Sept 1-6, 2008 Wimbledon Centre Court (6 days) Sept 6-19, 2008 Wrigley Field (14 days) Sept 19-Oct 8, 2008 Panathinaiko Stadium (20 days) Oct 8-Nov 24, 2008 Olympiastadion Berlin (48 days) Nov 24 - Feb 17, 2009 Panathinaiko Stadium (86 days) Feb 17 - April 8, 2009 Wembley Stadium (51 days) April 8 - July 7, 2009 Augusta National GC (91 days) July 7 - April12, 2010 Wimbledon Centre Court (280 days) April 12, 2010 - July 5, 2011 Augusta National GC (450 days) July 5, 2011 - Wimbledon Centre Court
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Sports Which Feature in the Top 250
Sport (number of venues) Football (99) Golf (28) Cricket (28) American Football (26) Athletics (24) Motor racing (20) Rugby Union (19) Baseball (14) Horse racing (11) Ice Hockey (9) Basketball(9) Tennis (7) Road running (8) Australian rules football (5) Boxing (3) Lacrosse (2) Wrestling (2) Cross-country skiing (2) Bullfighting (1) Gymnastics (2) Rowing (2) Cycling (1) Gaelic Football (1) Hurling (1) Judo (1) Motorcycle Speedway (1) Ski-jumping (1) Tobogganing (1)
Another intriguing Wimbledon has kept sportslovers the world over royally entertained, and as per normal, the epic stage that is Wimbledon's Centre Court has built a compulsive case to reclaim the top spot. And where it failed to dislodge Augusta in 2010, it succeeded in 2011. And after 450 days at the summit Augusta slips to second. Wimbledon, for the third time in WGST's history is number 1. The margin currently rests at a fragile 0.17% and it will surely be sooner than another 450 days before Wimbledon is dislodged - next April's US Masters will prove as ever the staunchest of tests.
So how has Wimbledon done it? A mere tennis court to a breathtaking scope of landscape encompassing water, azaleas, bridges, and thousands of trees. The secret perhaps is in Wimbledon's gladatorial style combat, and the tremendous atmosphere garnered, when, say, Andy Murray nicks an opening set off Rafael Nadal. Tennis is more far-reaching in its global appeal than golf, and although both venues are seen to some as "stuffy" or elitist, Wimbledon is to be applauded to being far more user-friendly to the masses. It is accessible to all at the sacrifice of some long lines, and efforts are made to be inclusive: witness the big screen where thousands gather on 'Henman Hill', or the winners parading the trophy outside the clubhouse after their win, for the benefit of all those locked out of Centre Court.
Wimbledon is in the public eye more than three times as much as Augusta (13 days per year as opposed to 4), and also hosts extra events like the Davis Cup and the upcoming London Olympics. Its splendid roof has made it ever more user friendly and the awful sight of the tent up on Centre court is mercifully a thing of the past. It should also not be over-stated that Tennis and Wimbledon's appeal is instantly more far-reaching than golf due to women playing for the same prize at the men - that of Wimbledon champion. There are millions of female tennis fans who could tell you very little about the far off mystical world of Augusta's fabled fairways.
So well done to Wimbledon, WGST is happy to have a new champion, but a word to the wise: don't get too comfortable. WGST is notorious for punishing the slightest weakness.
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The recent table published of Nations featuring in the top 400 sees some hard-fought battles waged, and will evolve and become more 'spread out' over time. At this time there is too much bias in favour of USA and England. The US have so many sports and venues worthy of note: baseball, American football, the many indoor arenas, the golf courses, the tennis stadia etc. As for England, it will take a long time for this sports-obsessed nation to be knocked out of second spot. It is the home of the world's most popular domestic football league, the Premiership, the home of the WGST leader, this month sees it host the world's premier golf tournament, the Champions League final was at Wembley in May, and then England/London hosts the Olympics next year. That's a remarkably prestigious selection of sporting events. However, that said, its venue count should arguably be closer to 30 than 40. As for the rest, two other sports-loving nations have fought a great battle for third spot - with Spain currently getting the nod over South Africa, while sports-loving Australia, with a population of just 22 million, rounds out the top 5.
