List of current National Football League stadiums
Encyclopedia
The following is a list of current National Football League
stadiums, sorted by capacity, their locations, their first year of usage and home teams.
Stadium
s represent a considerable expense to a community, and thus their construction, use, and funding often enters the public discourse. Also, given the perceived advantage a team gets to playing in their home stadium, particular attention is given in the media to the peculiarities of each stadium's environment. Climate, playing surface (either natural or artificial turf
), and the presence or lack of a roof or dome all contribute to giving each team its home-field advantage.
Franchises playing in a domed or retractable-roof stadium typically do poorly in the playoffs.
As of January 4, 2007, dome teams were 8-29 in outdoor playoff games. The only dome teams to win a Super Bowl
are the 1999
St. Louis Rams
, the 2006
Indianapolis Colts
and the 2009
New Orleans Saints
, although the Rams won the Super Bowl in the Georgia Dome
in 1999. In 2010, three of the four teams playing in the AFC and NFC championships had home stadiums that had a dome or retractable roof (New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, and the Indianapolis Colts). Super Bowl XLIV hosted the Saints and the Colts, marking the first time that two indoor teams played each other in a Super Bowl. Conversely, outdoor stadium teams tend to do well in the playoffs. Through Super Bowl XLIV
, outdoor teams have won 41 of the 44 Super Bowls held so far. Outdoor stadiums built in climates with an average January temperature of less than 50°F (10°C) are, by rule, not allowed to host the Super Bowl
, though this was apparently waived to allow Super Bowl XLVIII
, in 2014, to be hosted at MetLife Stadium.
The New York Giants
and New York Jets
share a stadium (MetLife Stadium), thus there are only 31 NFL
stadiums.
The NFL uses several other stadiums on a regular basis in addition to the teams' designated regular home sites. The NFL International Series
places one regular season game per year at Wembley Stadium
in London
, and the Buffalo Bills
have an agreement
to play one home game per year from 2008-2012 plus three exhibition games at the Rogers Centre
in Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
. In addition, Fawcett Stadium
in Canton, Ohio
hosts the annual exhibition Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
, and Aloha Stadium
in Honolulu, Hawaii
usually hosts the Pro Bowl
.
The New York Giants' and New York Jets' MetLife Stadium is the largest in the NFL in terms of regular capacity. The Dallas Cowboys' Cowboys Stadium can expand past that of MetLife Stadium by means of standing room and temporary seating, which makes Cowboys Stadium the only NFL stadium capable of holding 100,000 or more fans, though it normally only seats 80,000. The smallest full-time NFL stadium is Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears. All of the full-time NFL stadiums seat between 60,000 and 83,000 fans; teams rarely go above this mark because the league's television contracts
encourage teams to sell out by allowing sellout games to be televised locally, and having too many seats to fill makes selling out difficult, reducing the team's media attention. The Jacksonville Jaguars
faced this exact problem, and for the past several years have covered up several thousand seats at EverBank Field in an effort to sell out more games. Teams are allowed to cover seats to reduce capacity, but must do so for all home games at the stadium, including playoff games, unless given express permission otherwise. Super Bowls are generally exempt from this rule and can expand to as many seats as desired.
for NFL games. Some stadiums can be expanded to fit larger crowds.
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
stadiums, sorted by capacity, their locations, their first year of usage and home teams.
Stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
s represent a considerable expense to a community, and thus their construction, use, and funding often enters the public discourse. Also, given the perceived advantage a team gets to playing in their home stadium, particular attention is given in the media to the peculiarities of each stadium's environment. Climate, playing surface (either natural or artificial turf
Artificial turf
Artificial turf is a surface manufactured from synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commercial applications as well...
), and the presence or lack of a roof or dome all contribute to giving each team its home-field advantage.
Franchises playing in a domed or retractable-roof stadium typically do poorly in the playoffs.
As of January 4, 2007, dome teams were 8-29 in outdoor playoff games. The only dome teams to win a Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
are the 1999
Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV featured the National Football Conference champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference champion Tennessee Titans in an American football game to decide the National Football League champion for the 1999 regular season...
