Perhaps one of the most important things to consider when choosing an NFL team is ticket availability. If I'm going to be travelling out of state to go see my team, I would want to make sure there were seats available for my, my family, and crew! That's why I'm making a list of the top ten NFL stadiums by capacity for football seating*. Additionally, I took a look at the stadiums with a bird's eye view, courtesy of Google Maps.
*some stadiums have differing seating for concert venues, or multi-sport arrangements. For the purposes of this list, only seating for football games is considered
Information on stadium football capacity from wikipedia.org
Stadium photos from Google Maps
In the TENTH spot, it's the home of the Cleveland Browns, FirstEnergy Stadium.Sadly, the home of the Cleveland Browns is the only NFL stadium in use that has never hosted a playoff game or Super Bowl (which even the Detroit Lions have done). Especially sad considering the stadium is Sports Illustrated's #3 venue to watch the NFL.
With 73,200 seats, FirstEnergy Stadium can seat approximately 3.5% of the Cleveland metro population. There's no doubt that on Sundays the crowd brings just as much noise as has ever shaken its North Coast Harbor neighbor - the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Coming in at NINTH, it's the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the downtown New Orleans home of the Saints. The Saints just manage to edge out the Browns by providing eight more seats. Eight! That's a 0.01% margin of victory.There's some pros and cons with this stadium. Con: I'm not a big fan of domes and artificial lighting. Pro: the location is near the heart of everything - the 'Dome is only 1.5 miles away from Bourbon street.
With 73,208 seats, the Superdome can seat approximately 6.3% of the metro area residents. Doing some simple math from my first NFL team list, that's about 24,000 plus-size fans, so be prepared to get crowded!
In the EIGHTH spot on this list, Cam Newton is packing the seats in Bank of America Stadium, situated in the heart of Charlotte's "center city", only a mile away from the worst team in NBA history! But the continued existence of the Bobcats is a sign that the citizens of the Queen City are a loyal group, unless its just that they don't mind watching a wreck play out in front of them in slow motion (see NASCAR Hall of Fame)The stadium's 73,778 seats have the potential to hold 3.2% of the Charlotte metro population, but this gaggle of racing and basketball fans is apparently one of the "quietest in the league" when it comes to watching football. It could be a plus for quarterback audibles, but a negative for the live fan experience.
In SEVENTH place, it's the Miami Dolphins' Sun Life Stadium (also home to the Miami Marlins... Miamians love sea life with prominent dorsal fins).Miami is a big city. Sun Life can only accommodate approximately 1.4% of the metro population. This could mean some crowding for seats in the sun and long lines for Dolphin Hot Dogs.
A lot of this population may be warm weather migrants from the North, and some fans have complained that there are so many out-of-towners that Jets fans can take over the stadium when played. Maybe that would have flown when it was Griese vs Namath, but now... its just a downer.
The stadium sponsor is a Colorado company, and their brand even makes sense for a sports venue. Negatives: I bet it gets cold and short of oxygen at upper seats around the Bronco head in winter.
With 76,125 seats, the field holds about 2.9% of the Denver metro. Apparently the number could stand to be higher, as the stadium has "sold out every Denver Broncos home game since its inception in 2001."
In the FIFTH spot, it's the Kansas City Chief's Arrowhead Stadium, which shares a sports complex with its neighbor, Kauffman Stadium - the home of the Kansas City Royals.Props to Arrowhead for retaining a traditional team name instead of an incongruous sponsor title.
With 76,416 seats, the stadium holds about 3.7% of the Kansas City MO/KS metro population. It's the loudest stadium on this list, considered to be the third loudest stadium in the NFL, with noise up to 116 decibels (10 more than a 747 during takeoff).
Coming in FOURTH, it's the home of the Cheeseheads, Lambeau Field - according to Sports Illustrated, the best stadium in which to experience an NFL game.Surprisingly, this is only the second largest stadium in the state of Wisconsin. Camp Randall Stadium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison holds 80,321. However, the seats to population ratio of Lambeau is off the charts, as the stadium can hold about 26.0% of Green Bay's metro residents - far and away the highest percentage of any venue on this list.
As expected, there are seats available, as the stadium's record attendance is 72,740 at the 2007 NFC championship, leaving 7,214 seats to spare at the Frozen Tundra.
Coming in THIRD is Jerry Jones' own monument to football, Cowboys Stadium. Now you may be saying, "I thought Cowboys Stadium set the single game attendance record of 105,121 against the Giants in 2009?" If you are saying this, you have a great memory for dates and numbers, but this record hides the fact that up to 30,000 of those fans were in "standing room plazas"... at least they were still able to see the twin world's fourth-largest HD TVs.At 80,000 official capacity, the stadium can hold only approximately 1.2% of the Dallas metro population, but those lucky few enjoy their view of the field in the world's largest column-free interior.
Even with 82,566 seats, the stadium could only hold about 0.4% of New York's metro population, although this loyalty is split between two teams, so at best, 0.8% (though I suspect Manning packs more seats than Sanchez).
And thundering into FIRST place on the list, it's FedExField, home to the Washington Redskins. Its 85,000 football fan capacity can barely contain 1.5% of the D.C. metro's population.Non-premium single game tickets have sold out every game for entire time the Redskins have been at FedExField, and apparently the waiting list for season tickets is longer than 30 years!
FedExField also has the lowest ranking on this list of Sports Illustrated's stadium fan experiences, ranking 28 out of 31. Many fans apparently wish games were still held at RFK stadium, the current home of MLS's D.C. United, citing problems such as a ticket prices, accessibility, and stadium appeal.
No comments:
Post a Comment