Are Neutral Site Games Workable?

Let’s start off with the idea, which I uncritically love:

The regular season should be a 19-week, 17-game schedule, with each team having eight home games, eight away games, two bye weeks and one neutral-site game.

Yes! That would be fun. But what the article doesn’t say is where these sixteen neutral-site games should be played. Obviously, some percentage of them will be played in London, but you can’t play all of them there. And you can’t really play them at a site where there are fewer seats than your average NFL stadium. That means that you’re almost exclusively talking about the large college stadiums.

I based this off a Wikipedia list of large stadiums (complain to them if this is wrong), with my own comments attached. I am basing a lot of the comments on this Twitter map of NFL fandom.

Rank
Stadium
>Capacity
City
Country
Would this be a suitable neutral site?




1
Michigan Stadium
109,901[1]
Ann Arbor
USA
No, too close to Detroit.


2
Beaver Stadium
106,572[2]
University Park
USA
Might work for a Steelers-Eagles match, but that isn’t really any kind of a rivalry.


3
Kyle Field
106,511
College Station
USA
You could have a Cowboys-Texans match here, but would you rather be in College Station or in Austin or San Antonio? Thought so.


4
Ohio Stadium
104,944[3]
Columbus
USA
No–Browns and Bengals are division rivals, and they’re the only ones who make sense.


5
Estadio Azteca
104,000[4]
Mexico City
Mexico
Yes – international venue, same as with London, so you could stick whatever teams make sense here.


6
Neyland Stadium
102,459[5]
Knoxville
USA
No – firmly in Titans territory.


7
Tiger Stadium
102,321[6]
Baton Rouge
USA
No – firmly in Saints territory.


8
Bryant-Denny Stadium
101,821[7]
Tuscaloosa
USA
No – Saints and Falcons in same division. (Maybe Saints-Titans or Falcons-Titans.)


9
Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
100,119[8]
Austin
USA
Yes – Cowboys-Texans.


10
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
93,607[9][10]
Los Angeles
USA
Yes – you could do this geographically or not, depending. (Unless the Rams or Raiders move back.)


11
Sanford Stadium
92,756[11]
Athens
USA
No – Panthers and Falcons in same division.


12
Rose Bowl
92,542[12]
Pasadena
USA
Same as the Coliseum.


13
Cotton Bowl
92,100
Dallas
USA
No – firmly in Cowboys territory.


14
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
88,548[13]
Gainesville
USA
Yes – Dolphins-Falcons or Falcons-Jaguars could work.


15
Jordan-Hare Stadium
87,451[14]
Auburn
USA
Same as Tuscaloosa.


16
Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium
83,500
Tallahassee
USA
Same as Gainesville.


17
MetLife Stadium
82,500
East Rutherford
USA
The only NFL stadium where you could do one, in fact.


18
Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
82,112
Norman
USA
Yes – Cowboys-Chiefs.


19
Memorial Stadium
82,000
Clemson
USA
No – firmly in Panthers territory.


20
FedExField
82,000[15]
Landover
USA
NFL stadium


21
Memorial Stadium
81,067
Lincoln
USA
In theory you could do Broncos-Vikings, but why?


22
Lambeau Field
80,978
Green Bay
USA
NFL stadium


23
Notre Dame Stadium
80,795
Notre Dame
USA
YES. Bears-Colts. I hate Notre Dame but I think this would be cool.


24
Camp Randall Stadium
80,321
Madison
USA
No – Packers and Vikings in same division.


25
Pontiac Silverdome
80,311
Pontiac
USA
 HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.


26
Williams-Brice Stadium
80,250
Columbia, South Carolina
USA
No – firmly in Panthers territory.


27
AT&T Stadium
80,000[16]
Arlington
USA
NFL stadium


28
Arrowhead Stadium
77,000
Kansas City
USA
NFL stadium


29
EverBank Field
76,867
Jacksonville
USA
NFL stadium


30
Sun Life Stadium
76,500
Miami Gardens
USA
NFL stadium


31
Sports Authority Field at Mile High
76,125
Denver
USA
NFL stadium


32
Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
76,000
Fayetteville
USA
No – firmly in Cowboys territory.