Contenders Look To Displace Cricket from Second Berth
The recently published list of sports which feature in the Top 400 show some interesting battles being waged for supremacy. It will, seemingly, be at least 500 years before a sport replaces football from the top spot, but it is something of a free-for-all after that. For Cricket to be currently in second spot is surprising, but it does not take too much investigation to understand why this has occurred. Yes, cricket is only played to the highest level in 10 nations, but when one of those [India] has 1.15bn people treating it as a second religion, it becomes easier to fathom why cricket is upon such a lofty perch. With other notable sporting nations like Australia, South Africa, England and Pakistan also having cricket as one of their leading sports, and it becomes clear how so many of its stadia have featured. Cricket's ratio with Baseball is currently 44-25, which is close to accurate. World-class Baseball is only played in the United States to an potential audience of 300m, whilst cricket is immediately relevant to around 1.5bn, five times more.
Following a little way behind is the giant of American Football with all the great cathedrals it has - comfortably outsmarting Baseball due to the incredible stadiums boasted by so many universities. Athletics follows hot on its heels, and you can bracket into there almost every single Olympic Stadium of the last 115 years. 36 golf courses currently feature, with many more hungry to make their mark, and then a small drop to Ice Hockey and Rugby Union. A neat tie we feel as Rugby Union is the more global game, but Ice Hockey with possibly the world's most dedicated - and hysterical - fans. Last night's Stanley Cup final produced the inevitable riot when Vancouver lost to the Bruins, but the fans also riot when they win - infamously in Montreal in 1993 for instance.
Basketball lurks just a couple of notches behind Ice hockey, and after Baseball we have another giant of world sport Motor racing chalking up a steady 23 appearances. Tennis has 15 stadia currently making the grade, and rounding up the last of the big 'baker's dozen' we have two types of running, that done by horses and humans. Our four-legged friends currently nudge out man 12-11, but those major big-city road races certainly belong in the list, with the London and New York Marathons receiving around a quarter of a million applications each year to compete.
This list will evolve and change with every new entry, and cricket will forever have to be en guard from those looking to knock it out of second spot.
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Newsletter #12, 12/6/11
Augusta Hangs On, Others Creep, Epsom Finally welcomed
Augusta National has been top dog for 14 months now - some 426 days and counting, comfortably outstripping Wimbledon's previous record of 280. The question is how much longer can golf's picture of paradise continue to lead the way? After all, there are many out there who disagree with Augusta's position. Golf is a nichy and elitist sport say some, and Augusta too snooty and pompous for its own good, say others. Impressive yes, but the world's most beloved? Surely not. But for now that's where it remains, as a dozen or so other great theatres snarl at its heals. A former champion Wembley continues to progress, albeit slowly, after finally sorting out its turf problems, and hosting a sublime Barcelona in a successful Champions League final. Other venues, like Mexico City's Azteca - only ever host of two FIFA World Cup finals, are also on the rise.
But for now Augusta can enjoy inviting comparison with our friends over at the IMDB (internet movie database), who have their own - somewhat infamous - Top 250 list. The grading process there is a little more chaotic, compared to ours, with voters simply voting on a movie out of 10. Top scores fly regularly, and so do 1/10s. In truth we feel that 10/10 should be deemed far more rarefied than what occurs at IMDB, and there is also the interesting tale of the tactical voting that has led to The Shawshank Redemption being deemed greatest ever, and has done since 2008's The Dark Knight was released.
So keen were The Dark Knight's fans to elevate it to top position, they all started voting leading movie 'The Godfather' poorly, in order to get it out the way... It worked in as much as The Godfather's score did reduce, but Godfather fans took their revenge by scoring The Dark Knight poorly in return. All this meant was that when the dust had settled, the previous incumbant of the #2 spot, Shawshank, progressed to the top, where it has remained for three years. Movie fans are a little unsettled by this; Shawshank is great, but #1... really? Augusta we feel is a more "real" incumbant of our equivalent list, it is truly there by quality and class alone, but for how much longer, and more importantly, who will the new champion be?
