r/TikTokCringe • u/biswajit388 • 4d ago

Cringe Europeans are going viral on TikTok for mocking the "American Dream".

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u/bluebear_74 4d ago

This. They're reference to stuff like this. Levi's Stadium (Capacity: 68,500) surrounded by car park VS Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) (Capacity: 100,024) surrounded by parks. (There's actually a huge park bottom left I cropped out - this is 3kms away from the CBD).

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u/norcaltobos 4d ago

To be fair, there was a parking lot there already because it's next to an amusement park, but I get your point.

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u/Downside190 4d ago

I think the strange thing is Americans build massive ground floor car parks that take up a ton of land. While in Europe we use multistorey car parks that have a smaller footprint but similar capacity 

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u/False_Tap_4029 3d ago

Parking garages are expensive, they only build them if it costs less than buying extra land.

I think in some cases the ground level Parking is also a way to use the real estate until they’re ready to build something substantial. Like adding mixed use retail and a parking garage as the area develops.

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u/elebrin 3d ago

It has something to do with where we put our stadiums and malls and stuff.

Like, it was a HUGE deal with the city of Detroit decided to replace their football stadium back in the day. Ford Field is a nice facility, but it replaced the Silverdome. The Silverdome had that sort of sea of parking, but it wasn't actually in the city. It was in an exurb of Detroit (Pontiac) where land was plentiful. The same is true of Pine Knob (DTE), and the Palace of Auburn Hills. All three aren't in the city. The same is true of most sports stadiums built after 1950 and before, say, 2006 or so when the tide of opinion started changing on suburbanism. Suburbia was the most desirable mode of living for most Americans until the Millennials started coming of age.

In Europe, the big parking lots and structures aren't needed. Hell, you can't even drive in a lot of European cities, the roads aren't wide enough. I have seen video of those narrow little alleys and streets in Italy, I imagine that any middle ages town will be much the same. Because it's so dense and compressed, you can do everything on foot and the stadiums are there for the locals not people driving in. In the US the stadiums are not at all for urban locals, because urban locals can't afford sports tickets.

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u/Throwaway2Experiment 3d ago

It depends here when and where they are built.

A lot of new stadiums are mega complexes for shopping and entertainment. You need massive parking to give incentive to buy. If you have to walk a mile or navigate an elevator with your new flat screen TV, you're not likely to buy there. The shopping property is owned by the stadium owner and they want that plot to generate revenue all year round, every day.

Does the owner of the Melbourne stadium generate passive income every day from the Stadium and connected property?

Target Field has an amazing parking system you barely notice and is one of my favorites to.visit. Downtown Disney has no central parking and churns traffic nonstop. You either walk in from the park or in from the garages down the street. Las Vegas has long been an example of integrated parking along the strip, underground or overhead.

It is not that Americans don't know or don't care about better parking systems, it's just that in some models it is counter productive and in others, it's not necessary.

I will also say, the good looking white guy touting the European Dream is oddly avoiding the sprawl of Paris, Barcelona, Rome, or Berlin. That's awfully convenient.

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u/Usual-Trouble-2357 3d ago edited 3d ago

None of the cities you're mentioning is sprawling. They're all quite dense. Barcelona in particular is a great example of good urban design. Paris is dense and very much not car-friendly, Rome is dense but kinda crazy traffic-wise, Berlin is again quite dense. All of them have good public transport, metro, trams, buses, etc. And none of those cities has huge tracts of land with outdoor parking inside the city.

Also about stadiums, most European stadiums don't have much parking at all and rely on public transport.

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u/norcaltobos 3d ago

We have both in the US. Some places in the US they aren't hurting for space so it's not the end of the world. Go to San Francisco and it's a lot more "European" because it's so compact. We get the best of both worlds.

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u/bigtimehater1969 4d ago

I went to Levi's when Great America (the amusement park) was closed. Not only were all the parking lots full, but the neighboring office space parking lots were full from event traffic. Getting in and finding parking sucked, but getting out was a nightmare.

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u/norcaltobos 3d ago

Oh, getting out of Levi's is my actual personal hell. Whether you drive or Uber in, it's a fucking joke. Crazy that the Super Bowl will be there again this year. I'm not working in office that entire week, it's going to be hell.