33
Spartan Stadium
75,005
East Lansing
USA
No – firmly in Lions territory.


34
Ralph Wilson Stadium
73,967
Orchard Park
USA
NFL stadium


35
Bank of America Stadium
73,778
Charlotte
USA
NFL stadium


36
Sun Devil Stadium
73,379
Tempe
USA
NFL stadium (former)


37
Mercedes-Benz Superdome
73,208
New Orleans
USA
NFL stadium


38
FirstEnergy Stadium
73,200
Cleveland
USA
NFL stadium


39
Husky Stadium
72,500
Seattle
USA
No – firmly in Seahawks territory.


40
Legion Field
71,594
Birmingham
USA
Same as other Alabama stadiums.


41
Reliant Stadium
71,500
Houston
USA
NFL stadium


42
Qualcomm Stadium
71,294
San Diego
USA
NFL stadium


43
Georgia Dome
71,228
Atlanta
USA
NFL stadium


44
M&T Bank Stadium
71,008
Baltimore
USA
NFL stadium


45
Faurot Field
71,004
Columbia, Missouri
USA
Yes – Chiefs-Rams, perhaps.


46
Kinnick Stadium
70,585
Iowa City
USA
No – firmly in Bears territory


47
Candlestick Park
70,207
San Francisco
USA
Demolished


48
Citrus Bowl
70,000
Orlando
USA
Yes – Buccaneers-Dolphins.


49
LP Field
68,798
Nashville
USA
NFL stadium


50
Gillette Stadium
68,756
Foxborough
USA
NFL stadium


51
Lincoln Financial Field
68,532
Philadelphia
USA
NFL stadium


52
Commonwealth Stadium
67,606
Lexington
USA
No – firmly in Bengals territory


53
CenturyLink Field
67,000
Seattle
USA
NFL stadium


54
Edward Jones Dome
66,965
St. Louis
USA
NFL stadium


55
Olympic Stadium
66,308
Montreal
Canada
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. No.


56
Lane Stadium
66,233
Blacksburg
USA
In theory you could put a Redskins-Steelers game here, but…


57
Raymond James Stadium
65,857
Tampa
USA
NFL stadium


58
Paul Brown Stadium
65,790
Cincinnati
USA
NFL stadium


59
Heinz Field
65,050
Pittsburgh
USA
NFL stadium


60
Alamodome
65,000
San Antonio
USA
Again, Cowboys-Texans.



Ford Field
65,000
Detroit
USA
NFL stadium


62
Yale Bowl
64,246
New Haven
USA
I can’t imagine it.


63
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
64,111
Minneapolis
USA
Soon to be demolished.


64
LaVell Edwards Stadium
64,045
Provo
USA
In theory, you could put a Broncos-Seahawks game here.


65
University of Phoenix Stadium
63,400
Glendale
USA
NFL stadium


66
Estadio Olímpico Universitario
63,186[17]
Mexico City
Mexico
I think you’d go with the bigger stadium in Mexico.


67
O.co Coliseum
63,026
Oakland
USA
NFL stadium


68
Lucas Oil Stadium
63,000
Indianapolis
USA
NFL stadium


69
Kenan Memorial Stadium
62,980
Chapel Hill
USA
No – clearly in Panthers territory.


70
Memorial Stadium
62,872
Champaign
USA
No – clearly in Bears territory.


71
California Memorial Stadium
62,717
Berkeley
USA
No – clearly in 49ers territory.


72
Ross-Ade Stadium
62,500
West Lafayette
USA
No – clearly in Colts territory.


73
Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
62,380
Memphis
USA
Yes – Titans-Rams.


74
Scott Stadium
61,500
Charlottesville
USA
Not seeing it.



Soldier Field
61,500
Chicago
USA
Smallest NFL stadium.

So, what this tells us is that the vast overwhelming majority of large stadiums that could be potential neutral sites aren’t that neutral. And a lot of them that would be cool (Vikings-Packers in Madison, yay!) don’t work from a scheduling perspective because the teams are in the same division. Nerts.

But what would you be if you didn’t try? You HAVE to try.

Let’s try this. Group each NFL team, to the extent possible, with a natural rival from the other conference:

NFC
AFC
Possible Neutral Sites
Would that be fun?


Cardinals
Chargers
Las Vegas
YES.


Rams
Chiefs
Columbia, Missouri
No.


Seahawks
Broncos
Provo
No.


Niners
Raiders
Berkeley
I think you’d have too many arrests.


Bears
Colts
South Bend
YES.


Lions
Browns
Akron
YES. LeBron can flip the coin.


Packers
Bengals
London
Revenge for the Spice Girls.


Cowboys
Texans
Austin
YES. Willie Nelson can flip the coin.


Saints
Titans
Tuscaloosa
YES. Someone give Warren St. John a ticket.


Falcons
Jaguars
Jacksonville
YES, but ONLY if you do it the same week as Florida-Georgia. (Jacksonville counts as a neutral site anyway.)


Buccaneers
Dolphins
Orlando
YES, but only if you play it in Shamu Stadium.


Panthers
Patriots
London
No.


Redskins
Ravens
The National Mall
YES. Make the Washington Monument the 50-yard-line. (Or Annapolis, that works.)


Eagles
Steelers
Happy Valley
Hell no.


Giants
Jets
Parking lot, Met Life Stadium
YES. Or Central Park. Or Yankee Stadium. DO THIS THING.


Vikings
Bills
Barbados
Two cold-weather teams with no Super Bowls deserve a chance to have their fans take a nice tropical vacation, DON’T YA THINK.

Is that everybody? I think that’s everybody. BALL’S IN YOUR COURT, GOODELL.