VenRoo

Tracking the venues you've visited – Poster of the NFL Stadiums on a Map of the United States

Category Archives: Stadiums

Green Bay – Plan ahead and act fast

Green Bay has got to be the best overall venue we’ve experienced. From the town, the people, the stadium, and the bars and restaurants, we had a blast everywhere we went. The area around the stadium is compact, and filled with plenty of hotels and restaurants. We stayed at the Tundra Lodge in a couple of their “suite” rooms. They had a great breakfast and bar right in the hotel, and it was within walking distance of the stadium and other bars.

Lambeau field is open to the public during the week, which we visited on Saturday. They have several places to eat and drink, along with a museum if you want to take in some Packer culture.

At first we didn’t know if we wanted to tailgate at the stadium during the game or find a bar, but we quickly learned from the local restaurants, on Saturday, that several offer pre-game specials. These specials included food and all you can drink for a flat rate. We had a blast at Favre’s (yes Brett Favre’s restaurant), the morning of the game. We went in mid September and experienced a bonus heat wave, with nearly 80 degree temperatures, so it was plenty warm during the day (we probably won’t be so lucky the next time we go).

Green Bay

Lambeau Field Seats

The stadium is awesome, even with bleacher seating. It’s not like your typical bowl stadium with lower and upper bowls that take you, what seem like, thousands of feet in the air. This stadium is much lower to the ground, so you have a great experience anywhere you sit.

We knew we wanted to go to Green Bay, before the NFL schedule was released. We also knew the tickets and hotels sell out fast. So, the day the schedule came out, we had two groups of guys working the phones. One group started calling the hotels, while the other worked the ticket brokers. Within 10 minutes we had 8 tickets, in the same row, and two awesome rooms at the Tundra Lodge. We probably got these within a few minutes of selling out the tickets and hotels for the entire season. So, if you know you’re going to Green Bay for the first time, be prepared for some extra time and expense, unless you plan ahead and act fast.

 

Denver – INVESCO Field… A Mile from Where?

We visited Denver in 2008, which was our first trip with all of us flying into the town. We highly recommend booking a car ahead of time to get you from the airport to Denver, especially a Limo. With 10 of us in our group, a large limo was very reasonable, and fun, for the 20 mile ride into the city.

We stayed at a Residence Inn Hotel, near the 16th street mall. The Residence Inns are fantastic hotels and offer great breakfast and happy hours with huge rooms. We always try to find a Residence Inn for all our trips.

The stadium is near downtown, but not within walking distance. We chose to stay near the 16th Street Mall area, which has great bars and restaurants to keep us busy the day before the game. One tip is to use the FREE Trolley to take you up and down the street. We didn’t see the big “FREE” sign all over the trolleys to know that we can get on and ride for FREE, until late afternoon. Now we know.

Getting to the stadium was an adventure, but we finally made it. By taking the Free trolley, walking to the train station, finding the right train to take us near the stadium, then walking about half a mile we finally made it. Denver’s tailgating is pretty good, but we were surprised the parking lot didn’t really fill up until late morning. Everyone in the lot was friendly and fun to hang out with.

When we finally went into the game and walked up to our seats, which were on the 20 yard line (four rows from the top), we realized why they call it Mile High Stadium… It’s a mile from the top of the sky, not a mile from the ground. Wow, that air is thin.

Tailgating at Mile High Stadium

 

Which city has the best pre-game atmosphere?


Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: Entity: line 144: parser error : Opening and ending tag mismatch: body line 57 and div in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 13

Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: </div> in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 13

Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: ^ in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 13

Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: Entity: line 220: parser error : Opening and ending tag mismatch: html line 2 and body in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 13

Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: </body> in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 13

Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: ^ in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 13

Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: Entity: line 221: parser error : Extra content at the end of the document in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 13

Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: </html> in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 13

Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: ^ in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 13

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 17

Warning: Division by zero in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 144

Watching the game is the ultimate goal of your football trip, but getting to, and around, the city is the first part.  What city do you like best for pre-game activities?  Cities that have the stadiums close to resturants, bars, public transportation, hotels, and tailgating, are on the top of our list.  We have the best time when we get to a city and stay in a hotel right near the stadium with plenty of activities to keep us busy the day before and morning of a game.  Which city is the best, in your opinion?

Houston – Reliant Stadium

In 2004 we attended a Chargers / Texans game at Reliant Stadium in Houston.  The Astrodome was right next to it and the new stadium was huge compared to the Astrodome.

Two things that stick out while visiting the Houston stadium – how nice all the people were and the spacious interior of the stadium.

We got numerous “Welcome to Texas” greetings as we walked to the stadium.  Tailgaters were more than generous, even though we sported the visiting team colors.  And inside, the Houston fans were just as nice.

We were also very impressed by the openness of the concourses.  There was plenty of room to walk without getting in anyone’s way.  Concession lines were never long and there was plenty of room around the concession areas to move around.  The space inside the stadium was very impressive.

They say they do things bigger in Texas and Reliant Stadium in Houston is a testament to that.

Arizona Cardinals – Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe

Has anyone experienced the old home of the Arizona Cardinals?  Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe was the home of the Cardinals before they moved into their new stadium in Glendale.

