The Stadium History Of Ice Cream

The Seattle Mariners are serving up a platter of ice cream nachos, folks in Boston have plenty of special-edition Gifford’s ice cream creations based on their favorite professional teams and fans in Philadelphia have eight different souvenir helmets to choose from for their favorite ice cream sundae at the home of the Phillies. The modern age of ice cream has seen a rapid evolution, and it all comes led by baseball, the historic home of ice cream in sports stadiums.

“Ice cream probably goes all the way back,” Jamie Slotterback vice president of marketing strategy and innovation for Aramark Sports + Entertainment, tells me. “It is much more prevalent in baseball and I’m assuming it goes back to that [history] as a seasonal dessert.”

Carmen Callo, Sodexo Live! senior vice president and corporate executive chef, tells me he believes ice cream ties into the history of concessions and vending in baseball.

The invention of soft serve ice cream around the 1930s really helped stadium goers indulge all that more, opening the opportunity for unique vessels to carry the creation. Cue the souvenir baseball helmet holding ice cream sundaes, which likely started in baseball around 1970 and hasn’t stopped since.

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At the same time, chef Ron Krivosik, Levy culinary senior vice president, tells me that the ‘70s were big on lemon ice and malt cups. “There was nothing better than that wooden spoon with the ice cream,” he says.

That wooden spoon was memorable. Roger Gifford, owner of Gifford’s Ice Cream, tells me he recalls ice cream bars, push pops, Italian ice and ice cream sandwiches from the 1960s on. “I remember a Hoodsie Cup with a wooden spoon, probably in the early 1960s,” he says. “Then came a chocolate-covered bar that was vanilla on the sides and chocolate in the middle. Klondike Bar made one, I think Hood did also.”

Following the ice cream explosion of the ‘70s, the next big wave came when Dippin’ Dots, an ice cream concept that flash freezes beaded ice cream mix in liquid nitrogen, debuted in 1988. It’s popularity in stadiums was nearly immediate, quickly growing in the 1990s and still in more than two thirds of all baseball stadiums in the United States, according to the brand.

“It started off with soft serve ice cream,” Callo says, adding that every venue needed to have its own baseball helmet serving vessel. “Soft serve was all fine and dandy and all the rage for a while and then Dippin’ Dots, you had to have Dippin’ Dots.”

Gifford says the ice cream cookie sandwich was a trend starting in the ‘80s, but the soft serve really led to the explosion of the helmet sundae popularity.

Next to the plate? Guest customization. From flavor combinations, sauces and toppings for that helmet-filled sundae to made-to-order liquid nitrogen ice cream providing theatrics in premium spaces, Callo says it was “everyone kind of curating their own experiences.”

As speed became more important in recent concession history, the rise of novelties has grown with pre-packed bars and treats—Tillamook’s presence in Portland with ice cream sandwiches offers a prime example.

Still, the essence of the ice cream sundae in a baseball helmet hasn’t changed much, with the helmet still a ubiquitous vessel (the Phillies feature eight different collectible helmets in 2025). “I think ice cream now, in stadiums it really has become a way to say, ‘Look at what we can do,’” Krivosik says. “We did a simple smores milkshake at the White Sox and it blew up. Now everybody is trying to define what their local milkshake is.”

Stadium ice cream has grown to the point that most venues—baseball is by far the hottest seller of ice cream due to the outdoor summer environment, with Slotterback saying that 82% of all Aramark’s MLB dessert sales are ice cream related—have the novelty focus of sundaes, milkshakes, Dippin’ Dots or pre-packaged items, but also a following for artisan ice cream—Portland-based & Straw has a presence in Seattle’s T-Mobile Park and New York’s Madison Square Garden—with local scoop shops featuring premium ingredients and unique flavors.

“Year over year, when I got to opening days, I am blown away by the amount of people eating ice cream on cold days,” Slotterback says. “Opening day of baseball, there are always astronomical sales.” But ice cream rises to the top in all sports, Aramark confirms, with arenas (66% of dessert sales) and NFL stadiums (60% of dessert sales) still offering ice cream aplenty.

As the ice cream evolution continues, stadiums are seeing the artisan concept grow and an international influence come into play, especially with sorbets and gelato must-haves in some regions (Slotterback says the demand for ice cream is the strongest in the Northeast and South). The milkshake idea continues to take root, giving concessionaires the opportunity to put a truly local spin on ice cream—or adding a boozy variety, such as the one Levy offers at the United Center—while making it an easily portable handheld item.

“Nowadays you see more premium ice cream being scooped at ballparks, with waffle cones or waffle dishes,” Gifford says. “Different trends tend to happen in different parts of the country.” For Gifford’s that includes specialty flavors, such as the Dough Your Job for the New England Patriots, the Power Play Fudge for the Boston Bruins and the Cookie Curveball for the Boston Red Sox.

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Sodexo Live! takes a three-tiered “M” approach to its concessions, focusing on mainstays (think ice cream sundaes, Dippin’ Dots and more), magnets (the local, artisan connection) and then moments.

“When we think about a moment, it is a flash-in-the-pan, Instagramable thing that is unique for one or two or maybe three seasons,” Callo says. One example is a Hong Kong-style bubble pop concept that features a bubble waffle loaded with ice-cream like pudding and toppings. Or think of Seattle, with the Mariners selling those ice cream nachos featuring waffle cone pieces as the chips and soft serve with toppings filling out the tray. “That is,” Callo says, “elevating a classic mainstay into a moment.”