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Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis, USA)
by Jarisleif
Located at 500 South Capital Avenue in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, Lucas Oil Stadium is home to the NFL's Indianapolis Colts. At a cost of $720 million, the stadium was opened August 16, 2008. It has a capacity of 63,000 for football games but can be expanded to 70,000 for concerts, conventions and basketball games. In addition to ... NFL games, it hosts high school football championship games, band and drum corps contests, college basketball championships and more. It will be host to Super Bowl XLVI in 2012.
Lucas Oil Stadium has a retractable roof that divides lengthwise and slide down the sloped roof to open. The roof takes approximately nine minutes to open or close. It also features a moveable window wall. Both allow air to circulate, weather permitting. All through the concourses, there are food, beverage and merchandise stalls, along with places for entertainment, pre and post game interviews, and sponsorship. There are many behind the scenes conference and meeting rooms that can be rented by the public for special functions. It also boasts two exhibition halls.
The stadium is fully accessible to everyone, with many features including ramps, accessible restrooms, family restrooms, accessible ticket and concession counters, and devices for anyone needing hearing assistance. There are many areas for wheelchairs and companion seats for those who are there.
The fully stocked Pro Shop is on site, with all your Colts merchandise needs included. From shirts to calendars to sofas or socks and everything in between, you can find items for yourself or for the Colts fan in your life. Stadium tours are available, and the Pro Shop is the meeting place for tour groups at the start.
I was very impressed with not only the stadium itself, but with the friendliness of the staff and their willingness to see everyone have a great experience. Even if you don't go to an NFL game, I would recommend taking the tour and witnessing this amazing structure for yourself.
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Carrow Road (Norwich City FC)
by thedevilinme
Full name Norwich City Football Club
Nickname(s) The Canaries
Founded --- 17 June 1902; 109 years ago (1902-06-17)
Ground Carrow Road --- Capacity: 27,033
Chairman - Alan Bowkett
Manager - Paul Lambert
2010-11 Championship, 2nd (promoted)
After the seismic ... 6-1 result at Old Trafford that will surely signal Manchester City to go on to dominate British football for the next five years, it was refreshing to note that the British owned and run Norwich City had yet again put out an all British starting eleven to earn a brilliant draw at Anfield last week. Whereas all of Man Citys goal scorers were foreign born and recent purchases, Norwich squad is 90% British, and worth less than Man City's bench players last weekend. Although Ballottli's opening goal was as beautiful as a Tendulker on-drive pass cover, and Silva's impudent flick though the keeper's legs was the perfect metaphor for the blue half's current status in Manchester, this is British football and the current percentage of just 40% of players taking to the pitch being home-grown in the Premiership is far too low and not acceptable. I think it's telling that the Carling Cup quarter-finals contain the top five in the premiership as they know City are going to clean up the big stuff now with those foreign legions.
Now for me I think there is more to the Norwich and Man city results that meets the eye, the first signs that the British players good enough to play in the Premiership but forced out of it by foreign imports are starting to fight back and dragging up teams like Norwich to the top league who will give them a chance and embrace them. The sides that are coming up from the championship are now packed full of British talent and the owners tend to be British too. Far too many of the current foreign signings are less about their ability to help build a team and more about bungs and money laundering for dodgy owners and agents to leach the game dry and avoid tax. Why else would you buy a goalkeeper from Honduras? For me, Norwich City maybe the start of that purification of the British game and very welcome too, this growing ethic also a big help to the national team down the line. Even the recent Liverpool V Man United game saw 14 of the starting 22 from the British Isles, the best home-grown count for 10 years in that particular fixture.
Norwich are a family club in everyway, as patronising as that may sound, the wholesome celebrity presence of Stephen Fry and Delilah Smith up in the directors box reinforcing that 'pipe and slippers' feel in the sleepy Norfolk Broads setting. In fact Fry was recently caught snoozing though one of the games, a man that is turned on by football as much as Alan Carr does Page Three girls in The Sun. But Carrow Road is safe for kids, very important. Norwich were also the subject of the extremely under-rated comedy 'Mike Bassett: England Manager', starring Ricky Tomlinson, a movie you need to see before you die, if just for the scene when the open top bus gets lost on the victory parade. And let's not forget Delia's cooking sherry moment!
......... "A message for the best football supporters in the world: We need a 12th man here. Where are you? Where are you? Let's be having you!"
Squad wise...
There are just four foreigners in their 28 strong squad, brilliant for the national teams of all the home nations as well as Ireland. The quality that got them in the top league as runners up in the Championship last season comes from the mix of journeymen and younger guys who have been given a chance to prove themselves in the top league by Glaswegian manager Paul Lambert. Captain Grant Holt was the big hope, alongside fellow big lug Steve Morrison, but goals still in short supply, very much put it in the mixer guys. Holt is chasing his hatrick of Norwich city player of the year from midfield but yet to look the part. The equally chunky Anthony Pilkington has started to find the net and while the frost stays away they look capable of keeping the ball close to the deck and holding their mid table place, battling back well for their 3-3 draw this weekend with Blackburn Rovers.
Defence wise they seem organised and Ruddy and Rudd good keepers. Why more clubs don't use English keepers is a mystery, always an area where us English excel. I'm quite impressed with Bradley Johnson in midfield and also young James Vaughan, who didn't impress at Everton but shaping up here. Vaughan still holds the record of the youngest ever goal scorer in the Premier league at just 16 years and 270 days, beating Wayne Rooney and James Milner no less.
