Sporting venues in urban spaces

I had the pleasure of visiting (from the outside) a shrine to baseball history this past week– the timeless, iconic home of the Boston Red Sox. Fenway Park has been an institution in the city of Boston for well over a century. It’s somewhat a rarity among sporting venues in the United States in that it’s tucked within a dense, walkable neighborhood rather than the suburban throws of the metropolitan area like many others. Urban sporting venues have come to define our downtown scenes over the last century, with the most iconic of them embedded into both the geographic and cultural fabric of our cities (see Fenway Park, Wrigley Field in Chicago).

Fenway Park

Why does this matter though? It’s just sports, right? I’d argue it’s more. I’ve written extensively on what builds and hinders community in American urban spaces. Community thrives the most organically and spontaneously in walkable environments that encourage interactions with neighbors. Part of these interactions include a shared space or identity uniting a group of people that otherwise wouldn’t identify with one another. In walkable communities and car-dependent environments alike, American cities and towns have come to find sports as a uniting front to rally behind. 

The argument can be made that the most intense of sports fandoms in this country can be found in cities that experience these organic and spontaneous interactions through walkability and accessibility. In cities such as Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia, their cities' identities wouldn’t be the same without their sports teams. They serve as an integral element of the urban experience in those cities. I found this quite apparent during my 24 hours in Philadelphia this past Super Bowl Sunday. The fact that the entire city shut down that day to celebrate (and later mourn) the Philadelphia Eagles and hundreds of thousands of Philadelphians from all walks of life could all unite under a simple ‘go Birds’ chant speaks volumes to the immense role sports play in the American urban landscape. 

The same could just as easily be said about suburban and rural communities that cheer on collegiate and professional teams. This has been a glaring observation of mine as I’ve visited across rural North Carolina the last five years and met the most die-hard of Carolina fans. In these communities, Carolina basketball is revered as a family tradition dating back over half a century. Sports have built shared identity in cities across the country and the world, regardless of a community’s physical density.

This identity component has become apparent to me in my year of living in Durham. Considered one of the best sporting experiences in minor league ball, attending a Durham Bulls game provides a more intimate and affordable setting for a baseball game when compared to major league counterparts. The 1995 refurbishing of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park has come to redefine the downtown scene. Bulls games provide a unique experience to folks visiting downtown Durham. The Bulls have become a (arguably the) shared identity among Durhamites, with their logo displayed on the shirts and hats of urban dwellers and suburban families alike.

Durham Bulls Athletic Park

Me with beloved Bulls mascot Wool E. Bull

This post more than anything is a love letter to how sports can unify us in any setting, but particularly in the American urban environment that innately discourages building community with one another through, among other factors, its car-dependency. In two weeks, I’ll expand on how sporting venues and other downtown destinations can serve as breeding grounds for community building. As always, I’m excited to hear your thoughts on how you observe this dynamic with sports teams in your city or town.