The past few days have been pretty huge for the Indianapolis Colts and their fans. Over the weekend, Lucas Oil Stadium was opened for tours as well as an open house for season ticket holders. Then to start off the week, the Colts held their first practice inside their new stadium and Peyton Manning was in attendance.
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Manning had surgery a few short weeks ago to remove a bursa sac from his left knee. The former Pro-Bowler and Super Bowl MVP has been undergoing rehab ever since and hopes to actually begin practice next week. That will certainly be a day anyone hoping to see the Colts get back to the Super Bowl will have their eye on.
I was able to get my first look inside the stadium on Sunday during the season ticket holder open house. Early indications point toward parking being a hassle and nosebleeds being a common theme from the Terrace Level seating. After circling around the ramps to the top of the stadium, we finally got to our seats in lovely section 646. The view of the field is a decent one. I'm one that prefers to see the whole field for football and I know I'll have a good vantage point on gamedays. The only troubling part is the sheer height we will be watching from. It truly feels like a mile high and I got dizzy looking down towards the field at times, and even more dizzy when I looked even higher toward the roof. It will certainly take some time to adjust to the new view as compared to my spot at the RCA Dome. Looking forward to the first game action at LOS this Sunday against the Bills.
As far as the amenities go, Lucas Oil Stadium is top notch. There are two HD replay screens opposite one another that measure 36 feet by 96 feet. They are HUGE!! There are hundreds of monitors throughout the stadium for following the game when you're not in your seat. Dashes to the bathroom will be less time consuming, as there are 1400 fixtures. With the shortened pee lines, you'll have time to grab another brew quickly on the way back to your seat at one of the 160 concession stands. The retractable roof and operable north window are just the icing on the cake.
Here are some of the photos I took on Sunday (click to see full size images):
Comments
Not sure I can really comprehend that mess of a sentence, but I'll give it a shot. I'm assuming you're saying that the new stadium in Dallas is going to be better. For the money being spent on it, I would sure hope so. I can't see the point to spending the kind of money on sports arenas that they do these days, but for over one billion dollars the Dallas stadium ought to double as a missile silo for the US government.
I took Kevin as saying that Lucas Oil Stadium is the best, even compared to the new Dallas Stadium.
Let me make it plain so that everyone can understand it more clearly even (Kelper) I was saying that the Colts new Stadium is THE BEST EVEN BETTER than Dallas new Stadium. Jerry Jones wants the Best in the NFL but, Lucas Oil Stadium is AAAWWWSSSOOOMMMEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!SURPERB!!!!!!!!EXCELLENT!!!!!MADE. JUST DON'T HATE
Love the pics. More comfy seat than old 11-7's aluminum rail. Isn't it a little difficult to judge it against a stadium that isn't finished yet? Beyond that, at least Lucas Oil is in city of Indianapolis, the Boy's stadium is a pretty good hike from Dallas.
Dallas had the better set up on acquiring funds. They used their airport to their advantage by upping the hotel, car rental, and food prices. With the amount of traffic they have flying in and out of Dallas, the little increase they made ended up going a long way.
Also, for the new Arizona Cardinals' stadium the state used 75 million from the state tourism board.
If Indianapolis could have installed the gambling machines in downtown, money could have been raised a lot quicker and easier, without taxing the local economy.
Don't think that the Boys didn't "tax" their local economy. Instead of building in Dallas, where the land was more expensive, they built farther out, in a lower middle class area. When the Colts built, all of the landowners vacated on good terms, and the one that didn't want to leave was allowed to stay instead of being forced out by eminent domain. In the Boy's case, they took over a plot of land that essentially kicked people out of their joints by eminent domain and only gave them a fraction of their property value.
That happens a lot these days and not just in sports. Look at how Indianapolis cleaned up the downtown area the past decade. They "moved" people out of downtown and pushed them south, east, and west. This improved the local area for business and allowed things like the NCAA to move their headquarters in.
It's awsome the best Stadium in the NFL even Dallas New Stadium that is getting built as we spaeak, don't hate just enjoy