Latest / NFL explained. / NFL Stadiums
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- 1:11Speaker 1: Let me tell you we have an episode of NFL
- 1:15Speaker 1: Explained that is near and dear to my heart. It
- 1:18Speaker 1: is about stadiums and as somebody who spends every Sunday
- 1:22Speaker 1: at a stadium. Stadiums are really so much more vibrant,
- 1:26Speaker 1: so much more fun, so much more energetic when the
- 1:29Speaker 1: fans are back in them, and it makes you think
- 1:32Speaker 1: about the buildings where the games are being played. So
- 1:35Speaker 1: much history around every single stadium. And look, we're not
- 1:38Speaker 1: going to dive into every single nugget, because I think
- 1:40Speaker 1: that would be like a ton of different episodes and
- 1:42Speaker 1: we could go on for hours about each individual spot.
- 1:45Speaker 1: But as I think, it's important to highlight some of
- 1:47Speaker 1: the cool features. And sometimes it's not just about having
- 1:50Speaker 1: the really cool jumbo monitor in the middle of your field.
- 1:53Speaker 1: Sometimes you know, have a little characters. Okay too, how
- 1:56Speaker 1: many stadiums do you think, one hundred and one years
- 1:59Speaker 1: of professional football, how many stadiums have been home to
- 2:03Speaker 1: NFL teams? I would imagine it is in ridiculous, like
- 2:06Speaker 1: over a hundred and fifty would be my guest, just
- 2:08Speaker 1: because I think if when we were doing the research
- 2:10Speaker 1: on the names of the teams which encourage people to
- 2:13Speaker 1: go back, I remember the amount of movement that was
- 2:16Speaker 1: happening with a lot of teams that were sharing stadiums
- 2:18Speaker 1: with baseball. So I'm gonna say probably well over X
- 2:25Speaker 1: when hundred and one years of professional football and when
- 2:28Speaker 1: hundred and eighties six different stadiums. I'll tell you this though, Mike.
- 2:31Speaker 1: The Super Bowl this year is at a stadium which
- 2:34Speaker 1: is one of the very few stadiums that I've not
- 2:36Speaker 1: been to. And it's over on your coast, so Fie
- 2:40Speaker 1: Stadium in Los Angeles, right next to NFL h Q
- 2:45Speaker 1: on the West coast. You know, it's kind of crazy
- 2:47Speaker 1: about it. Last weekend I was on a flight heading
- 2:50Speaker 1: to l A X and one of the really cool
- 2:52Speaker 1: things is if anyone's flying to Los Angeles, when you
- 2:55Speaker 1: fly over so Fi Stadium, it looks awesome. It feels
- 2:59Speaker 1: big and massive in all the things that you want
- 3:02Speaker 1: for a Super Bowl site. But it's so big it
- 3:05Speaker 1: actually both the Rams and the Chargers, both of those
- 3:08Speaker 1: teams relocating to l A from St. Louis and San Diego.
- 3:12Speaker 1: But the stadium actually opened up in no fans And
- 3:16Speaker 1: you made reference to the cutouts, Yeah, that was a
- 3:18Speaker 1: buzz kill. What I do know is there won't be
- 3:20Speaker 1: cutouts for Super Bowl fifty six. Sofi Stadium also passing
- 3:25Speaker 1: Allegiance Stadium as the most expensive NFL stadium to be built.
- 3:30Speaker 1: Of course I'm the one bringing up the coin, right.
- 3:32Speaker 1: It cost over five billion dollars to build b B
- 3:37Speaker 1: a billion. That's just insane to me. Not only is
- 3:40Speaker 1: it going to host football games, there's a separate six
- 3:42Speaker 1: thousand seat theater to host some concerts as well. I
- 3:45Speaker 1: think Taylor Swift might have been performing recently, if I'm
- 3:48Speaker 1: not mistaken at SOFI Stadium. I thought I saw that somewhere.
- 3:51Speaker 1: But the point is, like, you're gonna be able to
- 3:52Speaker 1: go all these concerts. It's just it's really awesome. And
- 3:55Speaker 1: one of my really great friends is the radio voice
- 3:58Speaker 1: for the Rams, JP Long, and I remember when when
- 4:01Speaker 1: things opened up. He was telling me about the circular
- 4:04Speaker 1: video board that I think we see on television as
- 4:07Speaker 1: we're watching the games. The thing that that that circular
- 4:10Speaker 1: video board, it's the first of its kind. Two point
- 4:13Speaker 1: two million pounds is what that thing weighs. It is
- 4:16Speaker 1: just really ridiculous to me, and it's really cool too. Yeah,
- 4:22Speaker 1: a whole lot of us is really what it comes
- 4:23Speaker 1: down to. It's got the indoor outdoor vibe, which is
- 4:26Speaker 1: very like property brothers asked, you know, like the living
- 4:29Speaker 1: room that's got the sliding doors that leads to the backyard.
- 4:31Speaker 1: It's kind of like that for so Fi Stadium. Right
- 4:33Speaker 1: the roof, it's got a little that transparent feel. You
- 4:36Speaker 1: got the outdoor vibe, the indoor vibe. So to me,
- 4:39Speaker 1: really really cool. And just one other side note here,
- 4:41Speaker 1: the stadium is built one hundred feet below ground because,
- 4:44Speaker 1: as I made reference to it, the flight pattern near
- 4:47Speaker 1: L A X, like the airplanes need to be able
- 4:49Speaker 1: to clear, so they actually had to build further down
- 4:52Speaker 1: to make sure that the stadium was in line with
- 4:55Speaker 1: the flight paths for airplanes. You know, Mike, this gives
- 4:58Speaker 1: me multiple segues, so I can talk about another stadium
- 5:01Speaker 1: where two teams share a home, and I can also
- 5:07Speaker 1: talk about flight paths and stadiums because it all fits. So,
- 5:12Speaker 1: the New York Giants used to play at Shase Stadium,
- 5:15Speaker 1: as we have talked about before when we talked about
- 5:17Speaker 1: the naming of the Jets. Shase Stadium, of course was
- 5:19Speaker 1: in the flight path of LaGuardia, and so that's part
- 5:23Speaker 1: of how the Jets got their name. But the Giants
- 5:26Speaker 1: moved to New Jersey and eventually their home was the
- 5:29Speaker 1: meadow Lands or Giants Stadium. They said, hey, Jets, come
- 5:33Speaker 1: and play with us, except that the Jets had to
- 5:35Speaker 1: keep on playing at Giants Stadium, which wasn't so much
- 5:38Speaker 1: fun for them. So then together they built a stadium.
- 5:41Speaker 1: And what's crazy about this, Mike, is that I was
- 5:43Speaker 1: in New York at the Wall Street Journal when this
- 5:45Speaker 1: was happening. So I was covering this entire process of
- 5:49Speaker 1: building this brand new stadium where two teams were in
- 5:53Speaker 1: it all together. They were going to share everything about it.
- 5:57Speaker 1: There would be two different home locker rooms, which there
- 6:01Speaker 1: are two different visitors locker rooms. It was the New
- 6:06Speaker 1: Meadowlands in two thousand and ten when it first opened.
- 6:08Speaker 1: Then it became MetLife Stadium in two thousand eleven. It
- 6:12Speaker 1: hosted Super Bowl forty nine between the Seahawks and the Broncos, which,
- 6:16Speaker 1: of course I'm sure you remember, didn't start so auspiciously
- 6:19Speaker 1: for Peyton Manning. But now, one of the things that
- 6:22Speaker 1: I think is most interesting is how you transfer over.
