Ford Field remains a great stadium to catch a football game. But in a poll of NFL team beat reporters conducted by The Athletic, the home of the Lions ranks in the middle third of current NFL venues.
The longtime home of the Lions ranked 19th in the polling, conducted by John Machiota. New stadiums in Los Angeles (Rams and Chargers) and Las Vegas were omitted, but the former homes for those teams are included.
The downtown venue opened in 2002, three years after construction began. That places it in the middle range (tied for 20th with three others) in terms of age of operation. Recent upgrades to the club level and suites, as well a scoreboard expansion and dramatic improvement in WiFi connectivity, might be too new to help out Ford Field.
The home of the Minnesota Vikings, US Bank Field, tops the list. FedEx Field in Washington is at the bottom. Based on my experience in attending games/events at 13 of the current stadiums, they got the bottom ranking 100 percent correct. AT&T Stadium in Dallas (3rd in the ranking) tops my personal list, and I have not been to the top two.