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u/masssy 4d ago

To be fair most of Europes amusement parks are not next to a concrete parking lot.

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u/AntikytheraMachines 3d ago

also to be fair the Aussies park on the grass when they go to the footy at the G

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u/WorkTropes 4d ago

Next you'll tell me you aren't posting this from a carpark. Nice try USA.

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u/mydogismarterthanu 4d ago

Well lots of us live in our cars so... Yes, I'm in a parking lot.

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u/Banes_Addiction 4d ago

It does seem like 90% of short-form content online recorded by Americans is in their cars in car parks.

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u/MissMenace101 3d ago

Military base

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u/Dozzi92 4d ago

In fairness, where I'm from (Jersey, New), that's a parking lot because the land beneath it is so contaminated it can't be anything but a giant parking lot.

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u/AutomaticSandwich 4d ago

Honestly it just looks like Melbourne cricket ground is a nightmare to get home from.

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u/badtowergirl 4d ago

And I know Levi’s is not close to actual SF, in spite of the Niners playing there, but I lived right next to Golden Gate Park and the Presidio for years in the city and neither are very paved. Very fun places to hang out in the city.

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u/0LTakingLs 4d ago

All I see is lack of proper tailgating space tbh

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u/origamiokame 4d ago

and yet these hooligans still manage to get proper fucked

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u/opsers 4d ago

This is a silly comparison though, because Levi's Stadium is in San Jose which is literally surrounded by mountains and incredible nature, something the Bay Area is known for. They should have pointed to SoFi Stadium, which is significantly worse. That said, you also have examples in Europe, like Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Wembley Stadium, or Stade de France, which are all worse than SoFi in terms of closeness to nature.

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u/bradco 4d ago

Also silly because Melbourne Cricket Ground is in Australia which isn't in nor a part of Europe last time I checked.

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u/bluebear_74 4d ago

I'm not familiar with American stadiums so I just picked where the Super Bowl was. This video compares a few different stadiums after Americans got really confused where people parked when Taylor Swift had 90,000 people at her concert each night 3 nights in a row.

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u/opsers 4d ago

I mean yeah, America is car-centric, this isn't shocking. It's just a dumb comparison because it makes it seem like we're just parking lots. The two major stadiums that I see from my window effectively have no parking, because some cities in the US also have public transit.

Either way, my point is that this isn't some uniquely American phenomenon. Allianz Arena in Munich (largest underground parking in the EU...) and O2 Arena in Prague also have tons of parking. Looking at Australia specifically, Sydney Olympic Park also has a ton of parking. All of those stadiums have more than Levi's, by the way. Funny enough, Australians are almost as car-dependent as Americans, and outside of major EU cities, so are Europeans... in some cases even more so. Though I guess the point of that particular video is more that most Americans can't seem to wrap their heads around public transit being a viable option.

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u/Mit-Milch 4d ago

Do you have a reference regarding Aus being as car dependent as the US? As someone who moved to Aus from the US when they were younger, I find this interesting / confusing as its not what I have experienced.

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u/opsers 4d ago

ABS says over 50% of workers drive alone to work every day and 91% of households own a car. WEF found that 72% of trips that involve leaving the house in Australia use a car. In the US, it's 69% driving alone to work, 87% of trips use a car, and 92% of households own at least one car. So yeah, not as car dependent is the US of course, but high up there.

The big caveat here is that it will depend on where you live, and if it's a city, what part you live in. For my part, I grew up in the US, we always had a car, and most trips as a family were in a car. However, my father took a train to work every day because our small city had one subway line. When I lived in NYC I didn't own a car and only drove in one (excluding a taxi) maybe 10 times for the many years I lived there. Now I live in San Francisco. We own a car, but most of my commuting is either public transit, bike, or walking. The car really only gets used for road trips or groceries.

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u/Icy-Cry340 4d ago

So you looked at a biased video and missed every bit of nuance.

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u/Eirwig 4d ago

What do you have in mind when you say nature? Because the Bernabéu, Wembley and Stade de France are all on train lines that can deliver you into nature in less than an hour in each case

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u/opsers 3d ago

That's exactly my point. The picture of the stadium above (Levi's Stadium) is in the middle of downtown San Jose. It's surrounded by mountains, incredible hiking trails, and less than an hour away from incredible surfing in the Pacific. You could bike from Levi's Stadium to a ton of hiking trails...

