The Patriots may have trophies and rings, but for the 2017-18 season, The Falcons will have the best stadium with the best food at the best prices. And we also have the best politician fans, Jimmy Carter and John Lewis!
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Recently, I was skiing at Stratton Mountain in VT, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good the food in the lodge is. It's a tiny bit overpriced. I had quite good beef chili for 8.95 a bowl (not a small bowl, and smothered in cheese and chives), a good bowl of oatmeal for 4.95, and a good bowl of clam chowder for 8.95. Quite good food and not TERRIBLY overpriced. The bowls of chili and chowder are almost a meal, and I get SUPER hungry when I ski. I'd say each bowl was 2/3 of a really satisfying meal. Tow bowls would have stuffed me. To get stuffed for under 20 dollars at a ski lodge is actually pretty good.
Great article. Let's hope the vendors at Yankee Stadium are paying attention. They are the worst I've experienced - the epitome of low quality at a high price. I go there frequently (mostly for NYCFC soccer games), and it's a constant frustration. One that grows ever stronger when reading an article like this, or visiting Nationals Park in Washington or, dare I say it, CitiField in Queens, both places that at least offer good quality food for the high prices they charge.
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This is better food? Not healthier by any means. It's fuel for diabetes and/or a heart attack waiting to happen!
Well, in that case I won't eat it every day.
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By all means update the food, but bring down the prices for it as well. Stadium prices are a total rip-off. How can a hot dog cost ten dollars? C'mon.
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if you want to have good food at a stadium, you have to get talented chefs involved. And Zimmern's astute observation that "It's not a moneymaker, it's a business card" is how you do that. A creative chef probably won't make big bucks -- especially if you keep the prices in a range where fans can afford to feed themselves and their family without having to take out a loan. But it earns their brand -- and the stadium experience -- credibility, popularity, exposure and good "press".
Of course, you have to have an team willing to keep those prices down and not grub around for every last piece of pocket change they can extract from the fans at the game. With the money made on TV contracts, you'd think these guys would understand they needn't and shouldn't gouge their fans on food and drink. That one of the reasons people are more and more satisfied with staying home to watch the game is that being nickel-and-dimed to death for stadium amenities after paying through the nose for tickets isn't a good "fan experience" any more.
Of course, you have to have an team willing to keep those prices down and not grub around for every last piece of pocket change they can extract from the fans at the game. With the money made on TV contracts, you'd think these guys would understand they needn't and shouldn't gouge their fans on food and drink. That one of the reasons people are more and more satisfied with staying home to watch the game is that being nickel-and-dimed to death for stadium amenities after paying through the nose for tickets isn't a good "fan experience" any more.
5
Eat better food while the infliction of CTE takes place. Nice.
I will have nothing to do with football. When these guys contract CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, while they are endeavoring to entertain me then I am complicit in their deadly brain injuries.
Knowing 2hat we now know what reasonable parent will give a son permission to play middle school or high school football.
I will have nothing to do with football. When these guys contract CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, while they are endeavoring to entertain me then I am complicit in their deadly brain injuries.
Knowing 2hat we now know what reasonable parent will give a son permission to play middle school or high school football.
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I worked for Delaware North (concessionaire) corporate in '05. Concessions for an NFL stadium pulled $4.099MM in 8 games. That was 12 years ago. They're not hurting.
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It may be better food but it certainly doesn't seem as if it's healthier food - fried chicken sandwich, frozen hot chocolate and hot dogs with a bun that tastes like a donut? Thanks NFL for contributing to the continuing fattening of America.
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With stadium suffering such as it was, I'm surprised thousands of football fans haven't been trying to seek refuge in other countries, not to mention pro bono lawyers clamoring to represent them. At this time in history, this story is pathetic and says volumes about the American mindset.
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This is the food section.
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Frozen hot chocolate? Sounds like a KellyAnne Conway special. Hot chocolate is what adults drink on a cold day when they don't want coffee or tea. It's what the kids order while the adults are drinking their cappuccinos at the local breakfast joint.
On a hot day, I'd call the "frozen hot chocolate" just a fancy version of chocolate ice cream.
Arthur Blank wanted a family of four to be able to eat for around 28 bucks. I wonder what the price is for tickets and parking? I doubt the folks in the executive suites are eating hot dogs. How much for an authentic Matt Ryan jersey? I'm guessing the overpriced food pales in comparison to paying for the actual tickets.
On a hot day, I'd call the "frozen hot chocolate" just a fancy version of chocolate ice cream.
Arthur Blank wanted a family of four to be able to eat for around 28 bucks. I wonder what the price is for tickets and parking? I doubt the folks in the executive suites are eating hot dogs. How much for an authentic Matt Ryan jersey? I'm guessing the overpriced food pales in comparison to paying for the actual tickets.
5
glad to know there is a good excuse for the dreadful food at MetLife
Stadium. Now what is the excuse for the incredible ugliness of that new stadium???
Stadium. Now what is the excuse for the incredible ugliness of that new stadium???
8
While the Cleveland Browns are terrible on the field, they've been ahead of the curve on stadium food. For the past several years, they've had top local chefs Michael Symon (Lola/B-Spot burgers), Jonothan Sawyer (Greenhouse Tavern/Street Frites) and Rocco Whalen (Fahrenheit/Rosie & Rocco's) serving up great grub to the long-suffering Dawg Pound.
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Funny, I thought I was reading an article on food at football stadiums instead of free advertisement for Andrew Zimmern.
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Hopefully this idea spreads to San Francisco. Good food at Giant's games, but the prices are stratospheric.
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If you sit in the club seating area, the private restaurants you can use have quite a few inexpensive options. One of the places there has fish and chips for about $8 and a loaded baked potato with shredded pork and everything you can imagine is about the same price.
Of course, the seat pricing is nuts, but...
Of course, the seat pricing is nuts, but...
4
As a life-long Red Sox fan and former Boston resident, I could always count on the sausage-and-pepper-grinder vendors outside of Fenway to see me through the lean times during the game itself, when the only 'food' available at the concessions were the bland, gray 'Fenway Franks' on stale cottony buns, made only slightly more festive, but hardly any more palatable, with a squiggled squirt of neon yellow mustard from an industrial-sized dispenser, or their hapless counterparts, the equally pallid, colorless and flavorless hamburgers with a smear of overly-sweet ketchup. I haven't been to the park in a while, but I'm told better offerings are now available there. This current upward trend in stadium fare is encouraging, especially if prices can be kept within reason for the average ticket-holder.
10
You hit my strategy. We go to a nice restaurant before any game or fair and eat well for half the price. If we're hungry afterwards, we go out again and get two meals for the price of one. I don't need to honk down a cheaply made hotdog for $10-12 while I'm sitting in the seat.
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