Thompson Stadium was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stadium located on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

and used by the

Staten Island Stapletons The Staten Island Stapletons, also known as the Staten Island Stapes, were a professional American football team. Founded in 1915, they played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1929 in sports, 1929 to 1932 in sports, 1932. The team was ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

from 1924 until 1933. It was located on the site of present Berta A. Dreyfus Intermediate School 49 and the Stapleton Houses. The stadium was built in the early 1920s by the wealthy owner of the local Thompson's Lumber Company. It was built against a hill in Staten Island's Stapleton neighborhood and doubled in summer as a home for

semi-pro ''Semi-Pro'' is a 2008 American sports comedy film. The film was directed by Kent Alterman in his directorial debut, written by Scot Armstrong, and produced by Jimmy Miller. It stars Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André 3000 (credited as And ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. Inside its stockade fence, about 8,000 uncovered bleacher seats encircled the field. The field's locker rooms consisted of sheds standing just outside the fence. Stapleton's owner, Dan Blaine, owned a restaurant which was located next door to the stadium, and after games and practices players and fans would meet up for beers. While an average of 3,000 fans normally paid their way into each game, hundreds of others would usually watch the game for free from the hill behind the south end zone. Although far smaller than other NFL venues, like the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the ...

and

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

, Thompson's Stadium hosted four years of NFL football. The stadium was demolished in 1958, and the borough of Staten Island would be left without a professional ballpark until the Ballpark at St. George was completed in 2001.

References

* * * {{Defunct NFL stadiums Sports venues in New York (state) Defunct NFL venues American football venues in New York City Baseball venues in New York City Staten Island Stapletons Sports venues in Staten Island 1920s establishments in New York City 1958 disestablishments in New York (state) Sports venues demolished in 1958