- 6:25Speaker 1: You know, you think about this when let's say a
- 6:28Speaker 1: professional team like the Steelers, who WI will get to later,
- 6:31Speaker 1: shares the stadium with a college team like the pit Panthers,
- 6:35Speaker 1: and you need to change signage. So at MetLife Stadium,
- 6:38Speaker 1: you need to change from a Giant's game to a
- 6:40Speaker 1: Jets game. That means that you need to change all
- 6:44Speaker 1: of the gel packs that light up the venue. You
- 6:46Speaker 1: need to change the field wall, you need to change
- 6:49Speaker 1: the ring of honor. You know, the Jets Ring of
- 6:52Speaker 1: Honor is not the same as the Giants Ring of Honor,
- 6:54Speaker 1: and you can't have the Giants honrees when the Jets
- 6:56Speaker 1: are playing a home game. You've got to change the suites,
- 6:59Speaker 1: You've got to change all of the press box artwork.
- 7:01Speaker 1: So the standard changeover takes a fair amount of time.
- 7:05Speaker 1: I will say this, and this may be unbelievably unpopular,
- 7:08Speaker 1: but whatever, I feel like this is the time for honesty.
- 7:11Speaker 1: I don't really love the look of MetLife Stadium. It
- 7:14Speaker 1: is little sterile, I'll give you that. Yeah, it feels
- 7:17Speaker 1: like my favorite stadiums around the country, Mike, have some
- 7:21Speaker 1: character to them. There's something that feels very distinct and
- 7:25Speaker 1: unique and right next to Zanna Do or whatever that
- 7:29Speaker 1: thing is called. Now, MetLife Stadium looks a little bit,
- 7:32Speaker 1: to use your words, sterile. Yeah, yeah, no, I mean
- 7:35Speaker 1: it's like and look at not that you made reference
- 7:37Speaker 1: to Schase Stadium, like I will say City Field on
- 7:39Speaker 1: the baseball front's got that character. And for all my
- 7:42Speaker 1: friends who are Yankee fans, sorry, like the New York
- 7:45Speaker 1: Stadium little sterile to me. But inside MetLife Stadium, beautiful view.
- 7:50Speaker 1: There's not a bad seat. I love the four scoreboards
- 7:53Speaker 1: in the for like quote unquote corners. I don't know
- 7:55Speaker 1: if you can have corners in around stadium, but I
- 7:57Speaker 1: do love that no matter where you're sitting, you can
- 8:00Speaker 1: always look down at the field and then immediately look
- 8:03Speaker 1: up and see the scoreboard, no doubt. And look the
- 8:05Speaker 1: new sta adiums and we've touched on two of them.
- 8:07Speaker 1: Newer stadiums, I should say, the bells and whistles are there.
- 8:09Speaker 1: But sometimes you got get a little dirty, right, a
- 8:11Speaker 1: little little little gritty and dirty. I mean like in
- 8:13Speaker 1: a good way, you know, have a little bit of
- 8:15Speaker 1: that that old school flare. And I think there's one
- 8:19Speaker 1: field in particular, it's one of the oldest stadiums in
- 8:22Speaker 1: the NFL Soldier Field nineteen twenty four. It was actually
- 8:26Speaker 1: named to honor the fallen soldiers from World War One,
- 8:29Speaker 1: which is just a really cool aspect and history around
- 8:32Speaker 1: that stadium. Their first game. They'll play there in twenty
- 8:35Speaker 1: four actually between two high schools, which also speaks to
- 8:38Speaker 1: what you mentioned before. Add this idea of the venue
- 8:41Speaker 1: being a part of the fabric of of our lives. Yeah,
- 8:44Speaker 1: but the Bears didn't play there initially, did they. I
- 8:47Speaker 1: feel like when we talked about our naming episode, we
- 8:50Speaker 1: talked about the Bears playing at Wrigley They were at
- 8:52Speaker 1: Wrigley Field. But guess what two issues there? Field a
- 8:55Speaker 1: little too small and that brick wall in the outfield
- 8:58Speaker 1: a little bit of an issue. I think if you're
- 8:59Speaker 1: gonna go and lay out just something to throw out there,
- 9:03Speaker 1: um small stadium in the league thought, and below the
- 9:07Speaker 1: minimum to host a super Bowl, not to mention those winters.
- 9:10Speaker 1: And I'm a little bit of a baby about it.
- 9:12Speaker 1: Even though I was in the Northeast, I've been in
- 9:13Speaker 1: the state of California. My blood is thinned out a
- 9:15Speaker 1: little bit. Give me that warm weather. I'm looking forward
- 9:17Speaker 1: to a super Bowl and so FI stadium. But the
- 9:19Speaker 1: point is there's some good history around Soldier Field and
- 9:21Speaker 1: you can feel it when you watch some of those games. Well,
- 9:24Speaker 1: if you don't like talking about the cold, which we
- 9:27Speaker 1: will certainly be talking about the cold as we keep going.
- 9:30Speaker 1: Let's then go back out to the desert to the
- 9:32Speaker 1: Las Vegas Raiders, who are now playing at Allegiance Stadium.
- 9:37Speaker 1: It opened, it hasn't yet hosted a Super Bowl, but
- 9:40Speaker 1: it will be hosting our very next Pro Bowl. And
- 9:44Speaker 1: as you know, the Raiders have played in Oakland, in
- 9:46Speaker 1: l A, in Oakland again. Now they're in Las Vegas
- 9:49Speaker 1: and this was a one point nine billion dollar stadium,
- 9:53Speaker 1: ten levels. Another one of those clear roofs that you
- 9:56Speaker 1: were talking about, is it roofs or roofs? You got
- 9:59Speaker 1: the writing background? You should know roof Like you're asking, Okay,
- 10:03Speaker 1: writing is not the same as speaking my okay, ninety
- 10:06Speaker 1: three ft Al Davis Memorial torch. So this Al Davis
- 10:11Speaker 1: Memorial Torch is ceremoniously lit before each game, which is
- 10:16Speaker 1: kind of like the Olympic torch again right. The field
- 10:19Speaker 1: is natural grass, which of course I love, love, love
- 10:22Speaker 1: the idea of natural grass as opposed to turf for
- 10:25Speaker 1: field turf for you know whatever. There is a section
- 10:28Speaker 1: in the end zone that mimics and nightclub. There's DJ
- 10:31Speaker 1: boots and televisions and bottle service. Although if you're paying
- 10:35Speaker 1: for bottle service. Why not just go to the club
- 10:37Speaker 1: instead of allegedly watching a football game. But anyway, um,
- 10:41Speaker 1: it has been called the Death Star because Raiders fans
- 10:46Speaker 1: are you know, known as being in the black Hole,
- 10:49Speaker 1: and since Allegian Stadium has that black exterior, it just
- 10:53Speaker 1: feels like it works perfectly. Yeah, there's an ominous vibe
- 10:57Speaker 1: as you look at the pictures of Allegian Stadium, which
- 10:59Speaker 1: is really cool and intimidating, just like the black Hole.
- 11:02Speaker 1: And their fans certainly are speaking of newer state d
- 11:05Speaker 1: m s. And I know we keep throwing out the
- 11:07Speaker 1: B word billions, the first stadium construction to surpass one billion.
- 11:12Speaker 1: Not surprising here head into Texas, my guy Jerry Jones
- 11:16Speaker 1: handling business. Jerry's world, I think is usually how I
- 11:19Speaker 1: refer to it. But I know more formally, a T
- 11:22Speaker 1: and T Stadium in Dallas is the official title that
- 11:25Speaker 1: you can throw out. Their capacity actually is increased eight
- 11:28Speaker 1: thousand to over a hundred and five thousand because of
- 11:32Speaker 1: the standing concourse, like the thing is crazy. And I
- 11:34Speaker 1: mentioned the video boards before a little bit earlier at
- 11:36Speaker 1: Sofi Stadium. I remember when the first video board went
- 11:40Speaker 1: in at Jerry's world. Everyone was talking about it, but
- 11:43Speaker 1: the facility is just truly amazing. We saw it on
- 11:46Speaker 1: Hard Knocks with the little drone flight that took us
- 11:48Speaker 1: through the facility. Just so cool. And to give you
- 11:51Speaker 1: some context and perspective, for any of our listeners of
- 11:53Speaker 1: the NFL Explained podcasts who are in the Northeast and
- 11:56Speaker 1: have not been able to head to Dallas, you probably
- 12:00Speaker 1: have seen the Statue of Liberty. The damn Stadium so
- 12:03Speaker 1: big it can hold literally the statue of liberal which
- 12:06Speaker 1: takes me back to my Ghostbuster days when I was
- 12:08Speaker 1: a kid seeing the Statue of Liberty actually walking that
- 12:11Speaker 1: real statue of Liberty from Ghostbusters could have walked all
- 12:14Speaker 1: the way to Dallas and ended up inside a Jerry's
- 12:16Speaker 1: World and it would have been fine. Another unpopular opinion
- 12:19Speaker 1: right here, but I am unafraid to share it. Mike.
