
Marking the venue for how long it has been in existence, and the tradition that goes with it. A lot of new sporting theatres will score poorly in this category, since they have no history or tradition. But venues, such as Wimbledon, Lord’s or Fenway Park will obviously garner high marks.

Atmosphere of venue
Some venues are famous for their electrifying atmosphere, and others tends to be struggle to inspire the protagonists – and the crowd – to their best efforts.

Amount of time venue is in the public eye
High marks for a venue if it is in regular use (around 100-plus days a year). Lower, if it is only in occasional use, like the Indianapolis Speedway, or Augusta golf club.

Venue’s finest hour
Marking the venue’s most fabled hour. Did it ever host a world cup final of some description, or an Olympics, or a British Open etc. The Bird’s Nest would obviously score a 9 or even a 9.5 here.

Esteem of venue held by sports stars
Sports stars are often openly complimentary or critical about the venues in which they play. They tend to prefer venues, with history and atmosphere, and not vast, soulless, concrete bowls.

Esteem venue held in by the public
Do the public enjoy visiting this venue? Is it a nightmare to get to with dreadful parking facilities? How good are the sightlines? Does one have to sit hundreds of yards away from the action – often with a pillar or two in the way?

Capacity of Venue
Although having a high capacity is by no means a ‘be all and end all’, it is fairly significant whether a venue is regularly hosting 75,000, or merely 750.