How Many NFL Teams Have Domes?
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The number of NFL teams with domes has changed over the years as teams have built or renovated their stadiums. Currently, eight NFL teams play in stadiums with domes.
How Many Teams Have Domes?
NFL Teams That Currently Play in Domes
As of 2019, eight NFL teams play their home games in domes. Here are those teams:
-Atlanta Falcons
-Arizona Cardinals
-Carolina Panthers
– Detroit Lions
-Houston Texans
-Indianapolis Colts
-New Orleans Saints
-Minnesota Vikings
The Benefits of a Dome
An NFL dome is a stadium with a retractable or fixed roof. According to Stadiums of Pro Football, as of the 2018 season, there are eight NFL teams that play their home games in domed stadiums.
Domes offer many benefits for both players and fans. They protect fans from inclement weather and can also be used to regulate temperature and humidity levels inside the stadium, creating a more comfortable environment for both fans and players.
Domes also provide better acoustics than open-air stadiums, making it easier for fans to follow the action on the field and reducing ambient noise levels. This can be a significant advantage for dome teams when playing in loud, hostile environments like Seattle’s CenturyLink Field.
The Disadvantages of a Dome
While domes offer many advantages to both fans and teams, there are also a few disadvantages to playing in a dome. One of the biggest disadvantages is that the field can get extremely hot, making it difficult for players to stay hydrated and cool during the game. Additionally, the turf can often be quite slick, which can lead to injuries.
The History of the Dome
While the majority of NFL stadiums are open-air, there are a handful of teams that play their home games in domed stadiums. This can provide a number of advantages for both the team and the fans, particularly in colder climates. Let’s take a look at the history of the dome and how many NFL teams currently play in one.
The first domed stadium was built in Houston in 1965 and was originally called the Astrodome. It was home to Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros and the National Football League’s (NFL) Houston Oilers. The Astrodome was nicknamed the “Eighth Wonder of the World” and caused a stir in the architectural world.
While domed stadiums were popularized by the Astrodome, they actually predate it by quite a few years. The first dome was built in exposes people to air-borne diseases and Commonwealth Stadium, which is located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was completed in 1978 and is currently home to the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
There are currently seven NFL teams that play their home games in a domed stadium: the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, Detroit Lions, and Minnesota Vikings. Of these seven teams, three (the Cardinals, Falcons, and Panthers) share their stadium with an Major League Baseball team.
The Future of the Dome
In the NFL, there are currently eight teams that play their home games in domed stadiums. These eight teams are the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks and the Minnesota Vikings. The majority of these teams (6/8) play in stadiums that have retractable roofs, meaning that they can open or close their roofs depending on the weather conditions. The Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings are the only 2 teams that do not have retractable roofs on their domed stadiums.
Out of these eight teams, the Seattle Seahawks have the newest dome stadium. CenturyLink Field opened in 2002 and has a seating capacity of over 68,000 people. It is also one of only two domed stadiums in the NFL that is not also used for professional baseball (the other dome stadium used solely for football is Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions).
The oldest dome stadium currently being used in the NFL is the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. This stadium opened in 1975 and has a seating capacity of over 73,000 people. It is also one of only four stadiums that have been home to both an NFL team and an MLB team (the others being Chicago’s Soldier Field, St. Louis’ Busch Stadium III and Milwaukee County Stadium).
It is important to note that there are some stadium projects currently underway that will result in more domed stadiums being built in the future. For example, the Los Angeles Rams are scheduled to move into their new home at Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park in 2020. This $2.6 billion stadium will seat over 70,000 people and will have a retractable roof.
