Ugliest MLB Stadiums, According to Baseball Fans

Chris Altman Sports Betting Expert

4 minute read

Baseball is known as America’s Favorite Pastime, but the stadiums where these storied games come to life is often…not as revered. Fans have their favorite ballparks, but it appears to be out of loyalty to their favorite team rather than an appreciation of the stadium architecture.

Here at VegasInsider we asked over 1,000 baseball fans to rank MLB baseball stadiums by looks alone. We found out that places with celebrated histories don’t always rank highly when it comes to looks. In fact, fans would even prefer to demolish certain ballparks and start from scratch rather than keep them around.

Top 5 Ugliest Stadiums

When it comes to cherished ballparks, the odds are not in favor of the Ringcentral Coliseum where the Oakland Athletics play. The Coliseum got no love from baseball fans, ranking number one across the board as the ugliest place to play ball. It wasn’t the only California stadium to land in the top five. The Los Angeles Angels’ stadium ranked the fifth ugliest in the league. Apparently, the big fountain in the outfield wasn’t enough for fans to give the older baseball stadium a better ranking.

Fans are also not happy that they have to watch baseball inside while in the Sunshine State. The Tampa Bay Rays’ domed Tropicana Field ranked second worst. Aside from its big tarp, people probably aren’t pleased that the stadium is the smallest in the league. The stadium only has a capacity of 25,000. To put it into perspective, the Los Angeles Dodgers stadium seats 56,000, more than double! Another domed stadium getting no love was the Rogers Centre. Fans ranked the Toronto Blue Jays’ stadium as the third ugliest in the league even though its roof is retractable.

Strangely, new does not always mean better. Fans also do not like Nationals Park. The stadium, which was built in 2008, ranked fourth ugliest.

But not every baseball stadium is an error in fans' opinions. The San Francisco Giants’ home field, Oracle Park, topped the list as the most beautiful baseball stadium. It’s no surprise. When you build a baseball stadium where people can watch their favorite sport and admire the San Francisco Bay at the same time you’ve got a winner.

Three of the prettiest MLB stadiums are some of the newest stadiums. Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees), Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals), and Loandepot Park (Miami Marlins) were all built within the last two decades. But age was no factor for the Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley Field. Wrigley, which was built in 1914, ranked fifth prettiest. The oldest park in the league, Fenway Park, wasn’t as lucky in more ways than one. Fenway ranked 13th for its looks.

MLB Stadiums: Renovations…or Demolition?

When it comes to the ugliest baseball stadiums, we asked fans which they'd prefer: renovation or demolition. Fans were on the fence about whether to keep some stadiums around or just tear them straight to the ground. Either way, people agreed the Rogers Centre (Toronto Blue Jays), Ringcentral Coliseum (Oakland Athletics), and Oriole Park (Baltimore Orioles) definitely need work done or should be rebuilt from the ground up.

Unfortunately, Fenway Park’s historic past isn’t flying with baseball fans. They ranked the oldest stadium in the league as fourth in need of renovations or just straight demolition. Another ballpark that fans are ready to raze is Tropicana Field. Fans want to skip renovations all together and start from scratch there.

The Kansas City Royals aren’t faring any better. It appears fans aren’t impressed by the team’s magnificent fountains in the outfield. Kauffman Stadium ranked sixth for needing both renovation and demolition.

Best & Worst MLB Marquees

The newest ballpark in the league may have only ranked the 7th prettiest overall, but its sign is another level. Fans chose the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Field sign as the best of the best in the nation. The Detroit Tigers’ Comerica Park came in second and Oracle Park (San Francisco Giants) was third.

One surprise on the list: the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox sign beat out the Chicago Cubs by just one spot. Apparently, the Cubs infamous marquee wasn’t enough to beat the look of Guaranteed Rate Field’s entrance. Sorry Cubs fans. There’s always next year.

As for those with the worst signs, the Oakland Athletics can’t catch a break. The Ringcentral Coliseum has the worst signage in the league according to fans. People were also not pleased by the look of the Rogers Centre and Petco Park (San Diego Padres).

However, we’d like to think the Rogers Centre would get some better rankings if fans had the chance to visit it in person. 95% of fans surveyed have never been to the ballpark. Instead, the majority have been to the two oldest parks in the league: Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.

Methodology

In April 2022, we surveyed 1,020 baseball fans to get their feedback on MLB stadiums. Respondents ranged in age from 18 to 85 with an average age of 40. 50% were male and 47% female.

Rankings were determined through three data sets: exterior appearance, interior appearance and signage. Each category was on ranked on a 1-5 scale with 1 being the “ugliest” and 5 being the most visually appealing. The average between all three datasets was then taken to determine each stadium’s overall ranking. To remain consistent with interior and exterior images of stadiums, fans were given a collection of images via Google Street of each MLB stadium to make their determination.

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Chris Altman

Chris Altman is a sports betting writer and content expert with almost a decade of experience. He's covered everything, but his current focus is on reviewing sportsbooks and online casinos and keeping tabs on sports betting legislation. Chris has been with VegasInsider since 2019 and has freelanced in the sports betting content industry for years. More from Chris Altman