The great sporting theatres of the world that do not feature on the list are becoming few and far between now. They're still out there, and our users need to continue to point them out. A classic example is Epsom Downs Racecourse which took until recently to feature. Epsom is one of those venues that is more famous for the race it hosts, The Derby, than for its name. Everyone's heard of the Derby; it's one of the world's greatest horseraces, and has been run since 1780. There is little doubt that the marketing men at Epsom are less incisive than those at, say, Antree and Ascot, and Epsom is not such a household name as those juggernauts. However, it has finally, not a moment too soon, joined the party, and we feel that its entry at 0.01% behind Australia's famous "Gabbatoir" [The Gabba], is about spot on. Welcome Epsom, and for those other great venues still yet to feature - we hope it's only a matter of time before we welcome you as well.
It has been a fairly busy time of late with plenty of fresh entries and
chopping and changing in the top 50. Liverpool Football Club's iconic
theatre that is Anfield has angrily roared up the leaderboard to a startling 7th, ascending past the recently 'superior' European
cathedrals of sport such as the San Siro, the Bernabeu and the Nou
Camp. Anfield's age (1884) has alot to do with its resurgence (92 years
older than the San Siro, and 26 older than its bitter English rival Old
Trafford); and although Liverpool are still struggling to find their
form as they have for some 20 years now, their history is impossible to
ignore, and there are two Champions League finals (including 2005's epic
victory) in recent history to keep them relevant to the modern game.
7th though - that's a bit special, sandwiched as it is between Chicago's
Wrigley Field and the Monaco Grand Prix circuit; but Anfield won't feel
out of depth - football has a far bigger global reach than either
baseball or motor racing, and Liverpool will tell you they aren't going
anywhere, and with a football-mad culture and history like they have,
they'd be right.
And thundering back to the silver medal position is the double former
champion the Panathinaiko Stadium, Athens. It is the 2,500th
anniversary of the Battle of Marathon where the legend of the marathon
race was born, and on October 31st the annual Athens marathon celebrated
this milestone. The great and the good of distance running travelled
all over the world to be there (including the inaugural women's Olympic
marathon champion Joan Benoit Samuelson), and the race was a celebration
of distance running in general.
The venerable marble stadium looks as majestic as ever - it really is a
sublime feat of engineering, aesthetics and splendour. It has a
'colisseum' aura to it, and one can clearly imagine the Panathinaiko
being a glorious setting for the first ever modern Olympics. At present
the Panathinaiko is just .04% ahead of another former WGST champion,
Centre court, Wimbledon. Very
different places they may be, but both with that feeling of
old-fashioned gladatorial battle very much in tact, and both in pristine
shape. Both places seem to define the intangible factor that makes
sport so special.
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Newsletter #10, 21/9/10
Warm Welcome to 400th entry; but a tepid one to Meadowlands
The WGST list has had two notable entries of late, its 400 entry and the most expensive sports stadium ever built.
Starting with the former, the Weserstadion in Bremen, became the 400th entry to the list, an important milestone since every entry henceforth will duly shunt a poor, unsuspecting 'theatre' into the cold, heartless wastelands of 'Other Submitted Entries', a place we suspect where no self-respecting venue desires to be. So how did Weserstadion do? At comfortably inside the top 200 at 66.55% it punched above its weight considering it applied to be a host venue for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and flunked. But Weserstadion has alot of history (86 years), a good team (Weder Bremen who placed 3rd in the Bundesliga last term), and makes for a striking and intimidating setting.
A good way of judging whether a venue is around the correct percentage grade is to observe its neighbours. In this case it is bookended by Blackburn's Ewood Park, and Zurich's Letzigrund; both venues where you'll catch excellent, gripping sport in historic and dramatic settings. Other close neighbours include venues diverse as the Rod Laver Arena, the Mexico Olympic Stadium, Headingley Cricket Ground and Candlestick Park - a venue forever tinged with sadness in the music world as it's the last time The Beatles ever performed together on tour.
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On the weekend of September 11/12, the new long-awaited home of the New York Giants and New York Jets opened, Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey. Its price tag came in at a staggering $1.6 billion, but, alas, like some ghastly Hollywood blockbuster, it has failed to please the fans. It has already been compared to Xanadu [from Citizen Kane], and Titanic. The reviews are dire, here is an excerpt from one: "I agree the new stadium is a big disappointment. The worst part is that these are not just 'bugs', but fundamental design flaws that will be with us for the life of the stadium." Meadowlands has entered the list well outside the top 300 at a distinctly sub-par 60.34%.
