Arizona Cardinals @ Detroit Lions
With just two stadiums left and my daughter on Winter Break, I lured her into joining my Dad and son in Detroit. I initially planned to get seats in the Club 200 section with free food and drinks. Instead, I found four seats together in the first row of the third level at the 50 for $76 each.
The Lions have a “Power Hour” for the first hour that the stadium is open. You can get $3 beer, $2 soda, and $2 hot dogs. I felt this was a fine enough replacement for the all-you-can-eat option for $50 more.
We were impressed by their pin selection. The Lions even had a buy-two-get-one-free deal that allowed us to get their gameday pin for free.
I enjoyed the layout of the stadium. It tried to create a little mini-city inside of the stadium. The food choices weren’t that abundant, but the prices were reasonable. It was very comparable to Lucas Oil Stadium.
The club level didn’t offer many additional amenities unless you are interested in higher quality alcohol from a limited bar. However, there are plenty of tables, seats, and televisions which provide a nice hangout space before the game starts.
The seating location was honestly the best to date. Even better than our Texans seats as we could see the whole field and have roomy seats without anyone in front of us.
The game turned out just as expected, a proper blowout. One team went out to a 17-0 lead at halftime and won 30-12. But to everyone’s amazement, the home team provided the victory. The 1-11-1 Lions defeated the 10-3 Cardinals. You would have expected the crowd to storm the field if this was a college game. But, instead, there was a quiet roar.
Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears
My Dad has four season tickets to the Bears. He had not been to a game all year, so he was excited to show us Soldier Field. We sold his tickets as only three of us would be going, and he wanted to try to stay in the United Club to help prevent freezing at night game by Lake Michigan.
Sadly, getting a good deal on just three seats together isn’t easy. You can find deals on two and sometimes four, but odd numbers are a rarity. On the day of the game, I was able to get four tickets together in the United Club (my Dad was afraid of freezing to death) for $105 each. I then quickly sold the fourth for $96.
Traffic was a nightmare. It took us an extra to get to the game versus leaving, but we made it about an hour before kickoff. We walked into the United Club security and quickly found out that we were by the section for our seats. There was plenty of food and drink options with little to no lines.
We were able to find a nice assortment of pins and finish our collection of a pin from every one of the 30 stadiums.
The club entrance was immediate to the right of our seats on the aisle. We could quickly run to the bathroom and not miss a play. We also stood inside the club during halftime to warm ourselves back up. It was a great game experience.
Unfortunately, my favorite team continued to shoot itself in the foot throughout the game. The Bears had three fumbles and multiple penalties on critical plays, which allowed the Vikings to have a 17-3 lead until the game’s final second. We had a perfect view of the Bears’ final score before walking back to our car in the cold winter air.
Although the Bears did not prevail, we could complete our journey to all 30 NFL stadiums in one year. An accomplishment we’ll never forget.
Please look for a summary post in the coming weeks.