- 12:21Speaker 1: I don't like the scoreboard. I feel like when I'm
- 12:24Speaker 1: sitting in the press box, the scoreboard distracts me from
- 12:26Speaker 1: actually seeing the field. But lest any of our listeners
- 12:31Speaker 1: or you think that I am just an old fogy
- 12:33Speaker 1: and a curmudgeon, Let's go back to that whole club.
- 12:37Speaker 1: Let's go back to that clubbing vibe right, like we
- 12:39Speaker 1: talked about it with Las Vegas. So what about Miami.
- 12:42Speaker 1: I have not been to Miami, actually since I had
- 12:46Speaker 1: had one child, not too when I went to Miami,
- 12:49Speaker 1: and the one thing I did go to the club
- 12:51Speaker 1: because hard Rock Stadium, where the Miami Dolphins play, doesn't
- 12:55Speaker 1: have a club inside. Okay, I was gonna say this,
- 12:59Speaker 1: this doesn't sound like a great trip if you only
- 13:01Speaker 1: went to one club, But anyway, go on. It was
- 13:03Speaker 1: a good game because the point is that if the
- 13:05Speaker 1: game gets boring at hard Rock Stadium, then there is
- 13:08Speaker 1: the club that turns into one of Miami's most famous nightclubs.
- 13:11Speaker 1: The thing about hard Rock Stadium that I thought was
- 13:14Speaker 1: so insane was that the closest seats to the field,
- 13:17Speaker 1: Mike have not only they're not like regular seats, They're
- 13:21Speaker 1: not stadium seats. They're sort of armchair like, hang out,
- 13:25Speaker 1: very comfortable seats, and everybody's got a TV right there.
- 13:28Speaker 1: And I remember initially when I went there, I was like,
- 13:31Speaker 1: wait a minute, if the field is I don't know,
- 13:33Speaker 1: twenty yards away from you, why are you looking at
- 13:36Speaker 1: the screen. But we have changed as consumers of football
- 13:40Speaker 1: so much recently that we do indeed constantly look for
- 13:43Speaker 1: the replay, and so many of us are watching television
- 13:47Speaker 1: on multiple screens right or we're watching the game and
- 13:49Speaker 1: we're also watching it on Twitter or game Pass or
- 13:52Speaker 1: whatever it may be. So actually a pretty inventive idea
- 13:58Speaker 1: right there. Really quickly though, Mike, there are a tributes
- 14:00Speaker 1: outside the stadium, because many of these stadiums do have statues.
- 14:04Speaker 1: Can you guess from me, what are the two statues
- 14:06Speaker 1: outside hard Rock Stadium? If you were to think of
- 14:09Speaker 1: the two most iconic Miami Dolphins, who would they be?
- 14:12Speaker 1: My guy, Damn Marino has got to be one of them,
- 14:15Speaker 1: just to be one of them, and coach Coach has
- 14:18Speaker 1: got to be sort of in the mix. And you
- 14:20Speaker 1: know what, it's not just Coachula, it Coachla being carried
- 14:22Speaker 1: off the field by his players. Very cool. That's totally
- 14:25Speaker 1: the way to do it. Okay, since you're old, why
- 14:26Speaker 1: don't you go back to one of our old school ones,
- 14:28Speaker 1: which is totally I was going to say, like the
- 14:30Speaker 1: one place that I'm not worried that TVs are going
- 14:32Speaker 1: to make it at the seats just because they would
- 14:35Speaker 1: the screens would probably crack relatively quickly because of how
- 14:38Speaker 1: cold it can be at lambeau Field, Yes, home of
- 14:40Speaker 1: the Packers since nineteen fifty seven. It's the longest continuously
- 14:45Speaker 1: occupied stadium in the NFL by fifteen years. Only the
- 14:49Speaker 1: Cubs and the Red Sox have played at their respective
- 14:52Speaker 1: fields longer than the Packers, So it's kind of unique
- 14:56Speaker 1: in terms of that history. First stadium by the way,
- 14:58Speaker 1: to have this goes back to the cold and the
- 15:01Speaker 1: heating thing, hydronic heating systems under the field. Remember Steve
- 15:05Speaker 1: Stable say it the frozen tundra, just so that it's
- 15:08Speaker 1: not frozen tundra anymore. So, look, everyone knows, like when
- 15:13Speaker 1: it comes to lambeau Field, there's it's it's iconic. You
- 15:15Speaker 1: think about the lambau Leap, you think about the cold,
- 15:17Speaker 1: like when you think about NFL football. In my mind,
- 15:20Speaker 1: if I close my eyes, most of the time, those
- 15:22Speaker 1: games that I'm envisioning are being played at lambeau Field.
- 15:25Speaker 1: And I know I can't be alone in that regard
- 15:28Speaker 1: when talking about that place. Yeah, not me, because most
- 15:30Speaker 1: of my most unpleasant, bordering on frost bite experiences have
- 15:34Speaker 1: been at lambeau Field. And I think of poor Tom
- 15:37Speaker 1: Coughlin he's a red face. Come on, Mike, you you
- 15:42Speaker 1: did grow up a Giants fan, so you know exactly
- 15:44Speaker 1: what I've done. It's a different deal. Yeah, it is.
- 15:47Speaker 1: Uh you know what else is a different deal? The
- 15:49Speaker 1: fans in Philadelphia. Yes, since we're talking about Tom Coughlin,
- 15:52Speaker 1: the former Giants head coach, and of course we should
- 15:54Speaker 1: talk about the fans of Philadelphia. So now, the Eagles
- 15:59Speaker 1: used to share Veteran Stadium with the Phillies, and it
- 16:03Speaker 1: is a true story. There was indeed a jail underneath
- 16:06Speaker 1: the stadium for the fans that got just a little
- 16:09Speaker 1: bit too rowdy. And there was even a judge on
- 16:13Speaker 1: game days for the fans that showed up in the
- 16:16Speaker 1: Eagles jail. Can you imagine if there was a reality
- 16:18Speaker 1: TV episode about that, if you were going to do
- 16:20Speaker 1: a reality show. And I know there's hard knocks and
- 16:23Speaker 1: all that, but like the fans in Philadelphia, I mean
- 16:26Speaker 1: they boot Santa I just like you can't be the
- 16:29Speaker 1: fans of Philly. You're tough. The Eagles now play at
- 16:32Speaker 1: the Link, of course, Lincoln Financial Field, and I'll tell
- 16:34Speaker 1: you this, there's one holdover from Veteran Stadium. It's not
- 16:37Speaker 1: a jail. But there is a required four our Code
- 16:42Speaker 1: of Conduct course that fans who have been tossed out
- 16:46Speaker 1: of a game at the link are required to take
- 16:48Speaker 1: if they ever want to go back to a game.
