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Best stadium to watch an NFL game (not including Lambeau and JerryWorld)

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by DanOregon, Sep 12, 2010.

  1. CitizenTino

    CitizenTino Active Member

    Cleveland Browns Stadium sucks.

    Narrow concourses, no personality (unless you count the swaths of orange seats you'll see at any game after Nov. 1), and the ramps to get to the upper deck are absurd. They have absolutely no incline, so you have to zig-zag back and forth about 10 times before you reach the top level.

    The layout of the stadium and the area restricted for club seat holders makes getting around the rest of the place next to impossible. I was at a college game there last year. Had seats at about the 40-yd line. Wanted to visit a friend sitting in the end zone at halftime. I had to go down to the ground level before I could go back up to the mezzanine level in the end zone. I left my seat at the start of halftime and didn't make it to my friend's seat until 2 minutes into the third quarter. Stupid.

    And I don't care if there are 72,000 people there for opening day or 10,000 there for a high school game: You are waiting in a ridiculously long line to get into the building because the gates are never adequately staffed.

    Oh, and the home team routinely sucks too.
     
  2. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Went to Jet game last night. New stadium is great. Nice selection of foods. Sight lines very good. Plenty of space to roam in the concourse. Have to say that the Jets/ Giants consortium really did a great job.

    Unfortunately I am now stuck with Firemen Eddy in my section imploring everyone to stand up with each tackle The Jets make or yard they gain. Eddy has jumped the shark and needs a new act.
     
  3. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Arrowhead when they had Montana was incredible. It wasn't too bad in the late 1990s either.
     
  4. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    That was the perfect time in KC.

    I think the start was the MNF game where Marty's Chiefs beat the crap out of Buffalo in October of 1991. Their home field advantage lasted for a great seven years -- after the lackluster period from 1972 to 1989, Kansas City was ready to cheer for the Chiefs.

    Montana's Chiefs only lasted two seasons (1993-94) but those two years did put the city on true NFL radar. In 1995 and 1997, without Joe, the team still went 13-3 and Monday Nights were THE event.

    Unfortunately, looking back, the lack of playoff success still hurts. Four playoff wins (three of them on Wild Card weekend). No Super Bowls. Two devastating home playoff losses.
     
  5. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Among the ones I have been to, my favorites (For the stadium, not the teams playing) are:

    1) Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City (haven't been since the upgrades, but the old one wasn't bad)

    2) Qwest Field, Seattle

    3) Reliant Stadium, Houston

    PS McAfee Coliseum in Oakland is at the bottom of my list
     
  6. doubledown68

    doubledown68 Active Member

    I'd say about 90 percent of the renovations were to concessions/concourses and the like. The biggest changes inside the stadium are the two football-shaped scoreboards at each end are now two really big hi-def screens. They used to just have a square jumbotron inside of them. There's a ribbon-board around the facade of the second deck. New pressbox built above the third deck on one side.

    The other stuff you can only see at the stadium, but it's worth it. Wider concourses, more concessions, flat screen TVs, which proved very handy when my bitch ass was hiding from the rain.

    Monday night was a taste of what Arrowhead can be when it's rocking. The loudest I think I've ever heard it was the home opener in 94, I think, when the Chiefs had Montana and the 49ers were the opener. The stadium vibrated that day.
     
  7. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I know they were doing renovations in an attempt to get a Super Bowl. I haven't been there in 4-5 years, so I'm not sure what's been changed.
     
  8. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    At one point there was talk of either doming it or adding a retractable roof. I think that talk is dead now. Just not logistically or financially feasible.

    Frankly, not sure KC has enough hotel rooms for a Super Bowl anyway.
     
  9. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Supposedly Arrowhead was designed in a way that would allow it to be domed.
     
  10. Boomer7

    Boomer7 Active Member

    Really? I've been there for non-NFL events (soccer and rodeo) and found it to be entirely nondescript, and it's hard to imagine that it's those diehard Houston sports fans who make it a great atmosphere. What did you like about it?
     
  11. doubledown68

    doubledown68 Active Member

    [​IMG]

    Correct. The design was to put a rolling roof that could cover either stadium in the middle, there. It was scrapped as being too costly. There was talk of possibly doming Arrowhead with the other renovations, specifically to get a Super Bowl. But I'm glad they didn't.

    If the NYC Super Bowl goes smoothly, it will open the door for more cold-weather outdoor Super Bowls. Because of the Hunt family's relationship with the NFL, KC will perpetually be in that mix.

    But as much as I love my hometown, it ain't no tourist destination, especially in the first week of February. And adding more hotels for the express purpose of a Super Bowl is just dumb. Not that it will stop some people from trying, I'm sure.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  12. billikens

    billikens Member

    I've only been to a handful of stadiums but when the Chiefs are winning, the Arrowhead experience blows the rest of what I've seen out of the water. That said, I'd much prefer to watch any NFL game from my couch.

    During the Rams three or four years of relevance, the TWA Dome wasn't a bad place. I remember the first game of the season after they won the Super Bowl was on Monday night against Denver, and the Rams won in a shootout. The place was electric. But even on it's best day, I wouldn't put it ahead of Arrowhead. I was there (Edward Jones/TWA Dome) last year for a game against the Saints and it was like sitting through a college graduation. A few cheers here and there, but for the most part, everyone sat in their seats, chatted quietly and waited for it to end.
     
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