The Stadium: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play

by Frank Andre Guridy

The sweeping story of the American stadium—from the first wooden ballparks to today’s glass and steel mega-arenas—revealing how it has made, and remade, American life Stadiums are monuments to recreation, sports, and pleasure. Yet from the earliest ballparks to the present, stadiums have also functioned as public squares. Politicians have used them to cultivate loyalty to the status quo, while activists and athletes have used them for anti-fascist rallies, Black Power demonstrations, feminist protests, and much more.   In this book, historian Frank Guridy recounts the contested history of play, protest, and politics in American stadiums. From the beginning, stadiums were political, as elites turned games into celebrations of war, banned women from the press box, and enforced racial segregation. By the 1920s, they also became important sites of protest as activists increasingly occupied the stadium floor to challenge racism, sexism, homophobia, fascism, and more. Following the rise of the corporatized stadium in the 1990s, this complex history was largely forgotten. But today’s athlete-activists, like Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe, belong to a powerful tradition in which the stadium is as much an arena of protest as a palace of pleasure.  Moving between the field, the press box, and the locker room, this book recovers the hidden history of the stadium and its important role in the struggle for justice in America.  

Genres: History, Sports, Politics, Nonfiction, American History

368 pages, Hardcover

Published August 20, 2024

Reviews

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I thought it would be, and as a result it turned into a slog to finish. I was hoping for an indepth look at the funding evolution of stadiums, who benefits, who pays, who loses, and the promises made along the way. instead I got a look at a handful events that took place at stadiums. I learned some things but not what I was expecting. Also Guridy over used the word classic meaning a football game, it became annoying whatever

[Adam Metz · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his book, The Joy of Sports, Michael Novak remarked that if an alien from outer space were to visit earth, one of the first things this visitor would be sure to notice are the large bowl-like structures that we call stadiums peppered throughout our medium and large size cities. In this book, Guridy offers a history of these modern cathedrals and the many purposes they have served from the circus to sports to political theatrics and protest. He tells a compelling story beginning in the early days of traveling circuses and the struggle to find financial footing to build a sustainable permanent structures. In these earliest days, stadiums served as community spaces and drew people together, but they have been swallowed up by corporate interests and the machine of capitalism which now often segregates communities catering to the wealthiest citizens.

Alongside the primary function of hosting sporting events and concerts, however, stadiums have also served as important civic meetings for political national conventions, voting locations, and platforms for protest. Guridy notes at the end the unique role the stadium has for in-person community in a time when there are fewer experiences of that.

I found his perspective insightful and interesting. I was unaware of the unabashed racist origin of the Sugar Bowl and had not read much of the Gay Games in SF. He compellingly tells the story of how the stadium played crucial roles in communities in their fight for equality (Gay Games) overcoming racial tension (Watts Festival), and accessibility for voting (during COVID). I was surprised that there wasn't a single mention of the Billy Graham Crusades and the use of stadiums for religious purposes. There was a time in the 80s when that was a frequent use and it would have been interesting to see Gudiry explore how those Crusades functioned alongside some of the other unfinished cultural moments.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC of this book*

This was a well researched and engaging read on a fascinating part of sports history. As someone who has done research on how sports make local and regional identities, I find the study of the stadium an integral and interesting addition to this study.

I also really enjoyed that this author did not focus on one specific time period, but instead looked at all the ways that stadia have developed and been considered throughout US history.

The real strength of this book is the treatment of stadia as sights of political action and reaction. There is a pervasive, but flawed, argument that sports and politics do not mix, and this work is another nail in the figurative coffin of that argument.

My only complaint with this work was that sometimes I felt that the sections were repetitive. I would be reading through some paragraphs only to think that I had gone back a page by accident. Otherwise, this book was an enjoyable read and I learned a lot about the subject that influenced my own thinking on sports and society.

[Mr. Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can also see this review, along with others I have written, at my blog, Mr. Book's Book Reviews.

Mr. Book just finished The Stadium: An American History Of Politics, Protest And Play, by Frank Andre Guridy.

This book was published in August 2024.

This book focused on stadiums being used for other things, such as political conventions and rallies, as well as issues arising inside of stadiums such as segregation, the battles to get women into clubhouses and press boxes to be able to cover games, public funding of stadiums, stadiums used as voting places and many more.

This book did a great job of covering the intersection of sports and politics.

I give this book an A.

Goodreads requires grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews, and Goodreads.

Mr. Book finished reading this on December 3, 2024.