----Squad----
GK John Ruddy
2 DF Russell Martin
3 DF Adam Drury
4 MF Bradley Johnson
5 FW Steve Morison
6 DF Zak Whitbread
7 MF Andrew Crofts
8 FW James Vaughan
9 FW Grant Holt (captain)
10 FW Simeon Jackson
11 MF Andrew Surman
12 MF Anthony Pilkington
13 GK Declan Rudd
14 MF Wes Hoolahan (vice-captain)
15 MF David Fox
No. Position Player
16 FW Chris Martin
17 MF Elliott Bennett
18 MF Korey Smith
19 MF Simon Lappin
20 DF Leon Barnett
21 FW Aaron Wilbraham
22 DF Elliott Ward
23 DF Marc Tierney
24 DF Ritchie De Laet (on loan from Manchester United)
25 DF Kyle Naughton (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)
26 DF Daniel Ayala
28 DF George Francomb
30 MF Matt Ball
Back in the day before the Premiership when things were ore even squad wise, Norwich and their close rivals Ipswich were impressive teams to watch and won trophies. Neither won the top league but both came close. The Canaries have won the League Cup twice when it was worth winning and made two other finals. Their best top league finish ever is third in 1992-93.
---- Carrow Road----
A nice and neat traditional ground with the crowds snug to the pitch, a welcome sit-down on offer after a laborious journey through East Anglia to get there. Most of Britain's trucks and vans rumble along the roads to the east coast and so traffic can be slow and often tricky, especially on the A11 and A45. You won't see any flatter and duller countryside as long as you live out the car window though, the Norfolk Broads where they make all of Holland's spirit levels.
The Ground itself has ok parking (£3 each for the 2000 car spaces) and not far from the station, the odd residential and industrial estate spot going nearby if you know the area. The main car park does fill up early though.
The ground has seen lots of renovation over the years and each time new seats go in the attendance seems to fall, down from its record attendance of 44,000 (approx) against Leicester City in 1963 to 27,000 all seater, this season seeing the all-seater record crowd broken when they played Swansea City. Their average attendance is around 20,000 so far this season and 24,000 in the championship. They famously suffered a fire that took out the whole of the old City Stand that made the news, the fatal omen to the Bradford City stadium fire just 18 months later.
The Norwich & Peterborough stand leans on the River Wensum that snakes behind the ground and the Corner Stand is known as the 'Snakepit', often used to overflow away fans although visitors are always in the Jarrod Stand, 2500 the regular capacity in that shoebox. But you don't get any trouble there and so it doesn't really matter where you sit. The banjos start playing when the sun goes down in this part of the world so no fans stay around for a ruck. There is basically a stand for every type of supporter at Carrow Road, like I said, the family club. If there home fans are rowdy it's normally because the real ale is off.
You would not be surprised to know the food is scrummy at Carrow Road and fairly cheap in the restaurants, Delia's own company running all the catering. There are a mind boggling 6,000 items on a year's menu and most ingredients sourced locally. Norwich is the only ground I have ever had a restaurant meal in and it was lovely. Holiday Inn has jammed a hotel in one corner and you can book rooms that face the pitch and could watch the game from there for a reasonable view.
Prices for seats on the ground are expensive although the program at £3.50 is definitely one of the cheapest. My last trip to Liverpool to see Northampton play the Cobblers last year saw the program priced at £6.50! I don't think there are many home tickets available for Prem games as they do have 22,000 season ticket holders. They are graded A-C on the website. Expect to pay around £35-40 for the remaining home seats. The away fans are fleeced with a extra tenner.
Away Fans prices:
Adults: £45 (B £35) (C £30)
Over 65's: £35 (B £25) (C £20)
Under 16's £25 (B £20) (C £15)
Under 12's £15 (B £12) (C £10)
---Tickets---
Main Telephone No: 01603 760 760
Ticket Office: 0844 826 1902
Fax No: 01603 613 886
-----------Stadium Records-------------
Highest attendance: 43,984, Norwich City 0-2 Leicester City, FA Cup Sixth Round, 30 March 1963
Highest attendance (all-seater): 26,567, Norwich City 3-1 Swansea City, Premier League, 15 October 2011
Highest attendance (first home game of season, all-seater): 26,272, Norwich City 1-1 Stoke City, Premier League, 21 August 2011
Biggest margin of victory: 8, Norwich City 8-0 Walsall, Football League Third Division South, 29 December 1951. Norwich City 8-0 Sutton United, FA Cup Fourth Round, 28 January 1989
Biggest margin of defeat: 6, Norwich City 1-7 Colchester United, Football League One, 8 August 2009.
Goals in a game: 9 (several occurrences)
= = =Trophy Room = = =
- League Football -
League First Division (level 1)
3rd placed (1) (1992-93)
Football League Second Division (Level 2)
Winners (3): 1971-72, 1985-86, 2003-04
Runners-up (1): 2010-11 (and promoted to Level 1)
Football League Third Division (Level 3)
Winners (2): 1933-34, 2009-10
Runners-up (1): 1959-60
---League Cup---
Winners (2): 1962, 1985
Runners-up (2): 1973, 1975
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =
http://footballgroundguide.com/norwich_city/
http://www.canaries.co.uk/page/CarrowRoad/0,,10355,00.html
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