VenRoo

Tracking the venues you've visited – Poster of the NFL Stadiums on a Map of the United States

Category Archives: NFL

NFL Opening Day 2015

 

The sun rises on another NFL season.  It’s the calm before the storm.  The off-season drama is over and now the games that count start tonight.  On the NFL Opening Weekend, every team is in it.  Every team has a chance.  Every team has 12 guaranteed wins.  Every fan has optimism that this is their year.  Some fans are right, and for other fans, there’s always next year.

That’s the excitement the NFL brings.  You don’t know until you play the games.  So let’s get this started.

Whether your planning a road trip to go see your favorite team, or going to see a game in your favorite city, make sure you have fun.  That’s why we’ve all waited 9 months.  For. NFL. Football.

VenRoo is proud to support road trips for all NFL teams.  You can decide where to go, or track where you’ve been with our map of all NFL stadiums.

Visit VenRoo.com and get your road trip planning off on the right foot.  And enjoy the season!

Your friends at VenRoo….

San Francisco 49ers Levi’s Stadium

Our Friends of VenRoo made it to San Francisco to see the 49ers new stadium.  Levi’s Stadium was an awesome experience and highly recommended.

Super Bowl XLVI – Lucas Oil Stadium

Lucas Oil Stadium – Indianapolis, Indiana – A VenRoo favorite…
Indianapolis has always been one of our favorite venues for catching an NFL game.  Everything about it makes the game day (and weekend) a wonderful experience.  Indianapolis is one of the few stadiums we’ve seen that is located near everything you’d want.  All the hotels, restaurants, bars, parking and tailgating are within walking distance of the stadium.  Add that to the proximity of the stadium to the interstate, and you have yourself an easy drive in along with a hassle free stay.

Lucas Oil Stadium

 

The stadium is easy to find, just north of the I-465 on the south end of the by-pass.  If you’re coming in for the day, you will find all kinds of parking at the stadium or along the streets in various lots.  On game day, there is plenty of tailgating in all the lots and the fans are more than welcoming.  Of all the stadiums we’ve been to, and all of the tailgating we have done, the Indy fans are probably the nicest and most welcoming of all NFL cities.  I cannot count how many times someone in a Peyton Manning jersey has approached someone from our group to find out where we were from and to welcome us to their city.

 

We prefer to stay the weekend for our games and stay at one of the many downtown hotels. Nearly all the hotels and restaurants are within a 3 block by 4 block walking area.  The Hilton and Hyatt are our favorites, but they can be a little pricey on game weekends.  Once you are checked in and the car is parked, you will not have any problem finding a place to eat or drink (there’s even a downtown shopping mall)

 

Some of our favorite places include Ram Restaurant & Brewery, Alcatraz Brewing, and Kilroy’s Bar & Grill.  And of course, you need to stop by the Slippery Noodle on your way back from the game.   If you don’t know what the Slippery Noodle is all about, ask any local and they can fill you in.

 

When it’s game time, it’s a quick walk to Lucas Oil Stadium from wherever you are.  We liked the old RCA dome, especially when it was connected with sky walks to the Hyatt hotel, but we love Lucas Oil.  The brick and rectangle shape make it unlike any other stadium in the league and the retractable roof allows for watching the game in any weather condition.  The seating is fairly typical with the usual “Lower Bowl” and “Upper Bowl” split by a few smaller sections.  We loved the Terrace Level, which is the last section before the Upper Bowl with only 6 rows in the entire section.  It makes for a shorter and easier walk if you need to get up and down from your seats during the game (it also makes the restrooms and concessions a lot closer…).  But overall, there didn’t seem to be a bad seat in the house.

Super Bowl 46

Indianapolis - Lucas Oil Stadium

Of course with the Super Bowl this weekend, the experience will be over the top compared to a normal regular season game day.  And given the hospitality we receive from the Hoosiers, if you’re lucky enough to make it to Indy, it will be an experience of a lifetime.

Lucas Oil Stadium

Interview with Quest For 31

VenRoo – Tracking the venues you’ve visited.  This is our tag line for our posters of stadiums on a map of the U.S., where you can display and track the stadiums you’ve visited.  We created the poster for ourselves, as we started traveling with a group of friends to a different NFL stadium each year.  As we started to grow and promote our business through blogs, social media, and our website, we started to meet new people around the country who loved to see various stadiums too.

 

One person, in particular, was Hans Steiniger and his Quest for 31 – One Man’s Crusade to Attend an NFL Game in all 31 Stadiums in the National Football League.  What a great combination; we have a poster to track your NFL stadium travels, and Hans is on a crusade to see them all and experience the game from the perspective of the home team.  We have since communicated through email and discussed various travels and tips and Hans has been very helpful in spreading the word about our poster.

 

Hans Steiniger with the Venroo Poster

We recently spoke with Hans to get more information on his ‘crusade’.  He first attended games in Buffalo, as a Bills fan and moved to the Detroit area.  While in Detroit he made it to a few Lions and Browns games and then traveled to Tampa to visit some family.  While in Tampa he realized that the stadiums and games were a great opportunity to experience the various locations and thought it would be cool to see all 31 NFL stadiums.

 

Hans made it to all 31 stadiums, in only four years, while wearing a jersey from each home team, and saw a little over 50 games.  He made some great friends along the way and always tried to find the ‘spot’ at the game where the locals hung out.  He said he would even get calls from people asking when he was coming back to their stadium.

 

After experiencing all those games and stadiums, you get a good feel for various traits that make a stadium stand out.  It was hard for Hans to pick out his single favorite stadium, but he did like: Quest Field (Seattle)– for its design (and 12th man noise) and awesome food varieties at the concessions;  Lambeau (Green Bay) for its all around classic feel; Cowboys Stadium (Dallas/Arlington) for just being over the top on everything; and you can’t beat the pirate ship at Raymond James Stadium (Tampa).  If you ever go to Minnesota you should buy a hollowed-out horn as a ‘glass’ to drink your beer.

 

With his quest for the 31 NFL stadiums complete, Hans continues to visit stadiums and maintain relationships with people he’s met on his quest.  He’ll pull out one the team jerseys from a foot locker, where they’re safely stored, and hit the road for another fun weekend.  Of course his favorite jersey is a Bills #31 with the name “Quest For” on the back.

 

Hans isn’t stopping with the NFL.  He’s started other quests for NHL and NBA and even has a Sports Themed Wedding Invitation website, which is real cool.  So, be sure to look out for Hans at your next tailgate and stop by his websites to catchup on his travels

http://www.questfor31.com/

http://www.sportsthemedweddings.com/

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.