Soldier Field is a stadium that hosts the Chicago Bears of the National Football League, as well as numerous events other than just the Bears. One such event in 2019 was the United States Women's National Team in Soccer. I happened to attend this game and got to see what Soldier Field offered but my opinion must be like the feeling of a lot of peoples thoughts already, so it might be digging a lot up that is already there. But here is my thoughts on Soldier Field overall.
As you walk to the stadium (or ride the train or whatever you please to do) you will notice it has a pretty big area around the stadium on the outside. What happens here is most likely just a lot of different things for kids, for talking and chatting. For the soccer game there were a lot of stands for snacks, for games and different things. There is also a Walter Payton statue outside, which if you are entering by a specific entrance is the first notable thing you see outside the stadium itself. Moving along the sidelines, for lack of better words, outside the stadium would be where the old columns were moved as they are not part of the inner stadium itself which led to a lot of controversy when they re-configured and re-built the stadium in 2002. To me this is a bit of a rough thing to judge, but ultimately it doesn't really play a gigantic role into my review here.
 |
| Myself at the USWNT Game at Soldier Field, 2019 |
One of the things that makes me think a lot was the design of the stadium, it just feels too awkward to make it look like a spaceship style stadium when that's not what Chicago is, it's not what Chicago is about. Chicago has a history of classic buildings, from Wrigley Field especially, but also history in it's sports people like George Halas, the aforementioned Payton, Ernie Banks, and many more (Literally this thing would be a mile or two long if I spoke about Chicago legends) and so you would think that the new stadium would be a mix of new vs. legendary feels but the newer Soldier Field doesn't.. really encompass any of that. The best part is just seating with the seats a lot of stadiums feature today. So what about the concessions/amenities?
They are alright, if overpriced. Let's face it, no stadium isn't overpriced on concessions when you are a pro sports team (Unless you might be a Minor League Baseball team) and you get what you pay for. One shock, and unsure if this is changed or not, but the stadium sold RC Cola rather than Coke or Pepsi. The food is a lot of the typical but also it features a lot of Chicago options. So you won't be short of choices and most of the food is good. What does perturb me a bit and probably could see this with the NFL games is how long it took to just get in the stadium because the gates are really narrow as you get towards the stadium. The waiting took longer than I thought it would but I would love the analysis from Bears fans if it takes longer.
All in all, while the game was great, I can't get passed the fact that Soldier Field doesn't seem to be a top half NFL stadium like others would be, but I could be wrong. I certainly can't put it higher than Lambeau Field however. The upside over Lambeau is seats vs. bleachers like Lambeau has. However I feel has they incorporated better allowance of entrances for the stadium and employed some of the classical things the old stadium did then this would be really, really good overall.
No comments:
Post a Comment