London Stadium

[Riverboat Ritchie]

Results and injuries aside which was devastating, I was hoping to enjoy stadium experience there a lot more as I know new stadium will be based on it.  I thought the seats and spacing were cramped. It was kinda cool to see end zone crowd rise but not super impressed. Getting out of there was so utterly ridiculous and impossible. Took forever and tube sucks. Go Bills. 

[SoCal Deek]

Just now, Riverboat Ritchie said:

Results and injuries aside which was devastating, I was hoping to enjoy stadium experience there a lot more as I know new stadium will be based on it.  I thought the seats and spacing were cramped. It was kinda cool to see end zone crowd rise but not super impressed. Getting out of there was so utterly ridiculous and impossible. Took forever and tube sucks. Go Bills. 

I couldn’t agree more on the transportation. We had a marvelous time at Wembley a few years back. Tottenham is simply not geared for so many traveling fans. The infrastructure is beyond horrendous. What an embarrassment! It was like having a bunch of friends over to your house and forgetting that there’s literally nowhere for them to park. 
 

The stadium itself is nice and will be a significant upgrade over Highmark. 

[Virgil]

It’s looks amazing from the outside and the noise is well contained within the stadium.  
 

inside was like a maze in places, and unnecessarily so.  A lot was wide open, but getting around from a middle tier was confusing at times. 
 

The seats and bars in front of them were nice, but letting people walk past you in that narrow space was terrible.  
 

The home 50 yard side has luxury seats that terrify me for the new bills stadium.  They waste a lot of space that eliminates more seats for fans who aren’t going to pay the sure to be crazy pricing. 
 

I know the scoreboard layout will be different.  
 

I was very loud, and I liked the audio system.  
 

But overall, it feels impersonal somehow 

[SoCal Deek]

Nowhere near enough women’s toilets.

Halftime beer lines were horribly long.

 

But…they do have a really cool way of filling the beer cup from the bottom through a little valve. Pretty neat! 
 

And prices were lower than at most NFL stadiums. 

[Joe Ferguson forever]

so other than the game, what was the best thing you did in London😉?

3 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

filling the beer cup from the bottom

what brand?  Like Boddingtons cans with the pressure thing?  Bet they had Bud.  For some reason, the Brits like it....

Edited October 8, 2023 by Joe Ferguson forever

[holla83]

54 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

Nowhere near enough women’s toilets.

Halftime beer lines were horribly long.

 

But…they do have a really cool way of filling the beer cup from the bottom through a little valve. Pretty neat! 
 

And prices were lower than at most NFL stadiums. 

Bottoms Up Tap System! There was one Bills game I attended where they used that system. I'm pretty sure it was the Bills/Dolphins Thursday night game in 2012. Haven't seen it before or since. I live in Elmira, NY. There's a bar here that has it. I guess it's super expensive to install but it's more cost effective long term. It practically eliminates over pours and foam building up in the lines. It is pretty cool.

[Riverboat Ritchie]

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bills-von-miller-rips-1-3-billion-london-stadium-for-having-bad-turf-says-he-cant-believe-we-played-on-it/

[uticaclub]

On 10/8/2023 at 2:00 PM, Riverboat Ritchie said:

Results and injuries aside which was devastating, I was hoping to enjoy stadium experience there a lot more as I know new stadium will be based on it.  I thought the seats and spacing were cramped. It was kinda cool to see end zone crowd rise but not super impressed. Getting out of there was so utterly ridiculous and impossible. Took forever and tube sucks. Go Bills. 

The food was great. You had to drink at a pub for a few hours before the crowd died down then the tube was fine.

[boyst]

On 10/8/2023 at 5:11 PM, SoCal Deek said:

Nowhere near enough women’s toilets.

Halftime beer lines were horribly long.

 

But…they do have a really cool way of filling the beer cup from the bottom through a little valve. Pretty neat! 
 

And prices were lower than at most NFL stadiums. 

Women almost never go to European soccer games. Fewer toilets make sense. 

