Essay Sample on Hosting the Pope at Yankee Stadium

Introduction

Sports stadia often serve one major purpose; to host sporting events. Since sporting events are seasonal and often a weekly affair, they are at times booked for events other than sports matches or even sporting events of a different nature. Some football (soccer) stadia for instance host rugby games, while basketball courts host volleyball events as well. The Yankee stadium was a favorite spot in New York City which many Americans considered a tourist attraction. The Baseball stadium that hosted the New York Yankees team was founded in 1922 and sadly closed in 2008 after over 80 years of serving New Yorkers and the National Baseball League (Jones, 2018). Regardless, the stadium had served its role for the New York Baseball team, becoming a source of glory with the many championships won there for over seven decades. This essay discusses the different roles played by sports stadia, with the case study of the Yankee Stadium, exposing challenges events managers may have had hosting the Pope there.

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Multiple Uses of the Yankee Stadium

Since opening in 1922, there have been hundreds of events in the stadium. Although a majority of the events have been baseball games, the Yankee Stadium is famous for a lot of special events as well. In 1965 for instance, Pope Paul VI hosted a Catholic mass at the stadium. Similarly, in 1992, Pope John Paul II hosted a mass there as well. In 1988, the famous American ban Beach Boys performed at the stadium. Billy Joel also performed a Rock Concert at the stadium in 1990. The New York Yankee Stadium is also remembered by many Americans as the place where thousands gathered for the memorial of the September 9, 2001 terror attack. While these were not the only events in the stadium, they presented the greatest logistical challenges to the events managers who set up and oversaw these events (Jones, 2018). The most logistical nightmare was the Pope Benedict XVI visit in 2008.

Logistical Challenges Hosting the Pope at Yankee Stadium

The Pope is the head of the Catholic denomination of Christians. Several Popes have visited and held mass at the Yankee Stadium. Pope Benedict XVI's visit was, however, a significant concern due to the thousands of Americans that thronged the stadium to see him. Getting the stadium available was thus the first major hurdle. The major concern was to ensure that there was ample security. Although New York has not had many terror attacks in the past, active shooter threats have often existed and claimed many lives. Securing the stadium has always been the purview of the New York Police Department (Jones, 2018). The challenge, however, is that when events other than Baseball are held there, the event management team has to provide their own security or subcontract the NYPD, if there can be officers available for the task. The large size of the stadium has also made it difficult for event management to control crowd trouble. It thus takes a lot of effort to hold an event at the stadium.

Conclusion

Hosting events other than sport at a sports stadia is a challenging affair. Many stadia do not encourage multipurpose use for security reasons (Cho, Joo, & Chi, 2019). The New York Yankees stadium has however hosted hundreds of non-sporting events. Not only is it a major landmark in New York, but it is also among the oldest sports stadia in the United States. Managing an event at the New York Yankee stadium such as hosting the Pope is a significant challenge many managers have struggled to get past in the time it was open. Now that the stadium is closed, it only leaves memories about great events and emotional seasons for the New York Yankees.

References

Cho, H., Joo, D., & Chi, C. G. (2019). Tourism Management Perspectives. Tourism Management, 29, 97-104. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dongoh_Joo/publication/329307779_Examining_nostalgia_in_sport_tourism_The_case_of_US_college_football_fans/links/5c00c528299bf1a3c156299f/Examining-nostalgia-in-sport-tourism-The-case-of-US-college-football-fans.pdf

Jones, M. (2018). Comeback Season: The Power of Sports after Tragedy. Social Education, 82(4), 188-191. Retrieved from https://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/publications/articles/se_8204188.pdf