What a shame, and some might say, what a waste. It appears that the parking is poor, seats too far away from the field, taking up to 45 minutes to get to some seats on disfunctional escalators, terrible toilets, outrageous concession prices, and most damagingly at all, a lack of atmosphere because the premium luxury seats (where all the money has been spent), are lying empty in many parts due to their exorbitant fees. The old Giants stadium never had a seat available for over 30 years. Some of the problems (the architectural design flaws aside) will be righted over time, as the venue 'beds down'. But for now, Meadowlands would appear to have a PR nightmare on its hands, with human greed and sloppiness letting down the loyal fans. At this rate it could be many years before the venue breaks into the top 100, if it ever does.
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Newsletter #9, 7/9/10
Soccer City roars to bronze; Comrades makes friends in high places; and the VIP fab-400
After South Africa's successful World Cup this summer, Johannesburg's splendid Soccer City has rocketed up the leaderboard to lay claim to 3rd spot, booting the Olympiastadion down a notch. Both these venues are there by dint of massive publicity in the past two years, and time will tell how long they can last, but there's no denying it's no accident that they currently reside where they do - monuments to human imagination, craft and creativity both. And what's more they've seen a thing or two.
It's taken a while but finally what is arguably the world's greatest footrace, South Africa's Comrades Marathon has entered into WGST's ranks, and it's done so with an angry growl, to go with its fearsome nature - straight it at number 35, just above the Sydney Cricket Ground. This eye-wateringly harsh ultramarathon has been the Holy Grail of the distance running fraternity for nearly a Century, and in our extended research on the venue we came across this fabulous article by the doyen of running literature Amby Burfoot, which neatly sums up what Comrades means to so many. Enjoy.
Finally, as WGST fast approaches the 400 mark of entries, a note of explanation for what will happen when we get there. The top 400 venues will be treated as VIPs, and as time passes it will obviously become ever tougher to join their illustrious ranks. Those venues which fall outside the fab-400 will still be listed but will be presented by just their name (still linked to 'more info'), country of location and percentage grade. The way the venues are presented would mean that the list would become rather unwieldy if every venue nominated was given the same space and treatment on the site. There had to be a cut-off, and this is it: make the top 400 or else fall short of our VIP service...
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Newsletter #8, 15/4/10
Augusta Bounces Back – and a thousand-to-one shot
After another mesmerising Masters that had a dozen intriguing plots and subplots, with Woods, Watson, Mickelson, Couples, Westwood and several more serving up a feast of fascinating golf, both Augusta and WGST front-runner Wimbledon Centre Court have come under the strictest of analysis from the WGST panel.
Augusta has never looked better and indeed it is obvious that year on year this icon keeps improving. It is never satisfied; it never stands still – just like Wimbledon, some might say.
So what is the outcome after these two giants have detached themselves from the rest of the pack by 2.5 and 3%? It is that Augusta has reclaimed the illustrious top spot which it lost on July 7th last year, after sitting moodily on the sidelines for 280 days. The question now is will Wimbledon be able to produce any fireworks of its own, in two months time, to fight back?
* * * * *
What an amazing coincidence befell the WGST team today. Two new venues came up for scrutiny: Centre court at the Monte Carlo Country Club which recently saw Rafael Nadal win a 6th straight Monte Carlo Masters; and Vicarage Road the home of Watford Football club of the English Championship, and Saracens – a Premiership Rugby club. Two somewhat subculture venues although both with an established past and with their own important niches in the sporting world.
It is a little difficult to the naked eye to tell which of these would place further up the WGST list. After the marks were in, Monte Carlo Country Club scored 58.70% - a mark that the previous 359 venues had failed to find. Vicarage Road scored completely differing marks over the 12 selection criteria: scoring heavier than Monte Carlo in some areas, and lighter in others. They only tied on one of the 12 criteria. Vicarage Road’s final grade? 58.70%. A spot on tie! Incredibly, two random, totally contrasting venues, had arrived for scrutiny together and both found a mark that no other venue has found in our 20 month existence. Roughly speaking there are about 1,000 different scores that a venue can come in at. Ok, the scores between 55 and 65% are most likely, but still – there are 250 of those.