[Riverboat Ritchie]

Just got back yesterday. Had a great time in London and Wales. Bills fans all over….in Stonehenge bathroom taking a 2 and overhear two Bills fans talking about game on Monday was pretty funny.  London Bills Backers did great

 

anyhow though, still really upset about fan and player experience at Stadium. Location is not NFL ready or worthy. The exit out of stadium was such a cluster F and getting to stadium not super easy either. Really bummed with injuries and turf also. Another thing that I noticed is Bills seemed to be in sun for more of the game than Jags but we’re home team. Announcers kinda annoying too. Really was that they got you over there and then had you so didn’t plan anything else or care.  
 

go Bills 

[Augie]

On 10/8/2023 at 5:11 PM, SoCal Deek said:

Nowhere near enough women’s toilets.

Halftime beer lines were horribly long.

 

But…they do have a really cool way of filling the beer cup from the bottom through a little valve. Pretty neat! 
 

And prices were lower than at most NFL stadiums. 

 

Yes! Pretty neat! Selling beer with a hole in the bottom of the cup!  People were 3 beer cups deep and still had dripping. The absolute lack of urgency was annoying (I was forced to take video) but they were not properly prepared. Apparently the soccer crowd is not allowed inside with beer. They just hang out and watch on TV. Nobody picked up on the difference. 

 

One more thing to learn. 

 

But I’m glad I went. 

[BillStime]

Sat in the club section right on the 50 - Bills side.

 

We could get in three hours before and not rush out after the game.. Free food before and at halftime - free beer at halftime.
 

Phenomenal experience.

 

Minus the fact that the Bills got out-coached, decimated by injury and lost -  I thought the acoustics were horrible - maybe it was due to where we were sitting under the overhang? Tough to understand what was being said.

 

I don’t recall that issue when we sat much lower in the bowl on the 50 last fall at a Spurs match. 

 

 

[SoCal Deek]

6 hours ago, BillStime said:

Sat in the club section right on the 50 - Bills side.

 

We could get in three hours before and not rush out after the game.. Free food before and at halftime - free beer at halftime.
 

Phenomenal experience.

 

Minus the fact that the Bills got out-coached, decimated by injury and lost -  I thought the acoustics were horrible - maybe it was due to where we were sitting under the overhang? Tough to understand what was being said.

 

I don’t recall that issue when we sat much lower in the bowl on the 50 last fall at a Spurs match. 

 

 

You mean didn’t get to understand what those two gals were incessantly yapping on about during each break? Believe me you didn’t miss a thing. 😉 

[GunnerBill]

8 hours ago, boyst said:

Women almost never go to European soccer games. Fewer toilets make sense. 

 

Almost never is an exaggeration. It is about 20% now for the Premier League. The toilets are normally based on that ratio. 1:4

On 10/8/2023 at 10:04 PM, SoCal Deek said:

I couldn’t agree more on the transportation. We had a marvelous time at Wembley a few years back. Tottenham is simply not geared for so many traveling fans. The infrastructure is beyond horrendous. What an embarrassment! It was like having a bunch of friends over to your house and forgetting that there’s literally nowhere for them to park. 

 

This is interesting to me because I think Wembley is horrendous in terms of travel and infrastructure. I hate it. Terrible stadium, one way in, one way out. The slow trudge up Wembley way. Not near anything. 

 

I am surprised people found the transport poor. The Victoria line is normally super reliable and while I am sure it was busy I use it coming away with 60,000 from the Emirates frequently without an issue (although at least there the Picc line can take some of the slack I spose). I didn't suffer any travel issues from Tottenham because I walked there and back. It is about 2 miles from home. 

 

I actually loved the stadium and I say that as someone who hates having to admit anything good about Tottenham, ever. The two minor negatives are (as Virgil said) your leg room definitely feels cramped which when sitting for the length of an NFL game is an issue. I am used to the relatively luxurious leg room at the Emirates and it is not matched at Spurs. And secondly the stadium is just so incongrous in the middle of the High Road. Looks like someone landed a space ship in the High Road and left it there. 

