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Sykotyk | August 28, 2024
Best Stadiums – National
Every year the topic comes up: what is the best high school football stadium? I’m not an architect, so it’s not just the little details that make a stadium great, it’s the setting. If football is a play, the stadium is the stage. The spectators’ seating may be immaculate, but no one really remembers how beautiful the seats and aisles were when they saw The Phantom of the Opera.
The best stadiums are more than the sum of their parts. They stay with you because they dominate your memories. They can be huge stadiums. They can be small stadiums. They can be made of concrete, metal, wood or other materials. They can be futuristic or modern or run down and old. Ultimately, they are the stadiums that when you see photos of them, you say to yourself, “That looks like a cool place to watch a game.” And I’ve seen quite a few places.
I’m sure there are more out there. Like the Granite Bowl in Elberton, Georgia or Edison’s famous rooftop stadium (NJ). Fields hidden in city blocks or surrounded by miles of farmland. High mountains or flat valleys. Many that deserve to be on such a “best stadium” list. With over 16,000 football teams playing this wonderful game called high school football, there is bound to be some debate. Lists like this have been made before. But they focus on celebrities.
Biggest. Loudest. The fans. The quality of the teams on the field. Sure, they will definitely influence your opinion of which game you want to attend. A landslide victory at the Taj Mahal or a smash in a bunch, the game is the game. But those are just the stadiums. And all else being equal, where do you want to watch a game as a fan?
There are two lists for this exercise. Inside and outside of Pennsylvania. These are not the top five. And in no particular order, they are five of the best stadiums you will ever see.
This week, stadiums outside of Pennsylvania. Look for the list of the best stadiums in Pennsylvania next Wednesday.
ROUND VALLEY DOME, EAGAR, ARIZONA
Originally called the Round Valley Ensphere, but now called the Round Valley Dome, the stadium opened in 1991. It is the home of the Round Valley Elks and is the ONLY covered high school football stadium. Other high schools play in domes, such as the schools in Frisco ISD who share time at the Ford Center, or Vermillion (SD) who play at the Dakota Dome, or Cedar Falls (IA) who play at the UNI-Dome, but only one school owns the dome in which it plays exclusively, and that is Round Valley. The city, built with property tax revenue from the most valuable piece of land in the area, the Tucson Electric Power plant, sits 7,000 feet above sea level, so building a dome in Eastern Arizona doesn’t seem like a fool’s errand.
It’s also made of wood. It’s one of the few wooden domes that traditionally host outdoor sports. Its age is clearly evident. The 33-year-old stadium has already been renovated and regularly maintained. The facility’s lighting has given it a distinctive amber hue that matches the home team’s black and yellow jerseys. Although it’s a high school stadium, it feels like a professional venue. And unlike other small domes in the country, the dome is circular. It’s not shaped like a long arched corridor, as some others are.
You can find more photos HERE.
“THE CLIFF” at SMILEY RATLIFF FIELD, HURLEY, VIRGINIA
The Cliff is an imposing defender for the Hurley Rebels. The Cliff guards the west end zone and dominates the skyline in a way rarely seen in a high school stadium. Large flat lots are hard to find in the small valleys of southwest Virginia, so blasting out a mountain corner is no problem for a school building a football field.
Smiley Ratliff Field is located directly behind the school and is just large enough to accommodate the playing field. It is Hurley’s home stadium.
But this field won’t last forever. Hurley, Grundy and Twin Valley are scheduled to close after the 2025 season. The new Southern Gap High School will open with a new stadium in fall 2026, so there are only two seasons left to see a game in front of high school football’s most imposing facades.
You can find more photos HERE.
“THE FLINTLOCK” BRISTOL MUNICIPAL STADIUM, BRISTOL, TENNNESSEE
Not far from Hurley, along the Virginia-Tennessee border, are the twin cities of Bristol, Virginia and Bristol, Tennessee. Built in 1936, the city was home to teams from Virginia High School (Bristol, VA) and Tennessee High School (Bristol, TN), as well as Slater High School (Bristol, Tennessee) and Douglas High School (Bristol, Virginia), both of which are now closed and racially segregated.
The stadium is built like a castle. The venue is an impressive structure, built entirely from local stone. Completely enclosed by stone walls, watchtowers, turrets and a gatehouse.
You can find more photos HERE.
Monument Valley Field, Monument Valley, Utah
On the southern border of Utah, just a few miles from Arizona, is one of the most spectacular stadiums you’ve ever seen. But it’s not the stands that will blow you away. The simple aluminum structure next to the school building isn’t the real attraction.
This is what you see from these stands. The famous Monument Valley formations lie in the distance across the field and highway from the school. Located primarily within Monument Valley Tribal Park, the impressive formations set the scene for one of the best views you’ll ever see on a Friday night.
If you happen to check out this venue today, you will see an 8-man game, as Monument Valley was one of the first teams in the state of Utah to join the new 8-man classification.
BUCCANEER FIELD, BEACH, NORTH DAKOTA
If you notice a pattern, it’s the towns along state borders that offer the best views. Maybe not as impressive as Monument Valley or as close as Hurley’s Cliff. But Buccaneer Field, west of the underrated Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, offers a panoramic landscape that my in-game photos don’t do justice to.
Buccaneer Field is located north of town and just south of I-94 on the western edge of North Dakota in the aptly named Golden Valley County. It is the home of the Beach Buccaneers. Just a few miles east of Montana. The stands face east, offering fans in attendance a great view. Sentinel Butte lies to the east-northeast, and nothing but golden fields stretch out in the distance. In late August, rows of round bales line the landscape.
You can find more photos HERE.
There are so many stadiums, all of which have good arguments for or against being included on this list. But this is my list and I visited all of them for inclusion. Although Monument Valley was just passing by. I stopped twice. Once in 2013 and again in early 2024. The rest were all for college football games.
In previous years, I would have listed Grass Range, Montana. But the slow decline in population has wiped out many schools and teams. Just as Hurley will soon be a memory, so too will Ryan Field in Grass Range.
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