- 16:50Speaker 1: That's like a defensive driving class. Right like you got
- 16:53Speaker 1: tossed out once before we let you back in, We're
- 16:56Speaker 1: going to make you take this class. And it happens
- 16:59Speaker 1: enough that they had to create this class. Look Philadelphia
- 17:03Speaker 1: for giving city. You get back in, you take the course,
- 17:05Speaker 1: You're ready to rock. I believe in seces and I
- 17:07Speaker 1: think that's the point of all this stuff. And the
- 17:09Speaker 1: fans actually in New England more recently a d D,
- 17:11Speaker 1: they've had a lot, a lot to cheer four. In fact,
- 17:15Speaker 1: the Patriots who play at Gilette Stadium, let's take this
- 17:17Speaker 1: back though. Playing at Toilette Stadium is given the Patriots
- 17:21Speaker 1: one of the top five home records in the NFL. Look,
- 17:24Speaker 1: I I know, I get it. You could point to Brady,
- 17:26Speaker 1: you can point to Belichick in the whole deal. But
- 17:28Speaker 1: prior to Gillette opening, Patriots spent thirty years at Foxborough
- 17:33Speaker 1: and because the plumbing issues, there no public bathrooms, just
- 17:37Speaker 1: poor to potties that had to have smelled really good. Um,
- 17:41Speaker 1: in the entire existence of the stadium, Like to me,
- 17:44Speaker 1: you want to talk about like the fan experience. I mean,
- 17:47Speaker 1: you've got stadiums that got TVs in front of you, right,
- 17:50Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden we're using poor to potties.
- 17:52Speaker 1: But besides the point, a couple of fun facts here
- 17:54Speaker 1: about Toilette Stadium open two thousand two. Never hosted a
- 17:57Speaker 1: Super Bowl, but it does have six Super Bowl champion
- 18:01Speaker 1: banners hanging in the stadium, which is tied for the
- 18:03Speaker 1: most in the NFL. In that regard, you can serve
- 18:05Speaker 1: only thank Brady and Belichick for that in the stadium.
- 18:09Speaker 1: You know, wait, I'm going to interrupt you here we
- 18:11Speaker 1: talk about you and I are talking about growing up
- 18:13Speaker 1: as kids as Yankee fans and it was the house.
- 18:17Speaker 1: Don't insult me like that. Oh my god. That explains
- 18:20Speaker 1: so much, explains a lot about you too, so being
- 18:23Speaker 1: a Yankees fan. Let's just I think we're all on
- 18:25Speaker 1: the same page. I'm fine, I'm fine, and brace saying
- 18:28Speaker 1: the fact that we don't win a lot of games
- 18:29Speaker 1: like it's cool, Like it's it's fine. It's developed a
- 18:31Speaker 1: nice little character for myself. I don't know how we
- 18:34Speaker 1: spent the whole season together, and I am just learning
- 18:37Speaker 1: this about you. Okay. Well, anyway, in New York, it
- 18:40Speaker 1: was the house that they built, right, So even though
- 18:44Speaker 1: officially Gillette Stadium was built before Tom Brady, it really
- 18:48Speaker 1: is the house that Tom built. And I will tell
- 18:50Speaker 1: you this that in Foxburg around the stadium there's a
- 18:53Speaker 1: whole strip of shopping and retail and restaurants and this
- 18:58Speaker 1: tremendous vibe. None of that happens without Tom Brady. Totally agree.
- 19:01Speaker 1: So even though that relationship ended, that is the house
- 19:04Speaker 1: that Tom built, and that is the strip that top melt.
- 19:07Speaker 1: I'm with you. There is still a ton more to
- 19:09Speaker 1: get to on this podcast and facts. Can you guess
- 19:12Speaker 1: which division has all of its stadiums on the water? Answer?
- 19:19Speaker 1: You should know. You should know for a good reason.
- 19:21Speaker 1: A little bit of a hints there for everyone. It's
- 19:23Speaker 1: coming up on the NFL Explained podcast. Build the team
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- 20:54Speaker 1: I'm a D. D. Kinka Balla. I am here with
- 20:56Speaker 1: Mike Yeam. We are talking about NFL Stadium and Mike
- 21:01Speaker 1: near and dear to my heart and my Long John's
- 21:05Speaker 1: it's a fact that one division has every single stadium
- 21:12Speaker 1: sitting on a body of water. You clearly know what
- 21:15Speaker 1: division that is, don't you. I would know that it's
- 21:18Speaker 1: one where you have frequented many, many of those places
- 21:22Speaker 1: on a very regular basis. And that is indeed the
- 21:25Speaker 1: a f C North. Because we looked to the end
- 21:28Speaker 1: of this season. By the way, I think the next
- 21:31Speaker 1: I don't know, five six weeks, I don't get out
- 21:33Speaker 1: of the a f C North. So let's hit that
- 21:35Speaker 1: right there. They're actually my eight stadiums that sit on water.
- 21:40Speaker 1: The Bears sit on Lake Michigan, and the Jaguars sit
- 21:43Speaker 1: on St. John's River, and the Titans, of course are
- 21:45Speaker 1: on the Cumberland River. And Seattle. We can't forget Seattle,
- 21:48Speaker 1: of course, right Seattle is on Elliott Bay. But the
- 21:51Speaker 1: a f C North has all four of its teams
- 21:55Speaker 1: playing on bodies of water. And so what that means
- 21:58Speaker 1: for me is that on Sunday mornings, when your weather
- 22:01Speaker 1: app tells you that it is twenty two degrees, it's
- 22:04Speaker 1: actually about sixteen to reason below that because of whatever
- 22:08Speaker 1: the lake effect isscending. The Browns they are on Lake Erie.
- 22:12Speaker 1: The Steelers, they are really at the confluence of the
- 22:17Speaker 1: three rivers, but they are officially on the Ohio River.
- 22:20Speaker 1: The Ravens sit on the Potapsco River, and of course
- 22:24Speaker 1: the Bengals are at the confluence of the Ohio and
- 22:27Speaker 1: the Allegheny Rivers. Let's start with hines Field. So part
- 22:31Speaker 1: of the Sunday environment, especially early in the fall before
- 22:34Speaker 1: it gets brutally cold, is for these boats to really
- 22:37Speaker 1: cross again. In Pittsburgh, there are three rivers. There's the
- 22:40Speaker 1: Alleghany River, there's the mononga Hila River, and then there's
- 22:42Speaker 1: the Ohio River. They create a point and boats come
- 22:49Speaker 1: along all those rivers and they dock right at the
- 22:51Speaker 1: base of the stadium. And so you know, you can
- 22:54Speaker 1: kind of see a video board, you can certainly feel
- 22:57Speaker 1: the energy of the crowd. And this is why before
- 23:01Speaker 1: the Steelers played at hines Field, they played at a
- 23:04Speaker 1: stadium that was called three Rivers Stadium. I'll tell you
- 23:09Speaker 1: this though, here's a really interesting fun fact about hines Field,
- 23:12Speaker 1: and it has nothing to do with Renegade. It has
- 23:14Speaker 1: nothing to do with sticks, it has nothing to do
- 23:16Speaker 1: at the terrible towel. The very very very first event
- 23:19Speaker 1: at hines Field was actually a concert and the concert
- 23:25Speaker 1: was in sync. Yes, yes, of trivia that there is
- 23:31Speaker 1: nobody who will ever, ever ever guess, so listeners who
- 23:35Speaker 1: are welcome rocking out at So here's where I'm headed.