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Newsletter #7, 17/08/09
Berlin Soars Again
After the magical night of athletics that was Sunday August 16th, 2009, and the mere 41 strides and 9.58 seconds it took the Bolt of lightning to cover 100 metres, the Olympiastadion Berlin has reminded us all why it merits its place in the very upper echelons of the WGST leaderboard. And then just to hammer home the point, the venue became ever more mythical with Bolt's just-beyond-the-imagination 19.19.
73 years ago Jesse Owens cemented this venue's place in sporting history with his 10.3. Aryan Supremacy? Not here. All Hitler's propaganda was made to look like nonsense, and it's why, although the stadium still reflects great sadness and anger for some, it represents defiance and justice for others; a classic example of how sport can be a beacon for how the world really is, far more than the muddy waters of politics ever will.
"It's good that they decided to keep it," said 94-year-old Siegfried Eifrig in 2004, after the future of the Olympiastadion had been debated for years. Eifrig, who still had vivid memories of carrying the Olympic torch through the streets of Berlin back in 1936 noted: "There was euphoria inside the stadium, but the crowds didn't go there to see Hitler. They went for the Games."
In the lead up to the 2006 World Cup, Germany's Interior Minister Otto Schilly said, "the stadium recalls the dark elements present in its creation, but in 2006 the world will look upon a modern, democratic, and open Germany."
For now then, with the memories of Owens, Bolt and not to mention Zinedine Zidane and his World Cup Final histrionics, the Olympiastadion has risen to 3rd place on the WGST leaderboard. It looks majestic and tingles with electric atmosphere, and it could rise yet further in the months and years to come.
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Newsletter #6, 7/07/09
WGST’s Original Ace Back to the Summit
Augusta must have always been fearful of this happening... In a brutal head-to-head showdown after another remarkable Wimbledon final, the fabled Centre Court has grimly reclaimed the WGST lead which it last held on 6th Sept 2008.
The superb roof has added to an already exceptional facility, and Centre Court can no longer be said to suffer from one dreadful Achilles heel – that of a drop of rain turning it into the dampest of damp squibs, and a thoroughly depressing and dreary place.
There is so very little to prise Wimbledon and Augusta apart, but it would appear that Wimbledon just has the edge since tennis is a little less elitist and available to the masses than golf (the Williams sisters’ triumphs pay testament to that) which boosts its international profiles; the venue is some 60 years older; and is in the public eye 14 days a year instead of just four. It should also be noted that Wimbledon entertains both male and female athletes, unlike Augusta’s all male domain. These small details have enabled Wimbledon to take a slim lead which currently stands at 1.39%.
A word about the Links:
As you can see, the WGST venues are slowly but surely being linked up to websites that provide more information about them. We have given you two options: the link on the left takes you to either the venue’s homepage, or, if it does not have one or is only available in a foreign language, then to another website which provides some feedback and analysis. The link on the right takes you to the venue’s Wikipedia entry. In many instances this is just as informative, if not more so, than the official page, since the official page is often eye-wateringly commercial, and expresses more interest in selling you tickets to an upcoming concert or event, than in talking about the venue’s history.
Note, that if you click on a venue, you will not be taken away from the WGST site – the extra window will merely appear as a pop-up (which you can then maximise). When you have finished looking at the external site you have navigated to, simply exit it, and you will still be on the WGST page.
With two of the world's most high profile stadiums taking a real battering at the hands of WGST's strict ranking criteria, it is becoming obvious that it is simply not enough to look dazzling and flash with all the "bells and whistles". To be a great sporting theatre requires real gravitas, and what has happened with Wembley and Yankee Stadiums in the past few weeks, is that underneath all their beauty and bravado on the outside, there lurk some quite serious flaws beneath the surface, which the unforgiving sports fans have been quick to point out.
It has gone to show how just because you're brand new and have cost hundreds of millions of dollars to construct, that won't be enough for you to survive on wgst's illustrious leaderboard.
