Venroo Stadium Poster is great for making pool picks

Most die-hard fans know their teams and opponents and can easily decide the winners of the games for their weekly office pools. But what do you do if you’re in the pool for fun and don’t know much about the teams? You can make your picks based on the team colors or the mascots. Or, better yet, you can refer to your Venroo Stadium Map Poster. Our kids love to look at the poster to see where the teams are playing and how far they have to travel to their opponent’s stadium. They also like to base their pick on how cool the stadium is.

What great family fun… teaching kids the concept of odds and a little geography at the same time. Good Luck in your pools.

Preseason at Lucas Oil Stadium

We had a great time at Lucas Oil Stadium, watching the preseason game between the Washington Redskins and Indianapolis Colts. This was our first time to the new stadium (and the Redskins too) and we were not disappointed. Indianapolis is a big city but so easy to get around. The stadium is just off I-465 on the south end, and we had no problem finding parking, which seemed to average $20. When we arrived the roof was open, which was cool to see, even though it was a little hot inside. They must have figured that out too, as they closed the roof (during the game) and it cooled off real nice.

Our tickets were on the Terrace level in the corner under one of two big screens. We would recommend the Terrace level, as it circles the stadium and offers easy access to the rows of seats. We had to go down 3 rows to our seats and only had 3 rows in front of us. The upper section above the Terrace level had around 28 rows, so you’ll do some good stairmaster drills climbing them. We didn’t get any lower than the Terrace level, but there did not seem to be a bad seat in the place. The two big screen monitors were easy to see and offered video and replays of the games. We were a little disappointed in the scoreboard. The ones at the end zones, showed the scores and time remaining, but if you wanted to see downs, yards, etc it was under the big monitors, but they would change quite often

Lucas Oil Stadium - Terrace Level Seats

Concessions were dispersed evenly around the stadium with draft beer running around $7.50. They primarily offered Budweiser products with various other specialty stands. We also had a good time chatting with the Colts fans. Indianapolis has always been a great city to see a game and the fans are friendly and hospitable.

If you stay in the downtown area, the walk from the stadium is real close and there’s tons of restaurants, bars, shopping, and hotels. We highly recommend Lucas Oil Stadium and look forward to going back for a regular season game. Don’t forget the Superbowl in 2012.

As the 2011 season kicks-off, be sure to checkout our Pro Football Stadium poster on www.venroo.com to help you track your stadium visits and to display all the stadiums on a map of the U.S.

Edward Jones Dome in the Off Season

Even though it’s the middle of summer and we didn’t go to St Louis to see a Rams game, it’s always fun to see the stadiums when you’re in town. We took the kids to the City Museum in St. Louis and there was a great view of the dome from the roof top (even higher on the ferris wheel. The kids were not as impressed as I was but they did stand still long enough for me to take some photos.

St Louis is a great town to see a game. It has the big city feel in a compact area. There are a lot of great hotels, restaurants and bars all within a few blocks walking distance. We love to stay at the Hampton Inn, which is very close to the stadium. They have great parking, and complimentary breakfast, which is a big bonus.

We are looking forward to going back to see a Rams game this year, assuming there will be a season (I’m sure they’ll work it all out).

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Draft Day – 2011

With the NFL Schedule released last week and the NFL Draft this week, how can you not be excited for the 2011 season?

To celebrate, VenRoo is offering a reduced price and free shipping on its Pro Football stadium map poster, for a limited time. This makes a great gift for any football fan and is a great conversation piece in any rec room, man cave, office, or garage. Fans of all ages love looking at the locations of the stadiums and seeing where they want to go, or just where their favorite team is going to play.

Visit the new Venroo website and get a poster for yourself or a friend. Save more when you buy multiple posters.

Green Bay – Plan ahead and act fast

Green Bay has got to be the best overall venue we’ve experienced. From the town, the people, the stadium, and the bars and restaurants, we had a blast everywhere we went. The area around the stadium is compact, and filled with plenty of hotels and restaurants. We stayed at the Tundra Lodge in a couple of their “suite” rooms. They had a great breakfast and bar right in the hotel, and it was within walking distance of the stadium and other bars.

Lambeau field is open to the public during the week, which we visited on Saturday. They have several places to eat and drink, along with a museum if you want to take in some Packer culture.

At first we didn’t know if we wanted to tailgate at the stadium during the game or find a bar, but we quickly learned from the local restaurants, on Saturday, that several offer pre-game specials. These specials included food and all you can drink for a flat rate. We had a blast at Favre’s (yes Brett Favre’s restaurant), the morning of the game. We went in mid September and experienced a bonus heat wave, with nearly 80 degree temperatures, so it was plenty warm during the day (we probably won’t be so lucky the next time we go).

Lambeau Field Seats

The stadium is awesome, even with bleacher seating. It’s not like your typical bowl stadium with lower and upper bowls that take you, what seem like, thousands of feet in the air. This stadium is much lower to the ground, so you have a great experience anywhere you sit.

