Heinz Field Ranked As One Of NFL's Top Stadiums: Sporting News

PITTSBURGH, PA - Hard as it might be to believe, the Steelers are about to play their 18th season at Heinz Field after moving next door from the long-demolished Three Rivers Stadium in 2001. But despite the fact that plenty of new NFL stadiums have been built since then, the Black-and-Gold’s home turf fared well in a Sporting News rating of all NFL venues.

Heinz Field was ranked fifth among the 32 stadiums by the Sporting News’ Vinnie Iyler, who wrote, “It’s a beautiful open setting worthy of all the traditions of the Black and Gold down to the last Terrible Towel.”

He also wrote: “This venue gets bonus points for serving as a great supporting actor in `The Dark Knight Rises,’ even if its playing surface was CGI-harmed in the process.”

(If you don’t remember the Heinz Field scene from the 2012 Christopher Nolan Batman movie, refresh your memory here).

The Sporting News’ favorite football facility is one that opened even before Three Rivers debuted in 1970 - Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. Wrote Iyler: “It’s a cozy place made for the league’s smallest-but-most passionate market. Part museum, part mecca, all classic.”

The worst stadium? FedEx Field in Landover, MD, which the Washington Redskins call home.
“Washington really mailed it in with FedEx Field, located in a made-up city in Maryland,” Iyler wrote. “Let’s hope they can find a home with more downtown mojo again soon.”

Here are the Sporting News’ top 10 NFL venues:

1. Lambeau Field (Packers)
2. CenturyLink Field (Seattle Seahawks)
3. AT&T Stadium (Dallas Cowboys)
4. Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City Chiefs)
5. Heinz Field (Steelers)
6. Mercedes-Benz Superdome (New Orleans Saints)
7. Levi’s Stadium (San Francisco 49ers)
8. University of Phoenix Stadium (Arizona Cardinals)
9. US Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings)
10. Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta Falcons)

Photo via Getty Images.

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