A glance at the average ages of venues in the top 250 shows some interesting things: the average of venues ranked 151-250 is a mere 24.68 years. For venues 100-150 that figures more than doubles to 53.84. It rises again in the illustrious 51-100 section to 70.96, and the classic venues in the group from 26-50 have an average age of 88.24. In the top 25 list (with the date of Panathinaiko Stadium taken as a mere 1870), the average age is 101.84.
In the top 25 there are only three venues that were opened since 1950 - and what icons they are: The Nou Camp (1957), Madison Square Garden (1968), and the Bird's Nest, Beijing (2008).
It is a good reminder that in today's celebrity-driven, fast-food, reality culture that there's still no substitute for history, tradition and class.
New Yankee Straight In at #10, and Then Heads South
It is been a fairly busy few weeks with WGST welcoming two big hitters to the fray, and some others either shimmying upwards or heading south. Welcome Yankee Stadium! The venerable old stadium was a big hole in the WGST list as it faced the wrecking ball just as the website was founded. But her successor is here and there's no doubt that it's an impressive sight. Whether an initial positioning of 10th is due to a little hyperbole which could see it dropping a little over the coming months remains to be seen; but with the NY Yankees profile higher than ever, and the stadium providing an eclectic mix of the old and the new, the New Yankee Stadium seems fairly comfortable on such a lofty perch.
There has been less brouhaha about Citi Field although it should be noted that it still makes the super sixes list for Baseball stadia. Citi Field, new home to the New York Mets, currently sits snugly between two famous stadia: the Estadia Centenario in Montevideo, and St. James' Park Newcastle.
Elsewhere, the Panathinaiko Stadium finally makes a departure from the top 5 and settles down into a still impressive 11th place, but the correction was perhaps a long time coming. After the eyes of the football world were on the magnificent Nou Camp, it has flexed its muscles and risen a few pips to rise to 17th, doing grim battle with the Berlin Olympic Stadium just ahead. Old Trafford finds itself booted out of the Super Sixes as a result.
The Emirates Stadium looked magnificent in the Champions League as well and rises around three dozen places. One assumes that all that's really holding this venue back is its youth, and Arsenal's recent lack of success. Its atmosphere appears to be improving.
Finally Wembley Stadium's problems with its pitch quality have surfaced badly again, which has seen it trade places with Centre Court Wimbledon (resplendent with a new roof). If Wembley doesn't sort its problems soon, its days in the the top ten, let alone top 5 are numbered. **
** These fears have proven to be correct, as Wembley subsequently tumbled outside the top 25 and was as low as 37th by May 2010.
Post script: After 3 weeks in the heady heights of the top 10, the reviews and feedback for the Yankee have come in, and it has taken an ugly tumble as a result. There are many flaws, but the two which hurt it most are the rampant, bordering on disgraceful commercialism, which has meant that the VIP seats behind the batsman are often all but empty as very few can afford the sky high prices (circa $2,500), leading to very embarrassing television shots of a seemingly empty stadium. Also, the new Yankee, for reasons possibly due to a wind tunnel effect, is turning into a home run paradise, giving up around four a game, devaluing the worth of a 'homer', and infuriating pitchers. The New Yankee now resides well outside the top 50, in a dead heat with the Louisiana Superdome, which to the naked eye appears quite a neat fit.
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Newsletter #3, 9/04/09
Wembley Bows To An American Classic
It is US Masters week and the Augusta National GC’s chance to shine. And shine it has with an electrifying surge up the leaderboard from 5th to 1st, displacing Wembley stadium by a tantalising 0.07%. Augusta means many different things to sports fans – all of the following could apply: Amen Corner, Arnold, Azaleas, Big Oak Tree, Crow’s Nest, Faldo, Green Jacket, Hogan Bridge, Jack, Lightning greens, Lyle’s bunker, Magnolia Lane, Rae’s Creek, Sarazen Bridge, Seve, Tiger…
Augusta would certainly get full marks if a category existed for ‘sense of self-importance’. It is easy to forget that the course is nearly 200 years younger than its iconic cousin over the Atlantic, St. Andrew’s. The prices charged to those who tread her sacred turf could be seen as exorbitant, with circa $15m generated in revenues on each of the three practice days alone. But they are never questioned and the fans who drive through the night to attend practice, just smile acceptingly at what is asked of them.