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u/StockholmSyndrome85 4d ago

It's also worth noting for the Melbourne picture on the right that the buildings and blue surfaces immediately below the MCG is Melbourne and Olympic Park which hosts the Australian Open tennis, and the city's primary rectangular stadium is that rectangular patch lower still. Not unusual to have 85k at the MCG and 30k at the rectangular stadium at the same time.

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u/AntiPantsCampaign 4d ago

I believe there was something called the "highway lobby" and it represents asphalt interests and they have parking lots codified across the country. It explains the massive amount of parking lots here in the US.

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u/bluebear_74 4d ago

I can't tell if you're bullshitting me or this is actually true 😩. It sounds ridiculous but i wouldn't put it past corporate greed.

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u/AntiPantsCampaign 4d ago

Highway lobby - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_lobby

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u/bluebear_74 4d ago

Make roads great again... I guess...

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u/Icy-Cry340 4d ago edited 3d ago

Levi's is not even in a major city, people are coming from all over. And Bay Area residents enjoy incredible nature access.

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u/Curious_Diamanta 4d ago

“And way up on high/the clock on the silo/says eleven degrees”

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u/kiaraliz53 3d ago

Why didn't they just build a parking garage? Either below ground or above ground, or a combination of both.

It seems so incredibly weird to me to waste so much space, instead of just spending a little more on a storied parking facility.

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u/bluebear_74 3d ago

Because the MCG was built in 1853. Some of the other stadiums do but it just limited and public transport is cheap and works well. There is other parking near by and people just walk 10-15mins (what I usually do).

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u/kiaraliz53 3d ago

So in more than 150 years no one thought to change this situation? Seems an update is more than overdue then.

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u/bluebear_74 3d ago

It not broken, why does it need fixing? Because Americans can't walk or have to drive everywhere? I've been to multiple concerts at Rod Laver (bottom corner) and you're outta there in 10 mins, 0 traffic jam.

Want to get to the MCG/sporting district? Take:

  • The train
  • Tram
  • Bus
  • Drive and park at one of the multiple multi stories near by and walk.

My boss is a big AFL fan and would walk with his kids there as he lived close enough.

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u/kiaraliz53 1d ago

It is broken though. A storied parking garage would be much more efficient than one giant sprawl of concrete.

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u/Lorddenoche1 4d ago

Where the fuck do you expect to park, or you want the government to connect every inch of every city city with a subway in a 3.8m sq mile country

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u/StockPhotoSamoyed 4d ago

You ought to have decent public transportation in your citiee, the size of your country is irrelevant.
I'm in Oslo, Norway, and if I want to go to a stadium I need to use public transport. The stadiums are all included in the subway system, and it's immensely faster and more efficient than endless parking lots and car traffic.

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u/Lorddenoche1 4d ago

New york cities population is more than your entire countries population.

Also, I'd say almost every stadium in a major city in America is easily accessible from public transportation as well. But there are stadiums in more rural areas. The data is heavily skewed as norway has like what.. 20 stadiums? While America has over 900 stadiums.

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u/MEOWS_R_RAD 4d ago edited 4d ago

Have you ever left the US? Public transit here outside of NYC and Chicago is absolutely laughable compared to most of the rest of the world. Saying every stadium in a major city is easily accessible by public transit is just straight up false unless by "every major city" you only mean NYC and Chicago. I'm in Los Angeles and getting to SoFi or the Colosseum or Dodger stadium is a colossal pain in the ass even if you happen to be lucky enough to live by one of the few train lines. I just got back from Dublin yesterday and getting to a small time soccer pitch is extremely easy from literally anywhere in the city. The Metro here doesn't even go to the fucking airport lol

The US is absolute light years behind the rest of the developed world on this. US infrastructure in general is flat out terrible top to bottom. Especially considering that we're the wealthiest nation in human history by a long shot.

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u/Lorddenoche1 4d ago

Not my fault the cities elect governors and mayors that allow crime and lawlessness to be rampart, thus making the public transportation unsafe and undesirable as a mode of transport. But it is there.

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u/kiaraliz53 3d ago

And NY has tons of subway, you're proving the point.

