Downing Stadium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Downing Stadium, previously known as the Triborough Stadium, was a 22,000 seat football stadium in the city of New York. Built in 1934[citation needed] on Randall's Island in the East River as a WPA project, it served as one of two home stadia of the New York Yankees of the second AFL (along with Yankee Stadium) in 1936 and 1937; about four decades later, Downing Stadium became the home of the New York Stars of the WFL in 1974, and the New York Cosmos of the NASL in 1975 (for years after the Cosmos played there, the words "COSMOS SOCCER" remained on the stadium to be seen from the nearby highway). It was also used for some Negro League baseball games in the 1930s and was the site when the United States played Scotland in soccer in 1949.
After it stopped being a major sports venue it was occasionally used as a venue for rock concerts such as Pearl Jam and Tibetan Freedom Festival. The stadium was torn down in 2002 in order to be replaced by a newer complex, Icahn Stadium, which was completed in 2004. The stadium lights, which were taken from Ebbets Field after it was torn down, were left in place to light the new field.
The stadium's largest crowd came in 1936[citation needed] when over 45,000 spectators witnessed Jesse Owens in the Olympic Trials.
The site was considered for a 48,000 capacity soccer specific stadium, based on the design of the City of Manchester Stadium, had New York's bid to host the 2012 Olympics been successful. The plan was shelved when New York lost out to London.
 |
This article about a sports venue in New York is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
|
|||||||||||