Access to the tournament itself is far harder to come by. “Now it is just the patrons,” writes golf reporter Derek Lawrenson. “Fortunate people whose parents or grandparents had badges and have passed them on. It is no exaggeration to say that in Augusta a Masters badge is considered a family heirloom.”
Whether Augusta lasts much beyond Masters week at the head of the WGST field remains to be seen. A thrilling tournament will help and boost its overall grade by another few fractions. But whatever the case, Augusta is worthy of its tenancy of the number one spot. Rarely has a sports venue, or any venue for that matter, appeared so self-assured in its own importance, gravitas and majesty.
The juggernaut that is North West London's Wembley Stadium has roared into top spot on the back of a flurry of public interest, a resurgence in the fortunes of the England football team, and many regrades. Athens' venerable Panathinaiko Stadium enjoyed nearly three months at the head of the field, but it was unable to withstand the onslaught from Wembley which had been lurking far lower than perhaps it might on WGST's list - until recently as low as 20th.
What are the reasons for this, and why is Wembley now suddenly claiming its place at the head of the list? In the early days of WGST Wembley suffered on two counts: it scored poorly on history and tradition because it was a brand new stadium. HOWEVER, perhaps quite rightly, the voters have come to the correct decision that the site is still Wembley, and it still carries a tremendous aura about it, albeit in a brand new shell.
The other reason Wembley stuttered was due to major problems with its playing surface, which now seem largely to have been sorted, and complaints from the fans about the very corporate nature of the venue, the extremely expensive refreshment and concession stands, and the lack of atmosphere compared to the Old Wembley. However, with the England team now flying high under new a new manager, and fans becoming used to the new foibles of the arena, and slowly but surely starting to create an electric atmosphere at the venue, the New Wembley has shaken off the flaws and surged its way through the field.
One or two things are for sure: the stadium looks magnificent, it will host the Champions League Final in 2011, several matches at the 2012 Olympics, and its names conjures images of two iconic sporting events in the 1948 Olympics and the 1966 World Cup, as well as some 75 FA Cup finals. It is still, for any footballer, the place to be.
Wembley's place at the top isn't necessarily secure though. Its grades still see it losing quite a few points for 'history and tradition', time spent in public eye (fairly rare), and esteem of fans. How long will it remain as #1? It'll be intriguing to see who's next to make a charge, and become the sixth tenant of the coveted number one spot.
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Newsletter #1, 10/11/08
The Battle for Supremacy Has Begun
WGST has been online for a month now, and with around 200 entries, its aim to list and rank the world’s most prestigious and popular sporting venues is fast taking shape.
There is still a long way to go though with several hundred sporting venues, each of which mean something particular to a particular someone waiting to stake its claim.
There have been a number of intriguing talking points in this first month. The key of which has been who wins the coveted number one spot. In the early days of the list’s construction, Wrigley Field reigned over all-comers, before being knocked off its perch by the current leader, the Berlin Olympic Stadium. This is, to the naked eye, an unusual and unpredictable leader of the pack, which almost no-one may have seen coming. And yet, on closer inspection, it is clear what the magic ingredients are that has seen it rise to the top…
Most every sports fan would agree that the world’s two largest and greatest sporting events are the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup. Berlin thus, is in a good position: it hosted perhaps the most iconic of all Olympics, those of Jesse Owens and Hitler in 1936, plus the 1974 and 2006 World Cups, including the dramatic 2006 final match. The stadium looks terrific with much of the old architecture still in place around the outside, and an impressive modern setting inside.
However, with all that being said, Berlin’s occupation of the top spot can only be described as fragile – who will take its place, and when? Wimbledon is looking perhaps the likeliest contender and has surged from 7th to 3rd in the past fortnight. The Panathinaiko Stadium would love to be top, but will always suffer from only occasional use, and being out of the public eye (except to tourists) for vast swathes of time. The Melbourne Cricket Ground has surged from 39th to 11th, of late to nick Lord’s as the world’s greatest cricket ground. And there are a host of other venues which would love to claim number one spot, and just require an extra nudge… Augusta and Monaco Grand Prix Circuit to name but two.
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