What to Expect From Your First NFL Game

There’s no sport quite as popular as football here in North America, and for fans of the game this time of year is just like Christmas. It’s the playoffs which means fans from involved teams are checking and double checking the Super Bowl odds to see if their team is the one the sportsbooks are favouring.

It’s also for a lucky few, their chance to go down to the stadium and watch some of the highest level and highest stakes football play out right in front of them. The rest of us however will be forced to watch the action from our TV screens.

If watching the playoffs inspires you into attending your first NFL game next season, read on to find out what to expect from your first trip to an NFL game as a fan…

Planning

It’s boring but everyone’s got to do it. Before heading to your first game you’ll have to plan out your trip. Are you gonna go local? Would you rather make a trip out of it and go someone farther afield?

Work out what you want to do first and then go about trying to get tickets. The majority of NFL teams have tiered membership packages that allow you to buy tickets for certain games. Getting a ticket should be your first port of call, don’t plan any other aspect of your trip until you know for sure that you can buy a ticket.

Timing

Once you have your tickets it’s time to look ahead to game day. Whilst there are some fans who like to arrive just before kick-off, you’re gonna want to get there early on your first visit. That’s for the practical reasons of making sure you get to your seat on time etc, but also so you can drink in the atmosphere.

You might want to walk around the team store and pick up some merchandise or have a casual walk through the tailgate party and see what it’s all about. You’ll only be able to do this if you arrive with plenty of time to spare, so make sure you’ve got your travel plans all worked out.

Food

There are two trains of thought when it comes to eating at an NFL game. There are those that will tell you it’s all part of the experience, eating a hotdog from the stall or chowing down on a burger and fries.

Then there are those who will say that the price of food and drink in and around an NFL stadium is far too expensive. People of this persuasion often factor in a stop at a restaurant beforehand to make sure that they are nice and full before they get to the game.

It’s not for us to say which option is better, just go with what you’re feeling on the day or what your budget allows for.

Fans

If you’re a big NFL fan and have been for a while you can go ahead and skip this part right away. If you’ve come to the sport new and previously spent time watching others sports, mainly of a European persuasion, you’re going to find this one quite odd at first – opposing fans sit together at NFL games.

There’s no segregation. There’s no animosity and there’s no heinous chanting at one another during the game. There’s still plenty of passion but any ribbing is almost always of a good nature.

Leaving the Stadium

If you’ve ever been to a major sports event – hell! Even some minor ones – you’ll know the worst part of the day is when everyone tries to leave at once and you’re forced to wait around in queues for ages on end.

If you’re the type of person that likes to avoid the rush, leave your seat five minutes or so before the end and hover by the exits. If you want to savour every second of the action our top tip would be to sit in your seat and chat to your friends for 20 minutes or so whilst everyone squeezes out.

Then you should be able to stroll out to your car easily enough and hopefully the worst of the traffic should have started to die down by then as well.

Final Point

Have fun. That’s what it should be about at the end of the day. You’re going to the game because you love the sport, so don’t get too bogged down in what you should do or things to do to get the most out of the day, just enjoy it.