Which is the oldest NFL stadium?
The NFL is a billion-dollar industry, and all of the 32 owners of the franchises have tons of money.
It's impossible to think of the NFL as just football. It's an industry whose numbers have grown considerably since Roger Goodell took over as the Commissioner of the league. Owners wanted him to make the revenue go up, and that he did.
Even though all the owners are extremely rich, some of them have more money and more power than others. This is reflected in some aspects, such as free agency money (look at the Cincinnati Bengals), relocations, or even the construction of new stadiums for their new teams.
We recently saw the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers relocate to the ultra-modern SoFi Stadium, while the Las Vegas Raiders got themselves a beautiful new place with the Allegiant Stadium. Those are both billionaire new ventures: the Allegiant Stadium has an estimated $1.9 billion cost, while the SoFi Stadium costs between $5-6 billion.
Not all NFL stadiums are this modern, however.
The Soldier Field is the oldest stadium in the NFL right now
The oldest stadium in the NFL is the Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears. The Soldier Field opened in 1924.
The Bears are one of the NFL's most experienced franchises. They moved to the Soldier Field in 1971 after five decades of playing at Wrigley Field.
Since 1971, the Bears have played all of their seasons with the Soldier Field as their home turf. The only exception was in 2002, when the stadium went through a major renovation, changing basically all of its inside structure but keeping its exterior.
Even with all its history, two NFL teams remain winless when playing at the Soldier Field: the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns have both lost all of their games played there.
Is any NFL team on the verge of a stadium change?
The Buffalo Bills may be looking to move on from Highmark Stadium, where they've been playing since 1973 when the stadium opened. That sentiment was echoed by Goodell during a recent interview. He said:
"This has been going on for decades and it's time to get a new stadium done that we can make sure the Bills are here and successful for many, many decades going forward. We're focused on keeping the Bills [in Buffalo] in a new stadium in a public, private partnership. That's what this is all about and that's where we're focusing."
Keeping the Bills in Buffalo will be a different task than getting a new stadium already. The team has been appointed as a candidate for relocation many times during the last decade, so if there's an impasse regarding the new stadium, this will be an interesting situation to follow.