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When ranking stadiums I am really judging the stadium on location, seating, concessions, bathrooms, signage/video boards, ease of entrance/exit, communication throughout the game, pregame ceremonies and just the ease/feel of walking around the stadium. I put a little value into the atmosphere and history of the stadium but not much. The reason is an awesome stadium could get a lower grade just because the road team won by 20 and all the fans left. Trying not to be bias based on game results!
The length of each review varies. If it was an “average” stadium, there was less to write about. That is not a bad thing because I couldn’t find anything great or terrible; those stadiums will make fans happy. My longer reviews mean that there was either an extreme positive or an extreme negative. The extremes stand out a lot more, especially the negative ones.
That being said, here are my final rankings!
- Dolphins A+
- Lions A+
- Panthers A+
- Vikings A
- Ravens A
- Eagles A
- Steelers A
- Colts A-
- Broncos A-
- Jaguars A-
- Falcons B+
- Seahawks B+
- Bengals B+
- Packers B+
- Patriots B
- Titans B
- 49ers B
- Buccaneers B
- Bills B
- Saints B-
- Texans B-
- Cardinals C+
- Cowboys C+
- Chiefs C+
- Rams C
- Browns C
- Chargers D
- Giants D
- Jets D
- Bears D-
- Redskins F
- Raiders F
Buying Tickets
- Buying resale tickets is an art and this method won’t work every time but in general:
- Generally, the best time to buy is very early in the morning (day of or weeks before)
- Pay attention to the number of tickets available, if it keeps going up or stays flat, the prices will come down
- For games between two great teams, buy about 2-4 weeks ahead of time
- If weather is iffy on game day but you are going, wait until last minute
- If getting tickets last minute, sit there and keep refreshing whatever sources you are using; people that decide they can’t go last minute just want their money back and often they just put the tickets on sale for a few dollars less than the current lowest price in order to sell them (I usually get great seats for the same price as nosebleeds, but you have to keep refreshing and pull the trigger fast)
- Sources
- StubHub (favorite), NFL Ticket Exchange, Vivid Seats, Prime Sport (got me great last minute SB tickets in New York in 2015), Seat Geek
- Sometimes teams will have their own exchange or Ticket Master will have some still available, but that is hit or miss (more times than not a complete miss)
- No matter what use Seat Geek to look at where seats are located, some stadium seating are weird and don’t start with row 1 or row A; Seat Geek does a great job on showing you the exact layout of the seating and what the view will look like
At the Stadiums
- Bring cash! Cash is king!
- Vendors that walk around the stadium are often selling in the concourses with no lines
- There are always kiosks that are cash only with hardly any line
- The ATM fees in stadiums are outrageous
- Know the ticket policy at each stadium
- Depending on where you buy the tickets, you might have to print them
- Sometimes with mobile tickets you have to download a specific app (maybe the teams)
- Know what you can and cannot bring in
- Stadium security has gotten much worse over the years and is worse than most airports
- NFL games require everything in a clear bag unless it is a wallet or tiny hand purse
- You also can’t bring large cameras, computers and some other items
- Check with each stadium if you are unsure, but just be smart
- Get there early and explore
- Most stadiums have free games, free give aways or just interesting aspects of the ballpark, go in and see it!
- Wear two pairs of socks for cold games
- It sounds simple but I keep forgetting
- Really the first (sometimes the only) thing that gets cold is your feet, if you keep those warm, you will have a much better time