Regan Huizenga/The Daily Northwestern
Guridy’s talk centered on his latest book, “The Stadium: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play.”
October 21, 2025
Historian Frank Andre Guridy illustrated that the American stadium is not just a venue for sporting events, but also a political institution and community space in a talk Monday night.
The Columbia University professor and three-time author spoke at the Evanston Public Library about his latest book, “The Stadium: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play,” which discusses the history and influence of the American stadium.
Guridy opened his talk with a description of President Donald Trump’s 2024 rally at Madison Square Garden — a venue often dubbed the world’s most famous arena, he said. He added the rally might have seemed incongruous for a stadium, “but it really wasn’t, for the arena has hosted numerous gatherings of all types throughout its long history.”
“I want us to consider the stadium, both the indoor and outdoor facility that houses sport, entertainment and a vast array of other events, including political ones, as an institution where Americans have projected their desires and discontents,” Guridy said.
Guridy emphasized that stadiums, while usually associated with sporting events, are so much more in the U.S. They are places designed to bring different segments of the community together, he said, and best understood as community institutions that play a central role in American politics and society.
Ultimately, they are also political spaces because the government has been deeply involved in their funding and use throughout history, he said. Guridy explained that, beginning in the 20th century, political conventions were often hosted in stadiums.
“Government officials discovered stadiums’ potential for gathering an audience so that they could promote their policies and their personalities,” he said.
Stadiums such as Madison Square Garden and the old Chicago Stadium often held political conventions and rallies as a part of their regular rotation of events.
More than just political events, though, stadiums have also been home to social movements. Guridy said “the stadium was a prime location to effectively challenge racism, sexism, militarism and homophobia,” because it was a place built for thousands of American spectators.
Stadiums have become more strongly associated with sporting events only since the early 20th century, Guridy said. Even sporting events can be political, he added.
Guridy cited the carrying of the American flag at pre-game ceremonies at major sporting events as an example. He said that in the period after the Vietnam War and Watergate, a time of widespread suspicion and distrust of the government, these ceremonies were used to promote patriotism.
Certain political rituals were also set in motion in stadiums after 9/11, he added. After the attacks, President George W. Bush threw the first pitch in Game 3 of the 2001 World Series. His first pitch “refashioned American nationalism,” Guridy said.
Stadiums also quickly shifted from expressions of grief at sporting events to rituals elevating first responders, especially firefighters and police officers, as heroes, he said.
“Sports franchises and politicians encouraged Americans to blindly root for the new home teams: the police and fire departments,” Guridy said.
Teams and leagues joined the race to be the most patriotic, he explained. The New York Jets and the New York Giants wore New York City Fire Department and New York City Police Department caps at games, and “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” began to be replaced with “God Bless America” during this period, he said.
Flags were regularly unveiled during pre-game ceremonies by soldiers and police officers during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to promote military appreciation and patriotism, Guridy said.
Guridy also pointed to a paradox of inclusion and exclusion in stadiums throughout their history.
“Stadiums have been theaters to enact ideologies of exclusion,” he said.
This has included a proliferation of luxury suites, premium seating and corporatization in stadiums, he added.
Evanston resident Laurie Howick said she has noticed the corporatization and monetization of these spaces over time. In the 1980s, she used to go to Chicago Cubs games and sit in the bleachers for $2, she said. Later, prices rose to $3 and then $6, she said.
“The appeal of it became so much more elitist,” Howick said.
Howick said she attended Guridy’s talk primarily because she wanted to see how the topic of the Ryan Field construction would play out. The resident also said she has had a “very strong, emotional reaction” to the construction.
Although Guridy did mention Ryan Field briefly, the topic was not a main point of his talk. Instead, he focused on the history of stadiums in America – something that event organizer and Assistant History Prof. Robin Bates said he appreciated.
“This is the history of something that I didn’t think of as having a continuous history,” Bates said.
He added that Guridy’s book isn’t merely a history of sporting events that happen in stadiums, but rather a history of the place “where the public happens.”
Guridy emphasized this point multiple times throughout his talk, explaining that stadiums serve multiple functions and have become akin to public squares where Americans have pushed and pulled over various issues.
“As it has for more than a century, the stadium and the arena will act as a barometer of the state of democracy and the fate of the nation in the years to come,” Guridy said.
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