St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
, the 2006
Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI was an American football game that featured the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League champion for the 2006 season...
Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
and the 2009
Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion New Orleans Saints to decide the National Football League champion for the 2009 season. The Saints defeated the Colts by a score of...
New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
, although the Rams won the Super Bowl in the Georgia Dome
Georgia Dome
The Georgia Dome is a domed stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west. It is primarily the home stadium for the NFL Atlanta Falcons and the NCAA Division I FCS Georgia State Panthers football team. It is owned and operated by the...
in 1999. In 2010, three of the four teams playing in the AFC and NFC championships had home stadiums that had a dome or retractable roof (New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, and the Indianapolis Colts). Super Bowl XLIV hosted the Saints and the Colts, marking the first time that two indoor teams played each other in a Super Bowl. Conversely, outdoor stadium teams tend to do well in the playoffs. Through Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion New Orleans Saints to decide the National Football League champion for the 2009 season. The Saints defeated the Colts by a score of...
, outdoor teams have won 41 of the 44 Super Bowls held so far. Outdoor stadiums built in climates with an average January temperature of less than 50°F (10°C) are, by rule, not allowed to host the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
, though this was apparently waived to allow Super Bowl XLVIII
Super Bowl XLVIII
Super Bowl XLVIII will be the 48th edition of the Super Bowl in American football, and the 44th annual championship game of the modern-era National Football League . It will be held on February 2, 2014 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey...
, in 2014, to be hosted at MetLife Stadium.
The New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
and New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
share a stadium (MetLife Stadium), thus there are only 31 NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
stadiums.
The NFL uses several other stadiums on a regular basis in addition to the teams' designated regular home sites. The NFL International Series
NFL International Series
Beginning with the 2005 season, the National Football League has hosted regular season American football games held outside the United States in a series known as the International Series.-Background:...
places one regular season game per year at Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
have an agreement
Bills Toronto Series
The Bills Toronto Series is a five-year deal consisting of a series of National Football League games featuring the Buffalo Bills played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The series began in the 2008 NFL season and will end during the 2012 NFL season...
to play one home game per year from 2008-2012 plus three exhibition games at the Rogers Centre
Rogers Centre
Rogers Centre is a multi-purpose stadium, in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated next to the CN Tower, near the shores of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989, it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. In addition, Fawcett Stadium
Fawcett Stadium
Fawcett Stadium is a football stadium in Canton, Ohio. The stadium was officially dedicated in 1938. Fawcett Stadium is named for John A. Fawcett. Mr. Fawcett was a former member of the Canton Board of Education and a well-known athlete...
in Canton, Ohio
Canton, Ohio
Canton is the county seat of Stark County in northeastern Ohio, approximately south of Akron and south of Cleveland.The City of Caton is the largest incorporated area within the Canton-Massillon Metropolitan Statistical Area...
hosts the annual exhibition Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
The Pro Football Hall of Game is an annual National Football League exhibition game that is held the weekend of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's induction ceremonies. The game is played at Fawcett Stadium, which is located next door to the Hall of Fame building in Canton, Ohio...
, and Aloha Stadium
Aloha Stadium
Aloha Stadium is a stadium located in the Halawa CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Currently Aloha Stadium is home to the University of Hawaii Warriors football team...
in Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
usually hosts the Pro Bowl
Pro Bowl
In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...
.
The New York Giants' and New York Jets' MetLife Stadium is the largest in the NFL in terms of regular capacity. The Dallas Cowboys' Cowboys Stadium can expand past that of MetLife Stadium by means of standing room and temporary seating, which makes Cowboys Stadium the only NFL stadium capable of holding 100,000 or more fans, though it normally only seats 80,000. The smallest full-time NFL stadium is Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears. All of the full-time NFL stadiums seat between 60,000 and 83,000 fans; teams rarely go above this mark because the league's television contracts
NFL on television
The television rights to broadcast National Football League games are the most lucrative and expensive rights of any American sport. It was television that brought professional football into prominence in the modern era after World War II...
encourage teams to sell out by allowing sellout games to be televised locally, and having too many seats to fill makes selling out difficult, reducing the team's media attention. The Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
faced this exact problem, and for the past several years have covered up several thousand seats at EverBank Field in an effort to sell out more games. Teams are allowed to cover seats to reduce capacity, but must do so for all home games at the stadium, including playoff games, unless given express permission otherwise. Super Bowls are generally exempt from this rule and can expand to as many seats as desired.
