If You Think the Oakland Coliseum Is Old, Check Out Stockholm Stadium!

Here I am in front of Stockholm Stadium in Stockholm, Sweden.

Sports

Stockholm Stadium is an imposing red brick structure. It is one of several soccer pitches located in the soccer-mad Swedish capital, which hosts fully 39 professional soccer teams.

Solider Field in Chicago, Illinois, was built in 1924, Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, was built in 1957, and the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California, was built in 1967.

If you think these three National Football League stadiums are old, check out Stockholm Stadium.

The beautiful red brick structure, which is located in the Swedish capital’s posh Ostermalm section, was built in 1912.

Holding 14,417 fans for soccer, a.k.a. European football, and 32,000 for concerts, the imposing edifice was renovated in 2011-2012.

The stadium demonstrates that old doesn’t have to mean out of date. Facilities just have to be properly maintained. From time to time they need to be renovated.

Sometimes that means new plumbing, new wiring, new seats . You get the idea.

It does not necessarily have to mean tearing the whole thing down and starting from scratch.

Is there a lesson in this for Mark Davis?

Swedish Soccer

Stockholm Stadium is not the only soccer stadium in Stockholm. There are several others. But Stockholm Stadium is surely the most beautiful.

The Swedes are mad about soccer, and Stockholm alone has 39 professional teams and more than 100 amateur teams.

The Swedish National Team and AIK play at Friends Arena, Sweden’s largest football stadium. It holds 50,000 fans

Hammarby and Djurgardens play at Tele2 Arena, which holds 30,000 fans.