Bridgestone Arena: a breakdown of the oldest major league sports venue in Tennessee

Some wines and beautiful people get better with age, while others fade over the years. The same is true of sports venues. Some stadiums and arenas deteriorate and become forlorn after only a couple of decades, while others are still vital and beloved a century after they were built—helped along by occasional renovations. Cubs and Knicks fans are as fond of Wrigley Field and Madison Square Garden, respectively, as they are of their teams.

Vivid Seats determined the oldest major sports venue in every state with at least one top professional league team using data from stadium, arena, league, and news websites. Major sports were defined as all teams in the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NHL, MLS, and NWSL—pro leagues with teams that play in a total of 145 venues. The average age of these venues is 22.4 years, and only 20 opened in 1990 or earlier.

NBA arenas appear most often on the national list, with nine of the 28 venues hosting men’s basketball teams. The MLB comes in second with eight; the NHL and WNBA venues have six each; the NFL has five; the NWSL has four; and MLS stadiums appear three times.

Venues were chosen based on the original opening date. Renovations were not factored in, except in cases where the original structure was demolished.

Bridgestone Arena by the numbers

- Year opened: 1996
- City: Nashville
- Capacity: 17,113
- Team: Nashville Predators (NHL)

As the home of country music, the Music City’s sports arena routinely sells out for concerts by America’s biggest country and pop stars. Billie Eilish, John Mayer, and Kacey Musgraves have all performed this year—and the venue hosted the annual Country Music Awards. Ice hockey fans come out for the Predators, a team that consistently sells out the arena. The team has responded by going to the playoffs in 15 of the last 23 seasons.

Keep reading to see which major league sports venues are the oldest in the country.

Oldest major league sports venues

#1. Fenway Park: opened in 1912 in Boston, Massachusetts
#2. Wrigley Field: opened in 1914 in Chicago, Illinois
#3. Providence Park: opened in 1926 in Portland, Oregon
#4. Lambeau Field: opened in 1957 in Green Bay, Wisconsin
#5. Dodger Stadium: opened in 1962 in Los Angeles, California