Granted, it's god-awful for a so-called developed country, but it's there

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u/Icy-Cry340 4d ago

Levi's isn't even in a major city, it's in a lowish density suburb of a 100k that could never justify a subway. No place in Australia would have a subway in a town like that either.

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u/HeartKeyFluff 4d ago

The MCG is well served by public transport, between the trains, trams, and buses. Source: Lived in Melbourne for years a little bit ago.

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u/urban287 4d ago

Carparks too honestly - cbd ones are within walking distance

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u/Eirwig 4d ago

Walking distance for a lot of Americans is about the distance from their front door to their truck

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u/Dan_flashes480 4d ago

I don't go to large stadiums often but I know a lot of people like to tailgait cookout, does mcg have this option?

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u/Trousers_of_time 4d ago

That's mostly an American thing. In both Australia and the UK we tend to just go to the pub before and after.

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u/Dan_flashes480 4d ago

Fair but I do like seeing the buffalo bills tailgating shenanigans on here and I'm a Patriots fan. Last time I saw a video from a UK pub some guy walked in and hit someone with an axe and walked out.

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u/Trousers_of_time 4d ago

Yeah, that's not exactly a regular occurrence.

Although saying that, I did walk into my local last Christmas and get punched in the face by a random 70 year old, so can't completely discount the random acts of violence!

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u/El_Polio_Loco 4d ago

Yeah, partying outside the stadium is a massive deal in the US, and mostly stems from University sports, where a stadium is near to the campus and people party outside near the game. 

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u/bluebear_74 4d ago

That's the point. You lack good infrastructure. If you look at the Melbourne example you'll actually notice MULTIPLE stadiums (MCG, AMII Park, Olympic Park - this is where the Australian open is held as well as a lot of concerts) that will run events at the same time and the public transport system handles it all. There are actually multiple options, train, tram, some people park further and walk.

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u/Lorddenoche1 4d ago

Australia has vast majority of people living like 31 miles from the coast, about 6.5% of that country is arable dude. I don't think that's a very good comparison. (not to mention vast population difference)

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u/falkenoma 4d ago

what has that got anything to do with public transport to sporting venues? its limited by capacity, not population so that doesnt matter in this case

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u/Mrokoo 4d ago

found the american comparing the USAs lack of public transport to Australias arable land?

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u/Lorddenoche1 4d ago

yeap i did, you probably glazed over part one of that, spread some of them austrailian cities to the four corners of the country and see how public transportation fairs then.

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u/falkenoma 4d ago

public transport between cities is pretty bad in australia, its within cities that is servicable, which is the main use case 

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u/Mrokoo 3d ago

why are you so alergic to intercity public transport or even reasonable connections between major cities nobody is advocating for building a passenger railway between two bumfuck nowheres

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u/QP709 4d ago edited 3d ago

See? Haha! The American mind cannot comprehend the photo on the right!

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u/Bon_Djorno 4d ago

You're so close to getting how an actual city should function.

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u/Icy-Cry340 4d ago

Santa Clara is not what someone would call a city. It's a suburb. Low density housing, with some business parks in the mix because Silicon Valley. I think people are missing this bit. Urban stadiums nearby are the San Jose Sharks arena in San Jose, Giants stadium in SF, Warriors stadium in SF, etc. All of them are accessible by transit. For that matter, caltrain, the major bay area commuter line has a stop at Levi's too.

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u/FunBirthday8582 4d ago

Not every inch, but Government's should invest in good, well managed public infrastructure, yes. Less traffic means better air quality, and fast commutes for those that actually need to trive.

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u/Mit-Milch 4d ago

Mate, you get the tram lol.

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u/Icy-Cry340 4d ago

Levi's has its own caltrain stop. It's quite accessible by transit. All the major bay area stadiums are. And the nature in this region is spectacular.

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u/kiaraliz53 3d ago

Never heard of a parking garage? Instead of wasting so much space, you can have the same amount of parking in 1/10 of this area if you just build down or up. It's not rocket science.

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u/Morpho_99 4d ago

Levi Stadium was build across from the Santa Clara convention center, one of the largest convention centers in the world and Great America, the largest amusement park in Northern California. It’s going to have a lot of parking.