Our first visit to Sun Devil Stadium coincided with a nice little heat wave.  The temperature was about 110 degrees.  That sounds bad enough, but as anyone who has been to a game there will certainly remember, they have aluminum bench seats.  It was definitely an adventure to try to sit on those seats in that heat.  Luckily the Cardinals had misters in all walkways so we could escape the heat and cool down a bit.

Besides the weather, Sun Devil Stadium is actually a great place to see a game.  The stadium is built between 2 mountains so the views are unbelievable.   Add to that the surrounding desert and you get a truly unique game day experience for an NFL game.

Trivia Note:  On October 27, 2003, Sun Devil Stadium hosted the Miami Dolphins and San Diego Chargers after the game was moved to Arizona due to the massive wildfires in San Diego.  The Chargers’ home, Qualcomm Stadium, was being used as an evacuation site.

San Diego – Qualcomm Stadium

If you’ve ever been to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, the first thing you notice (besides the perfect weather) is the round parking lot.  This is one of the few stadiums in the NFL that has parking on all sides of the stadium.   During game day, people can walk completely around the stadium, making it easy to find friend and tailgates.

Speaking of tailgates, San Diego has some of the best in the country.  The players and coaches drive in right through the tailgaters – if you’re lucky some of the players will even stop and say Hi.  And the “inner ring” tailgaters are literally feet from the stadium’s main gate.  If you go, make sure to stop by our tailgate at D2.  Just look for the 4 yellow flagpoles and you’ll find us…

Wherever you tailgate at Qualcomm Stadium, you’re sure to smell the food the locals bring.  Some of the favorites to fire up on the grill are fajitas (carne asada is the best), pizzas (yes, on the grill…), tri-tips, and fresh fish caught right off the Southern California coast.

But whatever you’re tailgate plans are, get there early.  The parking lot usually closes about 3 hours before kickoff.

What do you look for in pre-game activities


Warning: Division by zero in /hermes/waloraweb064/b632/moo.venrooco/blog/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/polldaddy.php on line 144

What are some of the good things you like about stadiums?  Which stadiums have those traits?

It all starts with the outside of the stadium before the game.  If we all flew into the city and don’t have a car, we usually prefer to find a local establishment near the stadium.  Tailgating is fun, but you have to pack all the supplies and fight the traffic after the game.  Some stadiums are very receptive to the opposing team, and the fans are great to hang out with.  Indianapolis is a great example of good fans at the tailgate.

Green Bay is awesome for pre-game activities.  All the local bars and resturants offer some sort of drink and food special (many with all you can eat and drink for a fixed price), along with some good tailgating at the stadium lot.

Overall,

  1. It’s nice to be within walking distance or easy public transportation to the stadium (Indy, Green Bay, St Louis)
  2. Friendly local fans (Indianapolis)
  3. On location activities (Dallas, Green Bay)

What are you favorite stadiums for pre-game activities?  What do you like to do before games?

Weekend Trip for Seattle Game

Seattle is a great town to spend the weekend for a football game. The airport is centrally located to the stadium and downtown and easy to find reasonable transportation. South Lake Union is a few miles north of the airport and four miles north of the stadium. We found it a nice place to stay with great restaurants and bars within walking distance of the hotel. A new park was recently opened with a farmers market on Saturday and plenty of activities to keep you busy.

The downtown shopping area is about two miles south of Lake Union area and the public trolley is easy to ride. If you’re going straight to the stadium, you need to take the trolley (Seattle Streetcar) to its endpoint, walk a few blocks, then take the underground buses another mile, or so, to the stadium. You can travel on the public transportation for two hours on the same $2.25 fare. Otherwise taxis are very reasonable and much quicker.

The stadium area is nice with parking available right around the field. Plenty of tailgaters are setup, having a great time. If you don’t want to tailgate, several restaurants and bars are right across the street. Of course they are pretty crowded but fun, nonetheless. Everyone is very friendly, even though there was an occasional Boo given for the opposing team.

Quest Field

Inside the stadium it’s very easy to get around and plenty of places to take a ‘break’ and get refreshments. You are limited to two alcoholic beverages in your hands at one time, so don’t plan on brining up a full round for your entire party.

View from our seats at Quest Field

Which football stadiums are shown on the poster

There are a lot of stadiums within the professional football and many have been replaced by newer ones over the years.  Which stadiums are shown on the VenRoo poster for professional football?  The current poster for 2010, displays the current stadiums, as of the 2010-2011 season.  New York is new for the year, Indianapolis was new in 2008 and others were replaced several years back.

The concept of VenRoo, is tracking where you’ve been, so we decided to include the current stadiums.  You can still show a date on the stadium even though you haven’t been to a newer one.  Unless you want to track the actual stadium, which is just fine too.  We may offer stickers, in the future, of all the older stadiums, if you want to see the image of those past stadiums.

VenRoo Poster

The VenRoo poster is full size (24 x 36).   Each stadium is surrounded by a color ring representing the teams colors.  A lighter shade of color is on the bottom of each ring to allow you to write anything you want.  Use it to write the date of your first visit, the opponent, or the score.  Add additional dots, or lines, to track how many times you’ve been to the stadium.