Five Best Stadiums for NFL Home Field Advantage
Playing at home can be a decided advantage for those teams who are in a comfortable and familiar facility. The players have their own parking spaces and personal lockers and have a short trip from their living quarters. The energetic fans make opponents feel uncomfortable as they fill the stadium with all their vocal support and cheers.
Whether it is from Jacksonville to Tampa Bay or New York City to Seattle, road teams have to expend time and energy to get to their hotel rooms before the game.
Home field records from sports data files can tell us some things about home-field advantage, especially in the playoff rounds. There are some intangible distractions in stadiums around the nation that make them difficult and tough places to play for visitors.
- Seattle Seahawks — CenturyLink Field
- Green Bay Packers — Lambeau Field
- Baltimore Ravens — M & T Bank Stadium
- Denver Broncos — Mile High Stadium
- Pittsburgh Steelers — Heinz Field
Seattle Seahawks — CenturyLink Field
The loudest stadium in the NFL provides the Seattle Seahawks with the best home-field advantage. According to the Seahawks official website, the loudest decibel level that has been recorded at CenturyLink Field is a very high 112 dB — similar to airplane takeoff.
Further evidence that the Seahawks have the best home advantage is that opponents have the most false start penalties while playing in front of the Seahawks “12th man” since 2005.
Green Bay Packers — Lambeau Field
Lambeau Field is an NFL landmark. It housed some of the league’s greatest teams ever. Reggie White and Brett Favre played on the frozen tundra and Vince Lombardi used to roam the sidelines. Everyone knows about Lambeau Field. The mystique, the great teams, the players. The Bart Starrs, the Ray Nitschkes—they live on through Lambeau.
Baltimore Ravens –M&T Bank Stadium
The Ravens have a home winning percentage of .771 since 2002, compared to .415 percentage on the road. The difference (.356) is the highest in the league. Also, during the John Harbaugh era, the Ravens have averaged a victory margin of 14.3 points.
Baltimore is not traditionally this high on the list of home-field advantages, but its win percentage at home and passionate fans make them worthy of a top five spot. M&T Bank Stadium may not be the biggest or loudest stadium in the league, but the Ravens are very hard to beat at home.
Denver Broncos — Mile High Stadium
The elevation at 5280 feet (one mile) above sea level at the playing field gives them a big advantage over teams that are not use to the high altitude and thin air. In an up-tempo game, opposing players wear out faster in the fourth quarter where games are won or lost. No other stadium has this unique advantage of highest altitude as most stadiums are at sea level.
Pittsburgh Steelers –Heinz Field
A survey by Sports Illustrated revealed that Steeler fans were the second toughest group to play against in their stadium. On top of the fans, Heinz Field has swirling strange winds and dicey grass that has a history of upsetting opponents during a game.
When “Steeler weather” comes to town and snow covers the grounds of Heinz Field, no one is more comfortable at home than the black and yellow squad with their passionate fans swinging the Terrible Towels. The Steelers play in the black and blue division and teams hate to travel to steel town for a physical fight.
Honorable Mention
New Orleans Saints — Superdome
The famous Superdome in Louisiana has been home to the Saints in bad times and good times. The Saints team is a much better team at home and did go undefeated at home a few years back.
New England Patriots — Gillette Stadium
The Patriots have the most regular season wins and post season wins at home. No surprise here, but their mastery at home is very hard for any team to overcome. They like the blustery weather conditions in New England late in the season and their fan base knows they have a winner.
Philadelphia Eagles — Lincoln Financial Field
Eagles fans were voted the hardest group to play against in their stadium. They were third in the league in home field wins in the last decade behind Green Bay and Seattle.