- 23:40Speaker 1: Here's where I'm headed this weekend, actually, and that is
- 23:43Speaker 1: the Bengals home which is at Paul Brown Stadium. Now,
- 23:47Speaker 1: Paul Brown Stadium is one of only two stadiums that's
- 23:49Speaker 1: actually named after a person. And if we're going to
- 23:54Speaker 1: talk about Renegade being played at hines Field, which is
- 23:58Speaker 1: what they do when you know the Steelers, p a
- 24:01Speaker 1: announcer wants a big defensive moment, well, they play an
- 24:06Speaker 1: iconic song at Paul Brown Stadium to give me a guest,
- 24:10Speaker 1: guns and Roses. Guns and Roses. The only song that
- 24:12Speaker 1: I think of his Welcome to the Jungle. Oh good gas,
- 24:15Speaker 1: good gas. Okay, So, if Cincinnati is a city of chili, which,
- 24:19Speaker 1: by the way, there's no actual skyline chili served at
- 24:22Speaker 1: Paul Brown Stadium. But anyway, if we are going to
- 24:25Speaker 1: move from chili, then let's move to crab cakes. And
- 24:28Speaker 1: where do you think there is a concession stand that
- 24:31Speaker 1: is dedicated to just crap cakes? There's no doubt in
- 24:34Speaker 1: my mind it's one of the stadiums that I have
- 24:35Speaker 1: been to. My mom lives in Baltimore, M and T
- 24:38Speaker 1: Bank Stadium. I always make it down there to try
- 24:42Speaker 1: to grab some crab cakes whenever I'm in town of
- 24:44Speaker 1: visit my mom to grab the crab cakes. And do
- 24:46Speaker 1: you rub the foot of a very very special statue? No,
- 24:50Speaker 1: I don't touch any statues. I don't like touching handrails.
- 24:54Speaker 1: I use my elbow on elevators to hit the button,
- 24:56Speaker 1: So no, I'm not. I'm not rubbing up against statue.
- 24:58Speaker 1: You're a germaphobe. Really, I haven't been. More recently in
- 25:02Speaker 1: the COVID era, I've been paying a little more closer
- 25:05Speaker 1: to its into things that I touched. Yes, well, we
- 25:07Speaker 1: talked about statues earlier. So there is a Johnny United
- 25:10Speaker 1: statue that sits out front of MMT Bank Stadium and
- 25:14Speaker 1: fans do rub the foot of Johnny Uniteds as they
- 25:18Speaker 1: walk in and that allegedly brings them luck, although that
- 25:21Speaker 1: does really kind of beg the question why the foot
- 25:24Speaker 1: and not the hand or the arm. You're no, I'm
- 25:27Speaker 1: not going just make sure you get the hand sanitizer.
- 25:29Speaker 1: That's all I'm going to say. That's I'm not you
- 25:31Speaker 1: just I'm not going where you were just trying to
- 25:34Speaker 1: lead me. I'm just saying hand sanitizer. Alright. So, So
- 25:39Speaker 1: when I go to MMT Bank Stadium, there is often
- 25:41Speaker 1: a live raven there that will, you know, circle the field,
- 25:44Speaker 1: and I in fact have some photographs that I can
- 25:47Speaker 1: share of me with this raven. When I go to Cleveland,
- 25:50Speaker 1: what is the live animal that I see there? Um? Sorry,
- 25:52Speaker 1: I'm on bye bye bye thinking about in sync and
- 25:54Speaker 1: like different songs that you can play at random stadium.
- 25:57Speaker 1: So I'm gonna let you handle that. I'm thinking about,
- 25:59Speaker 1: you know, the dogs and the whole thing. But yes,
- 26:02Speaker 1: that's exactly what it is, is a dog because out Yes,
- 26:07Speaker 1: and at First Energy Stadium, which opened in nineteen when
- 26:11Speaker 1: the Ravens absconded and then the Cleveland Browns had to
- 26:13Speaker 1: be awarded a new franchise and all of that. Of course,
- 26:16Speaker 1: the fan fans central zone became known as the dog Pound.
- 26:21Speaker 1: And here's a really cool fun fact, right because I
- 26:23Speaker 1: love the dog Pound. Even though we talked about Eagles
- 26:25Speaker 1: fans earlier, I will tell you this, I have a
- 26:27Speaker 1: bias towards Cleveland fans. I think that part of it
- 26:30Speaker 1: is because they have suffered, suffered, suffered, and remained so
- 26:33Speaker 1: loyal through all that suffering. In nineteen eighty nine, now
- 26:38Speaker 1: this is before First Energy Stadium, of course, this was
- 26:41Speaker 1: the first itineration of the Cleveland Browns. Fans were so
- 26:46Speaker 1: rowdy at a game versus Denver Broncos that fans in
- 26:51Speaker 1: the end zone of the dog Pound were so rowdy.
- 26:53Speaker 1: Do you know what? The rest died? They made the
- 26:55Speaker 1: team switch end zones. Wow, there's a similar story coming
- 26:59Speaker 1: up that I have for you with regard to crowd
- 27:01Speaker 1: noise and the whole thing, which is not Yeah, it
- 27:04Speaker 1: just kind of surprised me, that's or surprised me. I
- 27:06Speaker 1: didn't realize that, all right, did you since you've gone
- 27:08Speaker 1: through the a f C North, is it going to
- 27:10Speaker 1: be me? Did you see what I did there? Come on,
- 27:13Speaker 1: come on, come on, all right, like the two instinct fans,
- 27:18Speaker 1: and I know there's more listening to the NFL Explained podcast,
- 27:20Speaker 1: you feel me here, all right? I want to jump
- 27:22Speaker 1: to the A t L. You are just exposing yourself.
- 27:27Speaker 1: You yes, I do have to appreciate that you just
- 27:30Speaker 1: you just embrace it. Look I like instinct justin Timberlake.
- 27:33Speaker 1: I guess it's cool. It's it's fine, very very talented individuals.
- 27:36Speaker 1: Can you name the rest of instincts? I definitely can.
- 27:38Speaker 1: I will do that on another episode. The only stadium
- 27:41Speaker 1: who has hosted an Olympic Games, a Final Four, and
- 27:44Speaker 1: a super Bowl. By the way, I've seen basketball played
- 27:47Speaker 1: in a NFL stadium down in Arizona. Also a weird
- 27:50Speaker 1: sensation while you're trying to take it in. But the
- 27:51Speaker 1: answer to that question, George, don't. In the A t L.
- 27:54Speaker 1: Falcons currently play at a shiny new Mercedes Benz Stadium,
- 27:59Speaker 1: though opening up in two seventeen. You got a retractable
- 28:03Speaker 1: roof that shaped like a camera abatur which only takes
- 28:06Speaker 1: about eight minutes or so. It's open and closed. But
- 28:08Speaker 1: I think one of the coolest things because d D
- 28:10Speaker 1: we were talking a little bit earlier in the podcast
- 28:12Speaker 1: about showing up the stadiums and what that's like and
- 28:14Speaker 1: how expensive things can be. How about this for the
- 28:17Speaker 1: fans down Atlanta, huge draw When you talk about the
- 28:20Speaker 1: cheapest concessions in the league by a wide marchin got
- 28:24Speaker 1: a dollar fifty hot dogs? Are you kidding me? Two
- 28:26Speaker 1: dollar fountain drinks, free refills? Yo, I am, that's totally
- 28:33Speaker 1: That's like triple the price in the Bay Area where
- 28:35Speaker 1: I live. And that's not even like going to a game.
- 28:37Speaker 1: I just mean, like going to get a hot dog
- 28:38Speaker 1: is like eight nine bucks. Normally dollar fifty hot dog.
- 28:41Speaker 1: Like I wouldn't eat for like a week to get
- 28:43Speaker 1: ready for that game. I'd be fasting just to get
- 28:45Speaker 1: to Sunday at Mercedes ben Stadium. So to me, it's
- 28:49Speaker 1: obviously a deal. And I know this because I've been
- 28:51Speaker 1: down in Atlanta for a college football playoff game when
- 28:54Speaker 1: Alabama beat Washington. I was covering that matchup, and I
- 28:57Speaker 1: know Chick fil A is such a big part of
- 28:59Speaker 1: the culture down there. Can't get it on a Sunday
- 29:01Speaker 1: because it's actually closed. It's all good though. You got
- 29:05Speaker 1: Thursday night game, you got money night games, But who cares?
- 29:07Speaker 1: You got a dollar fifty hot dogs, free refills, two
- 29:09Speaker 1: dollar fountain drinks that d D sign me up for that.
