Most stadiums are built to host sporting events In many places professional sports teams partner with cities to build stadiums for baseball football and soccer teams Colleges and universities build stadiums for their athletic teams Governments also build stadiums for special events such as the Olympic Games The city of London built the Olympic Stadium when it hosted the 2012 Summer Olympic Games Beginning in 2016 the stadium will be used to host soccer matches sporting events and live music concerts 6
Located in Arlington Texas AT T Stadium is the home of the Dallas Cowboys a National Football League team Completed in 2009 it is considered the world’s largest domed structure Building these super structures takes a lot of time effort and money Stadium designs range from simple to complex Building a stadium takes several years and hundreds of workers Around the world stadiums are some of the most amazing engineering wonders 7
A tunnel-like entrance built with stone leads to the track in an early Greek stadium Early Greek Stadiums More More than 3,000 years ago ancient Greeks built the first stadiums The word stadium comes from the word stadion an ancient Greek unit of length that equaled about 630 feet 192 meters The first stadiums had a simple flat track in the arena The track was made from hard-packed clay and shaped like a U It had start and finish lines at the two ends 8
A stone stand with separate entrances was built alongside the track From the stands judges and spectators could watch the athletes Sometimes early stadiums were built near natural hills Spectators could sit on the hill for a clear view of the races Later the Greeks added stone and marble seats to the stands They also added steps and divisions to make it easier for spectators to enter and exit the seating area Spectators sat on hills and surrounding land to watch the races on the track in early Greek stadiums 9