We knew we wanted to go to Green Bay, before the NFL schedule was released. We also knew the tickets and hotels sell out fast. So, the day the schedule came out, we had two groups of guys working the phones. One group started calling the hotels, while the other worked the ticket brokers. Within 10 minutes we had 8 tickets, in the same row, and two awesome rooms at the Tundra Lodge. We probably got these within a few minutes of selling out the tickets and hotels for the entire season. So, if you know you’re going to Green Bay for the first time, be prepared for some extra time and expense, unless you plan ahead and act fast.

Denver – INVESCO Field… A Mile from Where?

We visited Denver in 2008, which was our first trip with all of us flying into the town. We highly recommend booking a car ahead of time to get you from the airport to Denver, especially a Limo. With 10 of us in our group, a large limo was very reasonable, and fun, for the 20 mile ride into the city.

We stayed at a Residence Inn Hotel, near the 16th street mall. The Residence Inns are fantastic hotels and offer great breakfast and happy hours with huge rooms. We always try to find a Residence Inn for all our trips.

The stadium is near downtown, but not within walking distance. We chose to stay near the 16th Street Mall area, which has great bars and restaurants to keep us busy the day before the game. One tip is to use the FREE Trolley to take you up and down the street. We didn’t see the big “FREE” sign all over the trolleys to know that we can get on and ride for FREE, until late afternoon. Now we know.

Getting to the stadium was an adventure, but we finally made it. By taking the Free trolley, walking to the train station, finding the right train to take us near the stadium, then walking about half a mile we finally made it. Denver’s tailgating is pretty good, but we were surprised the parking lot didn’t really fill up until late morning. Everyone in the lot was friendly and fun to hang out with.

When we finally went into the game and walked up to our seats, which were on the 20 yard line (four rows from the top), we realized why they call it Mile High Stadium… It’s a mile from the top of the sky, not a mile from the ground. Wow, that air is thin.

Tailgating at Mile High Stadium

Which city has the best pre-game atmosphere?

Watching the game is the ultimate goal of your football trip, but getting to, and around, the city is the first part. What city do you like best for pre-game activities? Cities that have the stadiums close to resturants, bars, public transportation, hotels, and tailgating, are on the top of our list. We have the best time when we get to a city and stay in a hotel right near the stadium with plenty of activities to keep us busy the day before and morning of a game. Which city is the best, in your opinion?

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Houston – Reliant Stadium

In 2004 we attended a Chargers / Texans game at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The Astrodome was right next to it and the new stadium was huge compared to the Astrodome.

Two things that stick out while visiting the Houston stadium – how nice all the people were and the spacious interior of the stadium.

We got numerous “Welcome to Texas” greetings as we walked to the stadium. Tailgaters were more than generous, even though we sported the visiting team colors. And inside, the Houston fans were just as nice.

We were also very impressed by the openness of the concourses. There was plenty of room to walk without getting in anyone’s way. Concession lines were never long and there was plenty of room around the concession areas to move around. The space inside the stadium was very impressive.

They say they do things bigger in Texas and Reliant Stadium in Houston is a testament to that.

Arizona Cardinals – Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe

Has anyone experienced the old home of the Arizona Cardinals? Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe was the home of the Cardinals before they moved into their new stadium in Glendale.

Our first visit to Sun Devil Stadium coincided with a nice little heat wave. The temperature was about 110 degrees. That sounds bad enough, but as anyone who has been to a game there will certainly remember, they have aluminum bench seats. It was definitely an adventure to try to sit on those seats in that heat. Luckily the Cardinals had misters in all walkways so we could escape the heat and cool down a bit.

Besides the weather, Sun Devil Stadium is actually a great place to see a game. The stadium is built between 2 mountains so the views are unbelievable. Add to that the surrounding desert and you get a truly unique game day experience for an NFL game.

Trivia Note: On October 27, 2003, Sun Devil Stadium hosted the Miami Dolphins and San Diego Chargers after the game was moved to Arizona due to the massive wildfires in San Diego. The Chargers’ home, Qualcomm Stadium, was being used as an evacuation site.

San Diego – Qualcomm Stadium

If you’ve ever been to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, the first thing you notice (besides the perfect weather) is the round parking lot. This is one of the few stadiums in the NFL that has parking on all sides of the stadium. During game day, people can walk completely around the stadium, making it easy to find friend and tailgates.

Speaking of tailgates, San Diego has some of the best in the country. The players and coaches drive in right through the tailgaters – if you’re lucky some of the players will even stop and say Hi. And the “inner ring” tailgaters are literally feet from the stadium’s main gate. If you go, make sure to stop by our tailgate at D2. Just look for the 4 yellow flagpoles and you’ll find us…

Wherever you tailgate at Qualcomm Stadium, you’re sure to smell the food the locals bring. Some of the favorites to fire up on the grill are fajitas (carne asada is the best), pizzas (yes, on the grill…), tri-tips, and fresh fish caught right off the Southern California coast.

But whatever you’re tailgate plans are, get there early. The parking lot usually closes about 3 hours before kickoff.