- 29:12Speaker 1: We know that you love the South, so why don't
- 29:14Speaker 1: we just go further south to what used to be
- 29:16Speaker 1: the old Gator Bowl. What do you know about that?
- 29:18Speaker 1: Not a ton about the Gator Ball, But I do
- 29:20Speaker 1: know that every time I see m j D on
- 29:22Speaker 1: NFL network, there's always a reference to Duval County. So
- 29:26Speaker 1: to the way he says, it's always cool too, and
- 29:28Speaker 1: that is because it's Duval County that is the home
- 29:32Speaker 1: to t I A A Bank Field, which is the
- 29:34Speaker 1: home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, whose mascot Jackson Deville Bungee
- 29:40Speaker 1: jumps onto the field prior to kick off. And also
- 29:45Speaker 1: ps it is the only stadium with its own swimming pools,
- 29:49Speaker 1: jump in cannonball, ready to rock and roll. I was
- 29:51Speaker 1: surprised that a pool was not put into Levi Stadium
- 29:55Speaker 1: in because the d D when they were building that sucker,
- 29:58Speaker 1: it felt like they thought of everything for it, although
- 30:02Speaker 1: depending on where you sit during a game, it could
- 30:05Speaker 1: be really really hot or really really cold. Levi's in
- 30:08Speaker 1: Santa Clara, about forty miles or so. Actually forty four
- 30:12Speaker 1: point four. I do know that because I used to
- 30:14Speaker 1: work at a place that was forty four point four
- 30:15Speaker 1: miles away in the middle of San Francisco to get
- 30:18Speaker 1: down there. It's actually the furthest stadium from a team's
- 30:21Speaker 1: actual home city, because we think about San Francisco with
- 30:24Speaker 1: the forty Niners for good reason. Rooftop farm deal with
- 30:28Speaker 1: just a ton of food options in the Bay area.
- 30:32Speaker 1: I remember that actually, So when I covered the Super
- 30:34Speaker 1: Bowl out there, I do remember because it was called
- 30:37Speaker 1: sort of the San Francisco Super Bowl, except that I
- 30:39Speaker 1: was stuck out by the stadium covering the Peyton Manning
- 30:42Speaker 1: Denver Broncos, and I remember that. That was Something that
- 30:46Speaker 1: was specifically very cool about Levi Stadium is that they
- 30:50Speaker 1: had this rooftop farm with these rotational crops, and they
- 30:53Speaker 1: used to grow crops at the stadium, which felt very
- 30:57Speaker 1: very California to me. Forty crops used in the dishes.
- 31:00Speaker 1: The tech company that you can think of is got
- 31:02Speaker 1: a building down in Silicon Valley in that area, which
- 31:05Speaker 1: is always really cool if you're paying attention to it.
- 31:08Speaker 1: I think from like a technical standpoint, it is. But
- 31:10Speaker 1: in the meantime, I think if you go a little
- 31:12Speaker 1: further north. Add, there's one place in particular when I
- 31:14Speaker 1: think about fans and how much they honor their fans,
- 31:17Speaker 1: Seattle comes to mind to me. Well, it's the twelfth man, right,
- 31:21Speaker 1: The number twelve was retired in order to honor those fans.
- 31:25Speaker 1: It's the you know, the raising of the twelve flag
- 31:29Speaker 1: has been a century field tradition forever. It is ridiculously
- 31:34Speaker 1: loud there. I mean, I remember, gosh, I went out
- 31:37Speaker 1: there with the Giants multiple times. And as I say that,
- 31:40Speaker 1: Eli Manning, I remember when he was really young. I
- 31:43Speaker 1: think it was maybe two thousand five. The Giants were
- 31:46Speaker 1: flagged for eleven false start penalties. Eleven and that is
- 31:52Speaker 1: exactly what a twelfth man does, right, Yeah, there's the
- 31:56Speaker 1: loudness there certainly comes to mind. Uh. There's one stadium
- 32:00Speaker 1: that's hosted more Super Bowls than any other, the Superdome
- 32:04Speaker 1: in New Orleans, which today is obviously Caesar's super Dome.
- 32:07Speaker 1: And I get it, like you got the Super Bowls
- 32:09Speaker 1: that have appeared there. But for me and add you
- 32:11Speaker 1: probably feel because we're about the same age. I can't
- 32:14Speaker 1: think about New Orleans and the Superdome without thinking about
- 32:16Speaker 1: two thousand five Hurricane Katrina, and the fact that thirty
- 32:20Speaker 1: thousand vacuees from that hurricane were forced to be inside
- 32:24Speaker 1: the Superdome at the time. You got the winds that
- 32:27Speaker 1: were ripping holes to the roof needed repairs. I mean,
- 32:29Speaker 1: just the sadness around that moment. And for me, even
- 32:33Speaker 1: to this day, I can't think about how that facility
- 32:36Speaker 1: was used to help people, and I think about that
- 32:38Speaker 1: first before I think about the football aspect of it.
- 32:41Speaker 1: But it is cool to know that the NFL and
- 32:44Speaker 1: specifically that Superdome was able to help people in a
- 32:46Speaker 1: really bad situation at a time of need. For sure,
- 32:49Speaker 1: and stadiums, especially this year Mike have become community points,
- 32:54Speaker 1: especially as vaccination centers, and so it is tremendous to
- 32:59Speaker 1: think about them. Is not only host of football games,
- 33:02Speaker 1: which we all love, and of concerts, but also that
- 33:05Speaker 1: they can be very very useful, very very vital parts
- 33:10Speaker 1: of what a community needs or is trying to do. Yeah,
- 33:13Speaker 1: those stadiums, those teams that are part of the community
- 33:16Speaker 1: in a big way, and indeed there's one team in
- 33:18Speaker 1: particular that um that community can't be thrilled with what
- 33:22Speaker 1: they've seen recently on the football fields. Um, the poor Lions, Spike.
- 33:27Speaker 1: I just saw them play to a tie. They played
- 33:29Speaker 1: their hearts out and it was still and tie. You know,
- 33:31Speaker 1: they just can't catch a break any which way. They
- 33:33Speaker 1: moved to Ford Field in two thousand two, and you know,
- 33:36Speaker 1: it is a really really lovely stadium. It looks cool.
- 33:40Speaker 1: It incorporates the former Hudson's Warehouse. It's one of the
- 33:44Speaker 1: few NFL stadiums that actually have end zones that run
- 33:48Speaker 1: east west as opposed to north south, which is pretty cool.
- 33:51Speaker 1: You know, it's old stadium was built in nineteen seventy five,
- 33:54Speaker 1: that's the Pontiac Silver Don for fifty five point seven
- 33:58Speaker 1: million dollars, and then it was sold for just five
- 34:01Speaker 1: hundred and eighty three thousand dollars. My memory, my greatest
- 34:05Speaker 1: memory of ford Field is let me think back to
- 34:07Speaker 1: the year. I think this was the two thousand ten season.
- 34:10Speaker 1: The Giants were getting ready to play the Vikings in
- 34:14Speaker 1: Minneapolis and the roof collapsed in Minneapolis and everybody had
- 34:20Speaker 1: to go to Detroit to play this game. And it
- 34:22Speaker 1: was sort of crazy. They were twenty fans, nobody knew
- 34:24Speaker 1: who to cheer for. It was an odd odd odd game.
- 34:26Speaker 1: But yes, that is one of those memories. No, I'm
- 34:30Speaker 1: with you there. A little bit earlier here on the
- 34:32Speaker 1: podcast d D we had talked about the Giants and
- 34:34Speaker 1: the Jets and the fact that they don't actually play
- 34:36Speaker 1: in New York, but who cares because New Yorkers are
- 34:38Speaker 1: like Yo, we got its NFL stadium, high Mark Stadium
- 34:41Speaker 1: home Bill's mafia handling business, the Buffalo Bills, always making
- 34:47Speaker 1: things very interesting for its fans. I think about the
- 34:50Speaker 1: tailgaming that happens there in the stadium has actually had
- 34:52Speaker 1: a ton of different names, the first rich Stadium believed
- 34:56Speaker 1: to be one of the first instances of stadium naming rights.
