In Miami, the stadium is laid out in such a way that the home team gets shade while the visitors are in the glaring sun.
Do any other stadiums create unbalanced situations like this?
Evidently, the shape of Clevelands stadium results in a very specific swirling wind pattern from gusts entering from Lake Erie. The only kicker that seemed to have mastered kicking within it with a distinct advantage is Phil Dawson who took advice from a stadium sniper on reading wind direction by using not just the goalpost flags which could blow in two directions at once, but by observing the American flags in the stadium.
This thread happens every season. -I’m not ragging on OP, just sayin’ that we’ve talked it out. Joke answers are probably the way to go, incorporate current events.
My non-joke answer will always remain: Mile High Stadium is literally a mile above sea level. Walk a flight of stairs. Cool, right? Now do it in Colorado. Jeeeeezus that’s humbling. How “All Denver Teams” isn’t the consensus most unfair home field advantage is beyond me.
Hard Rock Stadium Miami
If the visiting team bench is in bright sunlight and the home team is shaded in the hotter months.
Not exactly balanced for the home team exactly, but I remember David Akers talking about the Linc when it first opened up how it is open on 3 corners, which gets the wind swirling all weird on one end, and it made it tricky to kick in. But he apparently would tell all the visiting kickers coming in about it because kickers are a fraternity or something like that. But I could see how that weird swirling wind would be more beneficial to the guy who kicks there all the time.
The only thing I can think of is the Browns stadiums positioning can greatly effect FG/PAT’s. The issue with that one though is it can mess with both teams kickers, with the idea the Browns kicker gets used to it in camp and preseason (in an ideal scenario anyway… looking at you Cade York)
Everbank field is unfair for the jags.
The grass in Acrisure is notoriously fucked, but we’re used to it. Kicking into the open end used to be a big deal. Renegade works like 60% of the time. And then weather is something a lot of teams no longer deal with. Add to that that a lot of away games BECOME home games for us, we take away YOUR home field advantage too.
Every outdoor stadium is laid out that way. All NFL fields run from north and south. So therefore the sidelines much face east and west. Are you going to stick your your team in the bad spot?
Take a look at the overhead shots of the Bills stadiums. The new one clearly has a different orientation than the old one.
I remember the 70’s Chicago Bears teams used to pile snowdrifts behind the visitors bench
Didn’t the Giants do this in the 80s with the big outside tunnel doors in front of the goalposts? Open them during visitor field goals to add some nice wind effects.
The browns 3rd down sound is an airplane that sounds super low, right next to an airport.
David Tepper has exterminated the fan base so that visiting fans fill the stands
When Gillette Stadium first opened in 2002, it had a natural grass field. In addition to the Patriots, they let a bunch of high school teams play on it too. It became such a mud pit that the NFL threatened to move games out of Foxborough if they did not replace the field (in violation of NFL rules). After switching to turf, they brought in Randy Moss and Wes Welker…
In the NCAA, the iowa hawkeyes visitor locker room is entirely pink. Probably doesn’t effect many games but it’s still kinda funny