List
Stadiums are listed by their seating capacitySeating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
for NFL games. Some stadiums can be expanded to fit larger crowds.
| Domed Stadiums | |
| Stadiums with a retractable roof |
Additional stadiums
Future stadiums proposed or under construction
- 49ers New StadiumNew 49ers StadiumProposed new 49ers stadium refers to a proposed stadium to be built in Santa Clara, California in time for the 2015 National Football League season....
in Santa Clara, CaliforniaSanta Clara, CaliforniaSanta Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...
- (San Francisco 49ersSan Francisco 49ersThe San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
) - Vikings StadiumVikings StadiumThe Vikings Stadium is the working title of a proposed but unbuilt stadium for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League in Minneapolis, Minnesota. An alternate title is Metrodome Next. It would be the franchise's third, replacing their current domed stadium, the Hubert H...
in Downtown Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, Arden HillsArden Hills, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 9,652 people, 2,959 households, and 2,228 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,087.3 people per square mile . There were 3,017 housing units at an average density of 339.9 per square mile...
in Ramsey CountyRamsey County, MinnesotaRamsey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, founded in 1849. As of 2010, the population was 508,640. Its county seat is St. Paul, which is also Minnesota's state capital. The county is named for Alexander Ramsey , the first governor of the Minnesota Territory...
, or near Target FieldTarget FieldTarget Field is a baseball park located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home ballpark of the Minnesota Twins, the city's Major League Baseball franchise. It is the franchise's sixth ballpark and third in Minnesota. The Twins moved to Target Field for the 2010 Major League Baseball...
in Hennepin CountyHennepin County, MinnesotaHennepin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. As of 2010 the population was 1,152,425. Its county seat is Minneapolis. It is by far the most populous county in Minnesota; more than one in five Minnesotans live...
- (Minnesota VikingsMinnesota VikingsThe Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...
) - New Chargers StadiumNew Chargers StadiumThe New Chargers Stadium is the working name of a proposed NFL football stadium that would house the San Diego Chargers football team, replacing Qualcomm Stadium as the franchise's home venue....
in San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
area - (San Diego ChargersSan Diego ChargersThe San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
) - Farmers FieldFarmers FieldFarmers Field is a baseball stadium on the campus of Lewisville High School, in Lewisville, Texas. Named after the schools mascot the "Fighting Farmers." It is located adjacent to the Lewisville High School football field and softball field. It is the home of the Lewisville Fighting Farmers...
in Downtown Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
- Approved by a Memorandum of Understanding by the LA City Council. - Los Angeles StadiumLos Angeles StadiumLos Angeles Football Stadium is the working title for a proposed 75,000-seat football stadium, the centerpiece of a 600-acre entertainment district in Industry, California. Upon construction, the district will be named Grand Crossing, California. Edward P...
in Industry, CaliforniaIndustry, CaliforniaIndustry is an industrial suburb of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County. Home to over 2,500 businesses and 80,000 jobs, but only 219 residents at the 2010 census - down from 777 residents as of the 2000 United States census - the city is almost entirely industrial...
- another stadium for a relocated team for the Los Angeles area.
See also
- National Football LeagueNational Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
- Stadiums to host the Super Bowl (including future years)
- List of NCAA Division I FBS football stadiums
- List of NCAA Division I FCS football stadiums
- List of American football stadiums by capacity
- List of U.S. stadiums by capacity
- List of North American stadiums by capacity
- List of AstroTurf installations in the USA
- List of Canadian Football League stadiums
- List of Major League Baseball stadiums
- List of Major League Soccer stadiums
- List of Major League Lacrosse stadiums
- List of National Basketball Association arenas
- List of National Hockey League arenas