Downing Stadium, previously known as Triborough Stadium and Randall's Island Stadium, was a 22,000-seat

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

Randalls Island Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Island, in New York City.

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It was renamed Downing Stadium in 1955 after John J. Downing, a director at the

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

. It was demolished in 2002 and the current

Icahn Stadium Icahn Stadium is a 5,000 seat track and field and multipurpose facility located on Randalls Island in Manhattan, New York City. Designed within the former site of Downing Stadium, it opened on April 23, 2005. Icahn Stadium is named after Ame ...

was built on the site.

Overview

Track and field

Built on

Randalls Island Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Island, in New York City.

in the

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...

as a WPA project, 15,000 attendees witnessed

Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who made history at the Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics, 1936 Olympic Games by becoming the first person to win four gold meda ...

compete at the stadium in the Men's Olympic Trials on July 11, 1936, the opening night of the new facility. Downing Stadium also hosted the Women's Olympic Trials in 1964. Later the stadium hosted the 1991 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The stadium was also used as a filming site for a ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

'' segment about The Flashettes girls track team.

Football

Triborough Stadium served as one of two home stadiums of the second AFL team

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

(along with

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

) in

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

and

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

. The first televised

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

game was held at Triborough on September 30, 1939, as Fordham took on Waynesburg. It was for many years the home of Cardinal Hayes High School football teams. NYU's football team also played its last two seasons at Triborough in 1951 and 1952. The England first team played the United States in Downing Stadium, on May 27, 1964, winning 10-0. In 1966, the

Continental Football League The Continental Football League (COFL) was a professional American football Minor league football (gridiron), minor league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Fo ...

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

, unable to find a suitable field in Brooklyn (

Ebbets Field Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush, Brooklyn, Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York City, New York. It is mainly known for having been the home of the History of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn Dodgers baseball tea ...

had been torn down in 1960), played their home games at Downing. (Coincidentally, the football Dodgers wound up playing under the same lights used at Ebbets, as they had been moved to Randalls Island upon the older stadium's destruction.) The club would play only three games at Downing before the league took over the franchise and shifted their remaining home games elsewhere. Eight years later, Downing Stadium became the home of the New York Stars of the WFL; like the Dodgers, the Stars left the stadium before the season ended, shifting to Charlotte.

Soccer

Randalls Island was the site of three international soccer matches: the US team played

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on Randalls Island on June 19, 1949, with the Scots winning, 4–0, with 17,000 in attendance; on May 27, 1964, the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

squad crushed the Americans, 10–0, in front of just 5,062 fans. Another friendly match took place in 1965 between the Argentine team

CA Independiente CA most often refers to: * Canada, a country by ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code * California, U.S. state by postal abbreviation CA or ca may also refer to: Businesses and organizations Companies * Air China (IATA airline code CA) * CA Technologies, a U ...

, winners of the

1965 Copa Libertadores The 1965 Copa Libertadores de América was the sixth edition of South America's premier club football tournament. Colombia did not send a representative due to the disagreements between CONMEBOL and the Colombian football federation. This became t ...

, and Spanish giants

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, five times champion of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

at the time. The teams drew 1–1 in front of 12,000 people. A friendly held at the stadium in July 1973 between

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

and

Millonarios Millonarios Fútbol Club, known simply as Millonarios, is a Colombian professional football club based in Bogotá, that competes in the Categoría Primera A, top flight of football in Colombia. It is one of the most successful and iconic clubs i ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

was delayed for more than two hours and forty five minutes by Haitian exiles protesting against the

Duvalier Duvalier is a French surname, and may refer to: * François Duvalier François Duvalier (; 14 April 190721 April 1971), also known as Papa Doc, was a Haiti, Haitian politician and Haitian Vodou, Vodouisant who served as the president of Haiti ...

regime. At one point, Haitian manager Antoine Tassy took his team to the dressing room and said that they were going home. He later made a call to

Haitian Football Federation The Haitian Football Federation (FHF; , ) is the governing body for football in Haiti. The FHF is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the game of football in Haiti, both professional and amateur. A member of CONCACAF since 1961, FHF is in ch ...

president Claude Raymond who told him to resume the match, if possible. Then, Serge Charles, a high-ranking member of the Haitian delegation to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, arrived and made another call to Raymond, and the Haitians agreed to go back on the field. Police arrived and cordoned off the field. The

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

of the NASL moved to Downing in 1974. On June 15, 1975,

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

made his NASL debut against the

Dallas Tornado The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons. T ...

with 21,567 spectators in attendance and a national television audience on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. The stadium's condition was derided by team staff and television commentators; prior to Pelé's debut match, the field had broken glass and other litter that was cleared before green paint was added to improve its appearance for television audiences. The locker room roof had holes that were patched hours before. In 1976, the Cosmos moved out, back to

(where they had spent their debut season in 1971); for years afterward, the words "COSMOS SOCCER" remained on the stadium to be seen from the nearby highway viaduct on the

Triborough Bridge The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (RFK Bridge; also known by its previous name, the Triborough Bridge) is a complex of bridges and elevated expressway viaducts in New York City. The bridges link the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. Th ...

. Downing's last pro soccer tenant were the

New York Centaurs The New York Centaurs were an A-League professional soccer club, based in New York City. The team played only one season in 1995. The New York Fever of the USISL Pro League, debuted in 1994, playing two seasons in the league before merging wit ...

of the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

in 1995. The site was considered for a 48,000-seat capacity

soccer specific stadium A soccer-specific stadium, mainly in the United States and Canada, is a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-purpose stadium whic ...

, based on the design of the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium, currently known as Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, and commonly shortened as The Etihad, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City, with a domestic football capacity of 53, ...

, had the

New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics The New York City 2012 Olympic bid was one of the Bids for the 2012 Summer Olympics, five short-listed bids for the 2012 Summer Olympics, ultimately won by London bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, London. New York City's Olympic bid was managed ...

been successful. The plan was shelved when New York lost out to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Baseball

The stadium was also used for some

Negro league baseball The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

games in the 1930s; it was the home of the

New York Black Yankees The New York Black Yankees were a professional Negro league baseball team based in New York City; Paterson, New Jersey; and Rochester, New York. Beginning as the independent Harlem Stars, the team was renamed the New York Black Yankees in 1932 an ...

in 1938.

Rugby

The stadium also played host to the

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league. Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

several times, in the course of larger tours to Europe. They last played a New York Metropolitan selection in October 1972, beating their hosts 41–9.

Other sports

In October 1997, Downing played host to a

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

match between

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...

and Kerry; the game was moved to New York in order to commemorate the 1947 All Ireland Final between the same teams played at 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 ...

. In May 1989, Downing hosted a number of international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

players from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. They played a 40-over exhibition match, the first in a three-game US series which Pakistan won 2-1. The "North America Cup", as it was known, continued the following May. In 1990,

played

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, with many regular international cricketers participating from both countries. Australia won the match by 5 runs.

Music

In 1938, the stadium hosted the

Carnival of Swing The Carnival of Swing was a music festival that took place on 29 May 1938 on Randall's Island, New York (state), New York. It is considered the first outdoor jazz festival. Performing at the concert were twenty-five swing bands, including the Duke E ...

, one of the first large outdoor jazz festivals. In August 1968, the New York Jazz Festival took place at Downing Stadium. Performers included

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba ( , ; 4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, ja ...

, and

Mongo Santamaria Mongo may refer to: Geography Africa * Mongo, Chad, a Sahel city * Apostolic Vicariate of Mongo, Chad, a Roman Catholic missionary jurisdiction * Mongo Department, Gabon * Mongo, Sierra Leone, a chiefdom * Mongo River (Little Scarces River) ...

. On August 31, 1968, T.P. Productions presented N.Y. City Fun Festival at Downing, which included performances by

Sam & Dave Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (1935–2025) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988). Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", " ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded more than 50 songs that made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the '' ...

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

Arthur Conley Arthur Lee Conley (January 4, 1946 – November 17, 2003), also known in later years as Lee Roberts, was an American soul singer, best known for the 1967 hit " Sweet Soul Music". Early life Conley was born in McIntosh County, Georgia, U.S., an ...

Big Maybelle Mabel Louise Smith (May 1, 1924 – January 23, 1972), known professionally as Big Maybelle, was an American R&B singer. Her 1956 hit single "Candy" received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999. Childhood and musical background Born in J ...

, and

the Mirettes The Mirettes were a female vocal trio composed of former members of the Ikettes in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. History Robbie Montgomery, Venetta Fields and Jessie Smith were the first official incarnation of the Ikettes, a backing trio for ...

. After the triumph of

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

the previous year, the three-day New York Pop Festival tried to re-create its success in New York City, opening on Randalls Island on July 17, 1970. Unfortunately, the concert was a bust, as half the big name lineup failed to show up (although

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

performed a memorable set). What is more, the festival was picketed by several radical groups: some of the protesters demanded that a portion of the ticket sales go to worthy causes (even threatening the box office), while others wanted everyone to get in free. (This was partially accomplished when thousands of concert-goers literally crashed through the gates.) Once the stadium stopped being a major sports venue, Downing was used largely for concerts, serving as a venue for

rock concert A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several American musical groups experimented with new musical forms that fused country music, blues, and swing genre to produce the earliest examples of "rock and roll." The coi ...

s such as

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

in 1994,

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

in 1996, and the

Tibetan Freedom Concert Tibetan Freedom Concert is the name given to a series of socio-political music festivals held in North America, Europe and Asia from 1996 onwards to support the cause of Tibetan independence. The concerts were originally organized by Beastie Boy ...

in 1997.

Fate

The stadium was torn down in 2002 in order to be replaced by a newer, smaller complex,

, which was completed in 2004. This facility is used primarily for

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

References

{{Authority control Fordham Rams football Manhattan Jaspers football New York Cosmos New York Stars NYU Violets football Defunct college football venues Defunct American football venues in the United States Defunct soccer venues in the United States Defunct baseball venues in the United States Defunct sports venues in Manhattan Demolished sports venues in New York (state) Former sports venues in New York City American football venues in New York City Rugby union stadiums in New York City Soccer venues in New York City American Football League (1936) venues American Football League (1940) venues North American Soccer League (1968–1984) stadiums Defunct Negro league baseball venues World Football League venues Randalls and Wards Islands Robert Moses projects Sports venues completed in 1936 Sports venues demolished in 2002 1936 establishments in New York City 2002 disestablishments in New York (state)