Orange Burst? Remembering Your Stadium’s Signature Fragrance

31 October 2008, 9:30 AM. By Daniel Mauser

What could be girlier than this? In an effort to help Tampa Bay Rays fans to recall their fondest memories of the World Series, the Texas-based company DMX perfumed the lobby of Tropicana Field with a special scent: orange burst.
DMX thinks such smell-branding will help the Rays brand, and is looking to bring new, less-than-manly scents, like cotton candy, bubble gum and sea spray, to other areas of the park. Why, you ask?

“When fans return to their homes, to work and to their lives and encounter a similar citrus aroma, the positive memories and experiences they had at Tropicana Field are likely to come rushing back,” Brian McKinley, vice president of marketing at DMX, said. “This will remind them that it’s time to go catch another game.”

“Sniff…someone’s wearing way too much suntan lotion. Let’s go to a Rays game!” We think DMX is stealing money from the good people of Tampa, but this got us thinking. What are some of the unique smells that might get you to remember your own favorite sporting venue? The awful list is after the jump.

Dried Urine
Perfect for Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia), Shea Stadium (New York).
Since so many stadiums have been upgraded over the past decade, it is getting harder and harder to find an old-school shitbucket of a stadium like we used to have, one of unforgiving concrete and little character. Concrete doesn’t clean very well, and years of splashing our frothy pee against the ground in these places gave them that, shall we say, pungent odor of a toilet. The next time you inhale inside a public restroom, think of the time you whipped that D-cell at J.D. Drew’s temple.
Puke
Yankee Stadium (New York)
In a departure from their neighbors at Shea, the Bronx Bombers old haunt had a much different whiff to it, one of vomit. Apparently, Yankee fans felt the need to get as drunk as humanly possible during games, only to unload the contents of their stomachs wherever they saw fit. This was probably a lot more common during the late 80’s/early 90’s, when greats like Danny Tartabull and Claudell Washington roamed the halls and Yankee fans got drunk just to deal. And since George Steinbrenner was dying to leave the place, the only time anything got cleaned here was during a hard rain.
Car Exhaust
Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles)
Dodger fans are notorious for getting to the game in the fourth inning and leaving by the seventh, so why should the smell of anything in the stadium remind them of the game? They’re hardly there long enough to even realize there was a game. The fumes from their BMW’s is the best we can find for Dodger fans, though the smell will probably only remind them that it’s time to drop whatever they’re doing and bounce.
Newsprint
Madison Square Garden (New York)
New York Knick fans can be a rabid, unruly bunch. But we’ll reserve that for the fans in the upper decks. Down courtside, we’ve always found a different story. For years, a lot more Knick fans than people would like to admit went to the games as a matter of ritual, and not necessarily to cheer. And what were they focusing their eyes on other than the game? The New York Times. There is a fiercely loyal, middle class Knick fanbase. They just can’t afford the good seats.
Sweat
Oakland Coliseum (Oakland)
Football pads, and their cousins the hockey pads, smell bad. In Oakland, Raiders fans dress up in shoulder pads and helmets to root for their team, then spend the day drinking beer in the hot sun. That is a recipe for smelly disaster, made only worse by the unwashable nature of such heavy equipment. Imagine an old running shoe, and multiply that lovely odor by a thousand. Welcome to the Black Hole.
Dirty, Dirty Love
Every NASCAR Infield
Perhaps this is a bit graphic, but we all know that auto races can drag on for hours. And since the action is so repetitive, it’s not surprising that race fans might look to more, ahem, adult activities to fill the time between the starting gun and the checkered flag. If this trailer’s a-rockin’, people.
Honorable Mention
Giants Stadium (New Jersey)
It would be easy to write off this stadium as the stomping grounds of the unmistakable smell of marijuana, given the behavior of some rather energized New York Jets fans during last year’s “Gate D” debacle. But as a lifelong season ticket holder and frequent attendee, I can tell you that the Meadowlands has a rich bouquet of aromas that are not limited to the wacky tobaccy. A few years back, the 12 year-old boy in the seat next to me threw up, unexpectedly, in his popcorn bag, right after taking a bite of what was likely a rancid hot dog. And just last year, I was witness to the gentleman just two rows in front of me passing out drunk in his chair. Almost immediately he was covered in his own urine, which left a puddle below the seat. When his boys finally wrestled him awake, you would have thought he went swimming in his jeans.