[David Smedley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take by a faculty member on history and African American studies at Columbia University on how events at stadiums have shaped societal and political discourse, and how the changes since the 1960s from stadiums being publicly owned to being privately owned (albeit with some involving public financing) resulted in different such messaging, with increasing polarization as a result of stratification. He touches on all of what might be considered the obvious examples of events at stadiums that we know about but also discusses things that may not be as well known publicly - notably, the history of usage of college stadiums and unfortunate racial discrimination and the history of American college football bowl games through to current over corporatization. This might be the best part of the book, though his point about publicly owned stadiums not having as much (if any) overt advertising was something I hadn’t totally thought about until I read his argument.

[Soph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really interesting and well-structured. I do think Guridy’s writing was kind of simplistic at times, and I wish he had written more “beautifully,” but I appreciate that he prioritized the function of his words over their form in order to reach general in addition to academic audiences. Tbh at first I thought writing a book about stadiums was kind of gimmicky and arbitrary, but his argument has convinced me on their ability to serve as multipurpose sites of everything ranging from Nazism to public enjoyment of sports to American militarized patriotism to paragons of midcentury architecture to 21st century social justice.

Also, he visited my history class and he was so nice! We chatted about the WNBA and their collective bargaining agreement with the league owners 😊😊 I love meeting historians they are like my personal celebrities

[Bargain Sleuth Book Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

My thanks to Basic Books and NetGalley for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I must not have read the blurb carefully enough because I thought this book was about sports stadiums and the politics behind using public funds to build new stadiums for private clubs. What this book actually is about is how stadiums have been used through the years as a place of political protest. Nothing wrong with that angle, and I gladly dove in, but the author's bias showed up throughout the book. Regardless of if I agree with the author or not, I was expecting a more fact-based, objective book, which this most definitely is not. It's an interesting topic that deserves a more balanced approach.

[Karim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book clearly proves a few things, stadiums as we know it have gone from ‘palaces of the people’ to corporate class warfare. This book also illustrates how stadiums across the country have always been a stage for politics. Whether it’s the Nazi Party holding a rally in Madison Square Garden (yes it happened) or the Gay Olympics going toe to toe with the USOC at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, politics have always been a part of sports.

And all this before we get to the gender politics of women in sports reporting and the truly distasteful plan to incorporate the military in sports for a buck. Truly fascinating start to finish. I definitely see stadiums across the country in a new light.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each chapter covers a different chapter in American history related to specific uses of the stadium that extend beyond athletics and into politics, social justice, etc. It is an interesting book and you could build an entire interdisciplinary course around its contents by focusing on; history, activism, public finance, etc.

The final chapter is where Guridy really hit his stride - that chapter could have been a book in itself by expanding on the velvet-rope economy, the fine details of public financing, Ticketmaster, etc.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

In many ways, this book was more an American history as told through its stadiums. I particularly liked the first chapters on the original stadiums, it's crazy how quickly the phenomena of stadiums and their civic importance took flight. My only criticism is that there was not a graph of ticket prices in the chapter about consumerism/capitalism taking over stadiums. Otherwise, this was really interesting and a cool way to revisit American history, while learning many new things along the way.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listed as a Planetizen best of 2024, I had high hopes for this book. It's not really about stadiums and their place in the urban infrastructure (a little bit) but predominantly examples of events that were political in nature at various times in various stadiums over time.

It was interesting, but I think it's barely related chapters about various events tenuously connected by their occurrence in a stadium. Some chapters might be interesting/good reads for high school students.

[Jake Shenot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in light of the Sixers Stadium fiasco, and it provides great summaries and examples of the American sporting stadium as a prism for political movements in society and how capitalist and corporate forces appease societal pressures.

[John Harrington]

Meh. Book spans a lot of subtopics (civil rights movement, anti-fascism, et. al.), but might have worked better if it picked one and did a deeper dive. Agree with most of his points and definitely learned some new things, but think a little more focus would have made for a better product.

[Thom · Rating 2 out of 5]

This felt like a sociology textbook that mostly discussed discrimination to various groups within society. while it discussed at length economics regarding stadiums, it failed to contrast city economies with and without professional sports teams.

[Jo Ben Whittenburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and informative read. Some stories I knew about but many I did not and overall a good review of how these iconic spaces have been used throughout recent US history

[Gianluca Sanzone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really really interesting and insightful. Never saw how stadiums were a vessel and a catalyst for civic engagement and civil rights. Curious how we tailor design to bring these aspects back.

[Roy Kenagy]

DMPL EXAMINED 2024_12_05

Guardian review https://www.theguardian.com/sport/202... "examines the successful repurposing of the US sports stadium into a hub of American public life"

SPORTS AS NARRATIVE FOCUS IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Compare to library efforts to be a public space. Attenuated, but a possible means of contrasting the niche environments