anyone have any good pics of turner field during and after the olympics?

[xtimx]

i'd be interested in seeing some good pics of turner field when it hosted the olympics and pics of the construction to alter it for baseball use.

thanks.

[Yankeeman080]

Not the Greatest but here 2 pics I found

Not the Greatest but here is a link to a pic when it was used during the Olympics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:A...picstadium.JPG

Here is also link of a construction photo transforming Olympic Stadium to modern day Turner Field http://richardweisser.com/photoman80.htm
Just cut and paste the link to your address bar.

[nymdan]

[reh303]

In this picture you can definitely tell that the stadium was designed for later baseball use. Nice.

[BradC34]

I was thinking the same thing.

[skobabe8]

In this picture you can definitely tell that the stadium was designed for later baseball use. Nice.

Alot of people have ripped ATL for this but I dont see what the big deal is. They did a good job of not wasting a ton of money this way IMO.

[Jim Vaz]

I thought it was a great idea. As it is, they waste of ton of material when hosting these Olympics, buildings either get unused or just dismantled anyway. So for them to make a good portion of it while converting the other 1/3rd of it to baseball only is smart.

[btown12]

I agree, I don't see how you could rip anyone for doing it this way. I'm sure the taxpayers of Georgia were not ripping anyone for killing two birds with one stone and saving them a couple hundred million dollars.

Was someone upset because the home plate corner was an extra 40 feet away from the track? I don't get it.

[reh303]

Alot of people have ripped ATL for this but I dont see what the big deal is. They did a good job of not wasting a ton of money this way IMO.

Agreed. Well done by ATL.

[Chevy114]

Yeah it looks like only a small amount of people would have a bad view for track events, good job atl!

[PeteU]

Yeah it looks like only a small amount of people would have a bad view for track events, good job atl!

And unlike Olympic Stadium in Montreal, you would never have guessed the place had once housed track and field.

[Chevy114]

Yeah they did a lot to make it into a baseball only facility, just like when the rays had to convert their hockey shaped stadium for baseball again.

[efin98]

Yeah it looks like only a small amount of people would have a bad view for track events, good job atl!

Frankly I think due to it's irregular shape actually contouring to the track itself the start/finish line is closer to them so the "bad seats" are actually pretty darn good overall

[PeteU]

Yeah they did a lot to make it into a baseball only facility, just like when the rays had to convert their hockey shaped stadium for baseball again.

Actually, Tropicana Field/Suncoast Dome was always designed with baseball first in mind. As the hockey rink is a lot smaller than a baseball field, the Lightning were able to add seats surrounding the rink which were on the baseball field itself. Much like what was done with the basketball courts at the Kingdome, Georgia Dome, Silverdome, and any full sized domed stadium that has hosted basketball or hockey events.

In 1992, when the San Francisco Giants had signed a tenative deal to move to Tampa Bay, I do remember seeing diagrams of the Suncoast Dome and how it would have been set up. It wasn't radically different than what it is now--it was symmetrical and had more foul territory, and would have had dirt cutouts on the Astroturf, but otherwise was pretty much the same set-up.

This is what the Suncoast Dome looked like pre-Rays (just imagine Astroturf where the concert floor seating was):



That being said, I do agree with you that after the Devil Rays/Rays came into existance, the ownership did do a good job at making Tropicana Field a lot more baseball friendly, tweaking the dimensions, cutting down on foul territory and adding a traditional dirt diamond as opposed to the dirt cutouts (and eventually installing FieldTurf as opposed to traditional Astroturf.) As you can see from the photo above, the Suncoast Dome would have looked pretty dull and lifeless as it was originally designed, much like the Kingdome.

ON EDIT: I will admit this picture of the "Thunderdome" (Suncoast Dome/Tropicana Field) makes it look like a pretty intimidating hockey venue:

[Chevy114]

Yeah it definately has a better basball feel now! Am I wrong or does the thunderdome still hold the record for attendence at a hockey playoff game?