Indiana is Home to the World's Largest High School Basketball Gym

File this under, "Today I Learned."

The state of Indiana ~~loves~~ is obsessed with the game of basketball. Even though it wasn't invented here (that distinction goes to Massachusetts), we've adopted it as our own. I'd venture to say nearly every resident has, at the very least, played a pick-up game with friends, or shot baskets on a goal mounted to a garage or barn, or one set up along the edge of the street they or someone they know lives on. We just can't get enough. So, it should come as no surprise that we built the largest gym on planet Earth where high school students can play the game.

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The Largest High School Basketball Stadium in the World is in New Castle, Indiana

This may be common knowledge to you, but I just recently learned that New Castle Fieldhouse in New Castle, Indiana, roughly an hour's drive east of Indianapolis, has the distinction of being the world's largest high school basketball gym in the world. Not the country, THE WORLD. According to a 2021 article by Mykal McEldowney for the Indianapolis Star, the Fieldhouse, built in 1959, has a seating capacity of 8,424 people, a little less than half of the total population of New Castle, and more than some Division I college arenas, including the University of Miami, Gonzaga, and Rutgers.

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Do you think he's wondering why a high school gym in Indiana is bigger than the one he plays in?

The court sits below ground with the top row of seating at the ground level where fans enter the arena. In addition to the seating and the court itself, the Fieldhouse has four concession stands (one in each corner) and a 1/7th mile indoor track around the concourse area that is used during gym classes.

The video below was shot back in January 2021 by Ballpark Hunter Stadium Reviews on YouTube, and while it's not the same as being there in person, it does give you a good idea of just how big the arena is and how passionate the New Castle fans are when their team is on the court.

[Sources: Indianapolis Star / Ballpark Hunter Stadium Reviews on YouTube / Basketball Hall of Fame / Only Indiana on Facebook / Wikipedia]

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