With plans being developed for a new stadium for AFC Bournemouth, we're taking a salivating look at what the future might have in store for our club. We've scoured the world for what we feel are best stadia with a capacity broadly within the club's stated range - around 20,000, give or take a few. We're going to talk about what we like about them, what features we think can be incorporated into a new stadium for us - and where they could be improved. A new entry in the top 10 will be published every few days until we've completed our countdown - and then we'll collate it all into one post for posterity. Sport in Columbus, the state capital of Ohio, is dominated by college teams. There is no NFL team, no major league baseball, no basketball team in the NBA. The Ohio State college football team plays in the 103,000 capacity "Horseshoe" Ohio Stadium and was home to the Columbus Crew MLS team in the late 1990s. The club moved into the capacity Historic Crew Stadium in 1999. The stadium was the first purpose-built, dedicated football stadium in the MLS and represented a landmark moment in US football culture. After a change of ownership in 2018 the club announced its intention to build a new stadium in downtown Columbus - Lower.com field. The stadium took a little under two years to construct. It is comprised of four distinct stands rather than a seating bowl, fully covered with a roof compared to its mostly open predecessor. 3,356 of the 20,371 capacity is dedicated to a single tier safe standing supporters' section behind the north goal which has a 37 degree rake, keeping fans close to the game and creating a wall of supporters. Two of the remaining stands are split into two tiers while the final stand is a single lower tier, topped by a wall of VIP seats and boxes. There is even under-seat WiFi. The pitch lies 22 feet beneath ground level which gives the stadium a deceptively low profile at street level and there is simple expansion potential into the currently empty corners. The north stand is served by a beer garden and patio decks while the fans in the south have a 5000 square foot brew hall to provide refreshment and seamlessly blend the inside to the outdoors. Hospitality is incredibly well catered for in Columbus - there are 10 different types of premium hospitality offering distinct experiences from simple padded seats with a view to lounges that feature pitchside patios and log fires. The home dressing room is adjacent to one of these lounges and the players make their way to and from the pitch directly through this suite, bringing those supporters able to afford the experience extremely close to their team. Columbus introduced the MLS to the purpose-built football stadium which changed the game in the US. Their new stadium takes this to the next level, serving the full gamut of needs of the modern game. <iframe class="yt_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ggv1lC1lv6o" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe> ✅ Single tier safe standing wall ✅ Steep rakes to the stands ✅ Four distinct stands mean no danger of the soulless bowl syndrome ❎ Why is there a big screen in the stand where fans could be? ❎ The empty gaps in the corners provide an easy expansion opportunity but leave things feeling unfinished. ❎ Not enough affordable seating. We're primarily looking at design here but it feels like the balance between premium and affordable is off and the stadium needs to be bigger to sustain the amount of hospitality it offers5. Lower.com Field, Columbus
What we like:
What we'd change: