The Liberty Memorial Coliseum, also known as Bush Stadium on the official GTA III website, is a multipurpose stadium located in Aspatria on Staunton Island, Liberty City. The stadium appears in Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Advance and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.
Description[]
According to the gates at the stadium, it was opened in 1923. The stadium is assumed to be multi-purpose, as it hosts football and soccer, and appears to have a running track. The bleachers of the stadium have the name of the city's football team, the Liberty City Cocks.
During the events of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, the stadium is shown undergoing renovations for the Crowfest '98 event.
Prominent Appearances in Missions[]
Grand Theft Auto Advance[]
- Two-Hand Toss – Asuka Kasen is involved in the gambling business and wants Mike to make sure that she can make a lot of money from a football game. The visiting Vice City Mambas are favourites to beat the Liberty City Cocks. However, Asuka explains that if their quarterback suffered a broken arm, the chances for a Liberty City Cocks victory would improve. Mike drives to the Liberty Memorial Coliseum and locates the quarterback. Mike then begins to beat the quarterback with a baseball bat, injuring him, and then escapes the stadium and the pursuing Vice City Mambas players. Asuka pages Mike to congratulate him, as the police report states that the injury was a result of practising without pads.
- Demolition Football – The mission requires the player to go to Liberty Memorial Coliseum, where the same person who gives the races tells the player to get in his Banshee. Given four chances, the player must drive over the ramp and land on the given distance in the stadium. If all four chances are wasted, the mission will fail.
Influence[]
The stadium appears to be based on the first Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York City, which opened in the same year as the game counterpart. Its location could also be based on the former Polo Grounds stadium which was located in Upper Manhattan. Its main entrance is similar to that of the L.A. Coliseum, while its shape most closely resembles Harvard Stadium in Massachusetts, and the interior resembles Giants Stadium, which formerly stood in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- If the player is able to reach the stadium in GTA III, the stadium field is textured but is not completely solid, with some unsolid holes leading to Blue Hell. In GTA Liberty City Stories, the field is completely unsolid.
- The GTA III website's quote about the stadium is a reference to Major League Soccer's former strategy of marketing towards suburbanites and families, with soccer stadiums often being built in suburban areas outside major cities during the 2000s.