The local rugby club playing in a 25,000-seat stadium
Ten years ago, under the ownership of former chairman George Reynolds, Division Three (now League Two) club Darlington FC (average crowd: 1,500) built a massive 25,000-seat stadium on the outskirts of town.
But the club went out of business eight years later and the reformed Darlington 1883 FC now play in the eighth tier of English football at a tiny stadium in a nearby town.
So who are the new tenants of the white elephant stadium? A local rugby union team, Mowden Park, which has an average crowd of 800.
BBC News went to meet the team and find out what it is like for them to play in such a huge venue.
Video production: Dan Curtis
Stop/Start is a series of video features for the BBC News website which follows both new trends that are beginning and old traditions that are coming to an end.