The newest full-time NFL stadiums are SoFi Stadium inInglewood, California, andAllegiant Stadium inParadise, Nevada, the latter being the home of theLas Vegas Raiders. Both stadiums opened for the2020 season.Soldier Field inChicago is the oldest, having opened in 1924; however, the Bears did not play at Soldier Field until 1971 and did not play there in 2002 while the stadium was under reconstruction, and thus the oldest continuously operating stadium in the NFL isLambeau Field, hosting theGreen Bay Packers since its opening in 1957.
The majority of NFL stadiums usenaming rights. Only three — Arrowhead Stadium, Lambeau Field, and Soldier Field — do not currently use a corporate-sponsored name. Though the Chiefs sold naming rights of the football field toGEHA, the team retains stadium branding under the Arrowhead name.[2]
Stadiums represent a considerable expense to a community, and thus their construction, use, and funding often enter the public discourse.[3] Also, given the perceivedadvantage a team gets to playing in its home stadium, particular attention is given in the media to the peculiarities of each stadium's environment. Climate, playing surface (either natural orartificial turf), and the type of roof all contribute to giving each team its home-field advantage.
Stadiums are either open, enclosed, or have aretractable roof. For retractable roofs, the home team determines if the roof is to be opened or closed 90 minutes before kickoff. The roof remains open unless precipitation or lightning is within the vicinity of the stadium, thetemperature drops below 40 °F (4 °C), orwind gusts are greater than 40 miles per hour (64 km/h), in which case the roof operators will close the roof.[4]
With a peak capacity of over 100,000 spectators (80,000+ listed seating capacity),AT&T Stadium has the highest capacity of any NFL stadium, whileMetLife Stadium has the highest listed seating capacity at 82,500. The smallest stadium isSoldier Field with a capacity of 61,500.
In their normal configurations, all of the league's 30 stadiums have a seating capacity of at least 60,000 spectators; of those, a majority (17) have fewer than 70,000 seats, while 8 have between 70,000 and 80,000, and 5 can seat 80,000 or more. In contrast tocollege football stadiums, the largest of which can and regularly do accommodate over 100,000 spectators, no stadium in the league currently has a listed seating capacity of more than 82,500. Teams rarely build their stadiums far beyond the 80,000 seat threshold (and even then, only in the largestmarkets) because of the league'sblackout policy, which prohibited thetelevising of any NFL game within 75 miles of its home market if a game does not sell all of its non-premium seating. The policy has been suspended since 2015; from then until 2019, several teams played in temporary facilities with capacities far larger than a normal stadium. In 2020,social distancing mandates related to the COVID-19 pandemic prohibited teams from selling out their stadiums, and several teams had no fans in attendance all season due to state mandates (for example, the Las Vegas Raiders had no spectators for the entire season in accordance with Nevada policy). The league has a firm minimum on the number of seats an NFL stadium should have; since 1971, the league has generally not allowed any stadium under 50,000 seats to host a full-time NFL team. In normal circumstances, all NFL stadiums areall-seaters.
^Soldier Field opened in 1924; The Bears became tenants in 1971; The playing field and seating bowl were renovated in 2003, leaving little more than its iconic colonnade.
^Renovated in 1953–1954, 1982, 1992–1994, 2001–2006, 2019–2024.
^Renovated in 1917, 1924, 1937, 1949, 1952, 1959, 1988, 1993–1996, 2003, and 2005.
^Renovated in 1937, 1953–1955, 1960, 1974, 2002–2005.
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