Multi-purpose stadiums are a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy that stresses multi-functionality over specificity. It is used most commonly in Canada and the United States, where the two most popular outdoor team sports – gridiron football and baseball – require radically different facilities. Football uses a rectangular field (Canadian football fields are larger than American ones), while baseball is played on a diamond and large outfield. This requires a particular design to accommodate both, usually an oval. While building stadiums in this way means that sports teams and governments can share costs, it also imposes some challenges.

In North America, multi-purpose stadiums were built primarily during the 1960s and 1970s as shared home stadiums for Major League Baseball and National Football League or Canadian Football League teams. Some stadiums were renovated to allow multi-purpose configurations during the 1980s. This type of stadium is associated with an era of suburbanization, in which many sports teams followed their fans out of large cities into areas with cheaper, plentiful land. They were usually built near highways and had large parking lots but were rarely connected to public transit. As multi-purpose stadiums were rarely ideal for both sports usually housed in them, they had fallen out of favor by the 1990s. With the completion of the Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City in 1973, a model for purpose-built stadiums was laid down. Since Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992, most major league sports stadiums have been built specifically for one sport.

Outside North America, the term is rarely used, since soccer is the only major outdoor team sport in many countries; in some countries soccer and rugby can easily co-exist, with Australia and South Africa being notable examples. In other countries, such as England, teams rarely share facilities. In Australia, many sports grounds are suited to both Australian rules football and cricket, as Australian rules was originally conceived for play on cricket fields. Soccer stadiums have historically served as track and field arenas as well and some (like the Olympiastadion in Berlin) still do, whereas a newer generation frequently has no running track to get the fans closer to the field.