 

[Wayne Cubed]

Overall I thought that stadium was impressive, I could have stood in concourse and watched the game the view was that good. I enjoyed the 'stacked' seating as I thought it got you closer to the action. I didn't find getting away from the stadium that difficult at all, so transport wasn't a problem for me. Got back to Kings Cross in plenty of time for my train back north.

 

Couple of minor negatives for me, which probably won't affect the Bills new stadium, were the food. I had heard from a friend who's a season ticket holder at Tottenham, that the game day food was very good. Was pretty disappointing to me, as I was banking on that and didn't eat before, I'm not sure if they changed it for the NFL game? Rookie error. And then the concession lines and prices were a bit frustrating. Also from same friend, sounds like they raised the prices as a pint at a Spurs match is £5.

[schoolhouserock]

We sat in a club section. Except for the on-the-field stuff, we had a great time. No complaints stadium-wise.

[Mr. WEO]

12 hours ago, Riverboat Ritchie said:

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bills-von-miller-rips-1-3-billion-london-stadium-for-having-bad-turf-says-he-cant-believe-we-played-on-it/

 

Hey Von....who's "we'?

[BillnutinHouston]

Pleasantly surprised to read that many of you that went had a "good time".  If I laid out that kind of money to watch the Bills sleepwalk, I don't think I could say that, no matter what my experience was outside of the game itself.

[SoCal Deek]

1 hour ago, BillnutinHouston said:

Pleasantly surprised to read that many of you that went had a "good time".  If I laid out that kind of money to watch the Bills sleepwalk, I don't think I could say that, no matter what my experience was outside of the game itself.

Houston…you have a problem. 😉 You do realize you’re not promised a win no matter how much you paid for the ticket, right? As others have said, the experience was fantastic! Bills fans were everywhere and I long long long ago stopped expecting a win just because I happen to be sitting there. Next time I’ll let the Pegulas know BEFORE my plans are locked in. 😁

[BearNorth]

Apparently they have a grass field below the artificial surface and that's what they play their type of football [we call it soccer] on.

There is a retractable deck below the artificial turf which probably explains why it feels so hard, since it's probably some sort of steel framed deck.

 

From what I understand, soccer teams don't like American football to be played on their grass pitches, as it tears up the field and takes time to recover.

 

Wonder what today's teams would think about some of the field conditions Bills used to play on in the Rockpile.

[RobbRiddick]

11 minutes ago, BearNorth said:

Apparently they have a grass field below the artificial surface and that's what they play their type of football [we call it soccer] on.

There is a retractable deck below the artificial turf which probably explains why it feels so hard, since it's probably some sort of steel framed deck.

 

From what I understand, soccer teams don't like American football to be played on their grass pitches, as it tears up the field and takes time to recover.

 

Wonder what today's teams would think about some of the field conditions Bills used to play on in the Rockpile.

Not quite. The grass is on top and splits in two where it is taken into the carpark under UV lights. There's a cool video on YouTube showing the operation, very cool. Those soccer fields can cost around half a million or more to install and maintain so not surprising they don't want NFL teams tearing it all up

[GunnerBill]

37 minutes ago, BearNorth said:

Apparently they have a grass field below the artificial surface and that's what they play their type of football [we call it soccer] on.

There is a retractable deck below the artificial turf which probably explains why it feels so hard, since it's probably some sort of steel framed deck.

 

From what I understand, soccer teams don't like American football to be played on their grass pitches, as it tears up the field and takes time to recover.

 

Wonder what today's teams would think about some of the field conditions Bills used to play on in the Rockpile.

 

This is all basically correct. Although as Rob says above the grass pitch actually rolls off. 

 

Wembley have had major issues with their pitch being used by NFL too close to soccer games. At Spurs they use that field much more and so are even more sensitive. 

Edited October 13, 2023 by GunnerBill