Stadium design
The rise and fall of the multipurpose stadium
How a generation of round, shared stadiums was built in a decade and torn down in another.
Lost Stadiums · Updated October 19, 2026
In the 1960s and early 1970s, several American cities answered the same question the same way. Their baseball and football teams both needed new homes, and one large stadium could serve both. The result was a run of round or nearly round concrete stadiums, often ringed by parking, designed to convert between a diamond and a gridiron.
Shea Stadium opened in Queens in 1964. Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium followed in 1965 and Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis in 1966. In 1970 Pittsburgh and Cincinnati opened Three Rivers Stadium and Riverfront Stadium within weeks of each other, and Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium opened in 1971.
The compromise that made them affordable also made them unloved. Baseball seats sat far from the infield because the bowl had to fit a football field, and football fans sat far from the sidelines because the stands were shaped around a diamond. Most used artificial turf for long stretches of their lives.
The era ended quickly. Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium's last season was 1996, and it came down in 1997. Three Rivers closed in 2000 and was demolished in 2001. Riverfront's last season was 2002, Veterans Stadium's was 2003, and Busch Memorial's was 2005. Shea outlasted most of them and closed in 2008.
Almost every city replaced its shared stadium with two buildings, one for each sport. Each venue page links to the stadiums that replaced it and shows what stands on the old site today, from parking to new ballparks built next door.