- 35:00Speaker 1: Like to me, it's kind of a cool little side
- 35:02Speaker 1: be there. It doesn't always pop up, especially when you
- 35:05Speaker 1: think about all the dollars that are going towards naming
- 35:07Speaker 1: rights a d D. So here's my story about high
- 35:09Speaker 1: Mark Stadium Week one of this past season. I was
- 35:12Speaker 1: covering a game there and fans were so, so so
- 35:15Speaker 1: excited because as we talk about amazing fans like the
- 35:17Speaker 1: Dog Pound and the Eagles fans, well Bill's mafia, I mean,
- 35:21Speaker 1: they take the cake. There were so many fans outside
- 35:25Speaker 1: the stadium excited to tailgate at seven am. That it
- 35:30Speaker 1: took me an hour and a half to go less
- 35:33Speaker 1: than half a mile to the parking lot. I needed
- 35:37Speaker 1: special help to actually get to the stadium. And then
- 35:41Speaker 1: you know who was stuck in the same traffic And
- 35:42Speaker 1: about two hours later, Josh Allen, I had to go
- 35:46Speaker 1: on television and say, Bills, fans, pull over so that
- 35:50Speaker 1: your quarterback can actually get to the stadium towards police escort.
- 35:56Speaker 1: Let's get it done, folks. Well, you know who had
- 35:59Speaker 1: a police escort this past year? Are many, many many
- 36:01Speaker 1: times that, of course is the Tampa Bay Bucks. The
- 36:04Speaker 1: defending Super Bowl champions, play at Raymond James Stadium. They
- 36:08Speaker 1: hosted the Super Bowl last year, which is sort of insane.
- 36:11Speaker 1: It's the only stadium to ever host its home team
- 36:14Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl. This was the third time that
- 36:16Speaker 1: Raymond James Stadium hosted the Super Bowl. And you know,
- 36:20Speaker 1: you can't talk about the ray j without talking about
- 36:22Speaker 1: that pirate ship above the end zone? Can you know,
- 36:25Speaker 1: just sort of a staple? I think everyone thinks about
- 36:28Speaker 1: that forty three ton pirate ship above that end zone.
- 36:31Speaker 1: How can you not just kind of fire in that
- 36:33Speaker 1: canon let's roll, because that always just means really good moments. Adity,
- 36:37Speaker 1: it's been awesome so far. Kind of rolling through a
- 36:39Speaker 1: lot of these stadiums and come of the cool factoids.
- 36:41Speaker 1: We got a couple more left. In fact, there's one
- 36:44Speaker 1: that's got underground tunnels connecting its stadium to other buildings.
- 36:48Speaker 1: The answer to where that is coming up next on
- 36:51Speaker 1: the NFL Explained podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Kindrel.
- 36:59Speaker 1: Kindrel Designs builds, manages, and modernizes the mission critical technology
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- 37:46Speaker 1: the world. Kindrel the heart of progress. Welcome back to
- 37:54Speaker 1: the NFL Explained Podcast. She's a d D. Kin Kawala, Mike,
- 37:56Speaker 1: I am with you and a d D. Like high Mark.
- 37:59Speaker 1: Most stadiums multiple names. The Denver Broncos Mile High Stadium
- 38:04Speaker 1: before moving to Empower Field that opened in two thousand one.
- 38:08Speaker 1: Mile High got its name because yeah, the obvious right,
- 38:11Speaker 1: Denver five more than five thousand feet above sea level,
- 38:16Speaker 1: one mile above sea level, and if you've run in
- 38:18Speaker 1: that area and you're not used to it, it becomes
- 38:21Speaker 1: an issue. Which I am inside that stadium. I do do,
- 38:24Speaker 1: indeed know that, and I will admit that I still
- 38:26Speaker 1: do call it Mile High Stadium. Some names just stick
- 38:29Speaker 1: with us right now, there's no doubt, there's no doubt.
- 38:31Speaker 1: And yeah, there's one stadium in particular to add that.
- 38:34Speaker 1: I think of um and it's hard for me to
- 38:36Speaker 1: think about pro football sometimes when I think about some
- 38:40Speaker 1: of my own personal history in the state of Arizona
- 38:42Speaker 1: with with a s U football and how well it's
- 38:44Speaker 1: done at times down in the desert. Well, that's fair.
- 38:47Speaker 1: So they spent eighteen years. The Cardinals spent eighteen years
- 38:50Speaker 1: at Arizona State's home stadium and Tempe, and that was
- 38:52Speaker 1: the longest tenure than any We talked about this earlier,
- 38:55Speaker 1: right about a pro team and a college team sharing
- 38:57Speaker 1: a stadium, when we talked about Hines Field and the
- 38:59Speaker 1: Steelers in pit, Well, the Cardinals actually had to play
- 39:03Speaker 1: at Arizona State Stadium. They finally moved to State Farm
- 39:06Speaker 1: Stadium in two thousand and six, and they had the
- 39:10Speaker 1: first retractable field of its kind. Right now, Las Vegas
- 39:14Speaker 1: has this. But part of this is because you know,
- 39:17Speaker 1: sometimes you need to catch the desert sun and sometimes
- 39:20Speaker 1: you don't want to. And Arizona has hosted two Super
- 39:23Speaker 1: Bowls forty two and forty nine. I can get hot
- 39:26Speaker 1: in the desert um no breaking news animation needed for
- 39:29Speaker 1: something like that, a d D. I should probably handle
- 39:31Speaker 1: this next one because I learned on our food episode
- 39:34Speaker 1: for players you do not eat meat. And when I
- 39:36Speaker 1: think about the Chiefs and the barbecue down there, I
- 39:39Speaker 1: feel like I should handle this. And look, I've been
- 39:42Speaker 1: to games down there and it is so loud, and
- 39:45Speaker 1: believe it or not, actually the loudest stadium in the
- 39:47Speaker 1: Guinness Book of World Records does not belong to Seattle,
- 39:50Speaker 1: which we touched on a little bit earlier. In fact,
- 39:52Speaker 1: it's Kansas City a game against New England. The fans
- 39:56Speaker 1: hit a one forty two point to decibel mark. All
- 40:00Speaker 1: I know is that's really loud. And here's the story
- 40:02Speaker 1: that I told you. I would tell you. It was
- 40:03Speaker 1: so loud. In the game against the Broncos, a d
- 40:05Speaker 1: back in John Elway asked the ref to quiet the crowd.
- 40:10Speaker 1: What the ref did it and threatened to charge the
- 40:13Speaker 1: Chiefs with the time out if they kept it up.
- 40:16Speaker 1: I'm actually surprised that went down. That disappoints me. Yeah,
- 40:19Speaker 1: that disappoints me so much because being there and hearing
- 40:22Speaker 1: the crowd and feeling your ears ringing and feeling the
- 40:24Speaker 1: stadium shake. That's what it is. It's you're standing there
- 40:28Speaker 1: and the stadium shakes. Okay, another place I've been Bank
- 40:32Speaker 1: of America Stadium. It's the home of mixed reality mascots.
- 40:36Speaker 1: It was opened in nine, shortly after the Carolina Panthers
- 40:39Speaker 1: came into existence. There are lots and lots of massive
- 40:44Speaker 1: bronze Panthers statues, six of them I believe, around the stadium. Wow,
- 40:49Speaker 1: you got to get the bronze going ready to rock
- 40:51Speaker 1: and roll DD. There's one team when I think about them,
- 40:55Speaker 1: I kind of only think about one player. That's Peyton Manning.
