Football Under a Dome: Forfeiting the Home-Field Advantage

SoFi Stadium, Inglewood California,

home of the Los Angeles Rams and the San Diego Chargers.

Football under a dome might look good,

but it it takes away certain home-field advantages.

The Detroit Lions had a big home-field advantage playing at Tiger Stadium. In 1975, they moved into the suburban Silverdome. In 2002, they moved back into the city, but into Ford Field. People might be afraid of going into Detroit, but they're not afraid of the Lions.

The Minnesota Vikings had a big home-field advantage playing at Metropolitan Stadium. In 1982, they moved into the Metrodome, and in 2016 to U.S. Bank Stadium. Nobody's afraid of going into Minneapolis to play the Vikings.

Now, the Chicago Bears, the ultimate tough-guy team, the team of George Trafton, Bronko Nagurski, Bill George, Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary, want to build a new stadium. After 50 years at Wrigley Field, 31 seasons on the shore of Lake Michigan at the original Soldier Field, an interim season at the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium, and this being their 24th season at the new Soldier Field -- admittedly, a weird-looking facility known as "The Eyesore on Lake Shore" -- the Bears' organization wants a dome. 

And the Cleveland Browns, who have played their entire existence on the shore of Lake Erie, first at the old Municipal Stadium, and now at a more modern stadium -- also want to build a new stadium. Their stadium is also relatively new, 27 years old.

Both the Bears and the Browns have long benefited from playing on the shore of a Great Lake, exposed to the elements, making warm-weather teams miserable, and making cold-weather teams wish they were in their own cold stadium back home. But these teams want to do what the Lions did in 1975, and what the Vikings did in 1982: Throw that tremendous home-field advantage away.

Domed stadiums tend to hold in noise, but, as the Green Bay Packers (in a cold-weather city but not quite on Lake Michigan), the Kansas City Chiefs (in a cold-weather city but on the Great Plains) and the Seattle Seahawks (in a cold-weather city but not quite on Lake Washington) have proven, you don't need a roof holding sound in to have a loud stadium.

What's worse, both Da Bears and the Browns want to build their new stadiums outside their cities. The Bears have narrowed their sites down to 2: In Arlington Heights, on the former city of the Arlington Park racetrack, in the northwestern suburbs of the city; or at an industrial park in Hammond, Indiana, across the State Line, but actually a little closer to downtown Chicago than the Arlington Park site. The Browns want to build in Brook Park, Ohio, southwest of Cleveland.

Each would be built close to its city's airport, but not to its downtown. Rail service is already in place to the Bears' Arlington Heights site, but only bus service is available to the Hammond site. Rail service is available to Cleveland's airport, with, presumably, a shuttle bus being provided for the stadium.

Some cold-weather teams have chosen to remain men. The Giants and the Jets did, when they chose to go in together on what became MetLife Stadium, remaining at the Meadowlands. So did the Philadelphia Eagles, who built Lincoln Financial Field at the same South Philadelphia Sports Complex where they'd previously played Veterans Stadium, and, on a few occasions before that, at Municipal/John F. Kennedy Stadium.

So did the New England Patriots, when they built Gillette Stadium next-door to Foxborough Stadium in the southern suburbs of Boston. The Buffalo Bills just built the new Highmark Stadium, to replace the old stadium with that name, formerly known as Rich Stadium, Ralph Wilson Stadium and New Era Field. It's got a roof to protect fans from rain and snow, but the cold air and the wind can still get in to provide "Bills Weather." And the Green Bay Packers chose to modernize Lambeau Field, the open-air cold-weather stadium they already had.

Why do the owners of the Bears and the Browns want to build domed stadiums? Because they want to host a Super Bowl, and make a hell of a lot of money on it.

Really? A climate-controlled Super Bowl appearance should be a reward for having survived a long season under all possible conditions. But a team shouldn't get to host a Super Bowl -- which, most likely, they won't even be playing in -- simply because its greedy owner managed to con a City, County or State government into squeezing its taxpayers to build a new stadium that the owner, most likely, can afford to build himself, a few times over.

But it's the National Football League. Built on greed and violence. The greed of the men who run it, and the violence of the men who play it, encouraged by the men who coach it and the men who run it.

Sometimes, I hate football. It's a great game when it's played well. But, sometimes, it's just not worth it.

The NFL season kicks off tonight, at 8:20, on NBC, when the Patriots visit the Seahawks in a rematch of last season's Super Bowl, won by Seattle. There will be a game tomorrow night, as the great rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams is played on the other side of the Pacific Coast, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the foremost sporting venue in Australia. That game will only be available on Netflix.

The Jets will debut the 2026 season on Sunday, at 1:00, on CBS, away to the Tennessee Titans, who are also building a new stadium, adjacent to their current one, across the Cumberland River from downtown Nashville. I can't criticize them for throwing away a cold-weather home-field advantage, because they don't have one. The Eagles have a 4:25 kickoff, on Fox, home to the Washington Commanders. And the Giants start the season that night, at 8:20, on NBC, home to the despised Dallas Cowboys.

*

NFL teams playing home games indoors:

1932: Chicago Bears, Chicago Stadium, moved NFL Championship Game there due to a blizzard. Fixed, makeshift turf.

1968-1996: Houston Oilers, Astrodome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1971-2008: Dallas Cowboys, Texas Stadium. Fixed, artificial turf.

1975-2001: Detroit Lions, Silverdome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1975-2004, 2006-present: New Orleans Saints, Superdome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1976-1999: Seattle Seahawks, Kingdome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1982-2013: Minnesota Vikings, Metrodome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1984-2007: Indianapolis Colts, Hoosier Dome (RCA Dome). Fixed, artificial turf.

1992-2016: Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Dome. Fixed, artificial turf.

2002-present: Houston Texans, Reliant Stadium. Retractable, artificial turf.

2002-present: Detroit Lions, Ford Field. Fixed, artificial turf.

2005: New Orleans Saints, Alamodome, San Antonio, 3 games while Superdome was being repaired. Fixed, artificial turf.

2006-present: Arizona Cardinals, State Farm Stadium. Retractable, real grass.

2008-present: Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium. Retractable, artificial turf.

2009-present: Dallas Cowboys, AT&T Stadium. Retractable, artificial turf.

2016-present: Minnesota Vikings, U.S. Bank Stadium. Skylight, artificial turf.

2017-present: Atlanta Falcons, Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Retractable, artificial turf.

2020-present: Los Angeles Rams, SoFi Stadium. Skylight, artificial turf.

2020-present: Los Angeles Chargers, SoFi Stadium. Skylight, artificial turf.

2020-present: Las Vegas Raiders, Allegiant Stadium. Skylight, real grass.

MLB teams playing home games indoors:

1965-1999: Houston Astros, Astrodome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1977-1999: Seattle Mariners, Kingdome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1977-2004: Montreal Expos, Olympic Stadium: Fixed, artificial turf.

1982-2009: Minnesota Twins, Metrodome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1989-present: Toronto Blue Jays, SkyDome/Rogers Centre. Retractable, artificial turf.

1998-present: Arizona Diamondbacks, Bank One Ballpark/Chase Field. Retractable, artificial turf.

1998-2024, 2026-present: Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field. Retractable, artificial turf.

1999-present: Seattle Mariners: Safeco Field/T-Mobile Park. Retractable, real grass.

2001-present: Milwaukee Brewers, Miller Park/American Family Field. Retractable, real grass.

2012-present: Miami Marlins, LoanDeport Park. Retractable, artificial turf.

2020-present: Texas Rangers, Globe Life Field. Retractable, artificial turf.