- 40:58Speaker 1: And yes it's the Cults, and yes I'm talking about
- 40:59Speaker 1: Lucas Oil Stadium, built in two thousand eight, hosted Super
- 41:03Speaker 1: Bowl forty six, one of my favorite super Bowls, one
- 41:06Speaker 1: of my absolute favorite super Bowls to cover anything that
- 41:09Speaker 1: stands out of Mario Manningham holding onto a ball, I
- 41:12Speaker 1: mean Eli making you know what it was? It was.
- 41:14Speaker 1: There was so much fear. That was one of the
- 41:15Speaker 1: first Super Bowls in a cold weather climate. And the
- 41:18Speaker 1: really cool thing about Indianapolis is that there are all
- 41:21Speaker 1: these tunnels. They are underground tunnels, there are over the
- 41:25Speaker 1: road tunnels, whatever you call them. There are tunnels so
- 41:27Speaker 1: you never actually need to go outside. But it was
- 41:30Speaker 1: this unseasonably warm week prior to the Super Bowl, and
- 41:34Speaker 1: the volunteers were as friendly as can be. And then
- 41:37Speaker 1: it was of course that epic. It was another epic,
- 41:40Speaker 1: the second epic Giants Patriots super Bowl. And I will
- 41:44Speaker 1: never forget that pass that Eli Manning made to Mario
- 41:47Speaker 1: Manningham and Mario Manningham on the sideline actually holding onto
- 41:50Speaker 1: the ball because it felt like all season he didn't
- 41:52Speaker 1: necessarily hold on the ball. And then you can't forget
- 41:54Speaker 1: a mod Brats show, right, being told not to score
- 41:56Speaker 1: and then turning around backwards and falling on his tush
- 41:59Speaker 1: while he scored. Anyway, showtime deliver when it counts. Yes,
- 42:04Speaker 1: And of course Lucas Oils Data, we should say, has
- 42:07Speaker 1: been home of the NFL Combine and one of my
- 42:08Speaker 1: all time favorite events. They're talking about moving the Combine,
- 42:11Speaker 1: not this year though, great great, great host for the Combine,
- 42:16Speaker 1: for aspiring NFL players for that Super Bowl, and just
- 42:19Speaker 1: in general on game day. Yeah, I think about cold weather.
- 42:21Speaker 1: I also think about Minnesota a d D where the
- 42:24Speaker 1: roof collapsed. Yeah, it actually collapsed five times. They finally
- 42:27Speaker 1: decided to move on, which you can certainly understand. Their
- 42:30Speaker 1: current home, US Bank Stadium. It's kind of got a
- 42:34Speaker 1: pretty good vibe to it, just in terms of the
- 42:36Speaker 1: aesthetics around it. But it did host Super Bowl fifty
- 42:39Speaker 1: two while it actually fixed it that roof stadium, but
- 42:42Speaker 1: the temperatures that week reached negative twenty five degrees outside.
- 42:47Speaker 1: You need the tunnels. You need the tunnels. That's all
- 42:50Speaker 1: I'm saying keep it warm negative twenty five. That's just
- 42:53Speaker 1: a different breed of of existence. That was one of
- 42:56Speaker 1: my live shots at the Super Bowl in Minneapolis. I
- 42:59Speaker 1: was the person tasked with standing outside and talking about
- 43:01Speaker 1: how cold it was. And I will tell you what,
- 43:02Speaker 1: I've never been so cold in my life. Okay, Onto
- 43:06Speaker 1: the team without a mascot, That, of course is the
- 43:09Speaker 1: Washington football team. FedEx Field open in ninet It's one
- 43:12Speaker 1: of the largest stadiums in the league. Seats eighty two
- 43:16Speaker 1: thousand people. FedEx has a marching band that was formed
- 43:19Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty seven. That's the oldest band in the NFL.
- 43:23Speaker 1: And there's of course the Hoggets that those are the
- 43:25Speaker 1: fans who dress up in dresses and pig faces, which
- 43:28Speaker 1: I suppose is supposed to be in homage to the
- 43:30Speaker 1: offensive line. But you know the mushroomn handle in business.
- 43:34Speaker 1: You know, what's always kind of cool because of all
- 43:35Speaker 1: the weather issues that we've talked about is just this
- 43:37Speaker 1: whole idea of like retractable domes. It really is sort
- 43:40Speaker 1: of like a marvel from an engineering standpoint, but the
- 43:43Speaker 1: Texans actually had the first retractable roof when they built
- 43:47Speaker 1: what is now an RG Stadium back in two thousand two.
- 43:50Speaker 1: That roof, by the way, seven minutes or so open
- 43:52Speaker 1: and close. And r G also hosts Houston Livestock Show
- 43:57Speaker 1: and the Rodeo, which I know is a big popular attraction.
- 44:00Speaker 1: Shout out to the Bullpen, by the way, those dieheart
- 44:02Speaker 1: fans always ready to support their football team in a
- 44:05Speaker 1: big gay and are very very last stadium. And that's
- 44:08Speaker 1: an old team from Texas, the Tennessee Titans. They now
- 44:11Speaker 1: play at Nissan Stadium. When they played in Houston as
- 44:14Speaker 1: the Oilers, they of course played as the Houston Astrodome,
- 44:17Speaker 1: which was once known as the Eighth Wonder of the World.
- 44:19Speaker 1: But then when they moved to Nashville, first they played
- 44:21Speaker 1: at Vanderbilt while they waited for Adelphia Coliseum. At Vandy
- 44:26Speaker 1: you couldn't buy a beer on Sundays because of the
- 44:29Speaker 1: college stadium liquor laws. But then when they finally started
- 44:32Speaker 1: playing at a Delphia Coliseum, they set an NFL record
- 44:36Speaker 1: by winning third team straight home games. Of course, now
- 44:38Speaker 1: they're at Nissan Stadium and uh fun, fun, fun place
- 44:41Speaker 1: to cover a game. I'll tell you that the dity
- 44:44Speaker 1: I know, as we've kind of gone through every single
- 44:46Speaker 1: team and some of the cool factoids around every stadium.
- 44:49Speaker 1: The one thing that I will say, and I know
- 44:50Speaker 1: we've hammered home this point, but just what these places
- 44:53Speaker 1: mean for those local communities. And in fact, I think
- 44:55Speaker 1: about the Old Giant Stadium and my high school, Burden
- 44:59Speaker 1: Catholic in New Jersey, the Crusaders. We won the state
- 45:01Speaker 1: high school championships um that year were the game was
- 45:04Speaker 1: played in the Old Giants Stadium, and I whenever I think,
- 45:08Speaker 1: I don't even think of and I'm a Giants fan,
- 45:09Speaker 1: I always even think about the Giants. When I think
- 45:11Speaker 1: about Old Giants Stadium, I think about the memory of
- 45:13Speaker 1: being a high school student cheering on our guys and
- 45:16Speaker 1: we won a state championship. And I know that people
- 45:19Speaker 1: all across this country and people even internationally probably experienced
- 45:23Speaker 1: it in different forms in different sports. But anyone who's
- 45:25Speaker 1: listening to this podcast a DD I'm sure has a
- 45:27Speaker 1: story and a memory just like that, and share them
- 45:29Speaker 1: with us, Tweet us and tell us your favorites memories
- 45:34Speaker 1: from your stadiums. And of course, as always, as we
- 45:36Speaker 1: ask every single week, if you have questions, if you
- 45:39Speaker 1: have things that you want explained about the National Football
- 45:43Speaker 1: League about the game, about the people in the buildings
- 45:46Speaker 1: and everything that comprised the game will come at us.
- 45:49Speaker 1: Send us the topics that interest you most. You've got questions,
- 45:53Speaker 1: We got answers at A King Kabala at Mike Underscore,
- 45:57Speaker 1: Yam A d D. Always fun to do another edition
- 46:00Speaker 1: and the NFL Explained podcast with you and that has
- 46:03Speaker 1: been Stadiums Explained brought to you by up work, where
- 46:16Speaker 1: you can build the team that will build your business.
- 46:19Speaker 1: Learn more at upwork dot com. America's most reliable network
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