Originally, my husband was on a waitlist for season tickets... he was DEEP on the waitlist, like #20,000. But all of a sudden, he was notified that he was up for purchasing tickets and he jumped on it. (He said that a lot of people- who were ticket holders for YEARS dumped their tickets).
The first game I went to was a preseason game vs the Buccaneers. (Not sure if my husband was more excited to 1. Be on a date with me- away from our kids. 2. That football season was starting and we now live in a city with an NFL team. Or 3. HE WAS ABLE TO SEE THE LEGENDARY TFB PLAY.)
As for the stadium review...
Parking was ok... except for the morons who didn't know what they were doing at the gate. We ALWAYS pick the wrong line to be in. All the other lanes were moving smoothly. Ours... DEAD STOP. Tip: know what lot you need to be in and have your parking pass open when you arrive. Don't hold up traffic for 10 minutes because you are clueless.
We didn't tailgate this initial visit... though, OMG! These HOUSTON FANS KNOW HOW TO PARTY. Some of the set ups are mind blowing! Couldn't believe the number of people who didn't even go into the game- just tailgated instead. Wow. We definitely will be tailgating in the future!
The kids zone area next to the stadium was pretty sick. So many activities for the kids. (My husband brought our 4 year-old to the first game of the season and he LOVED the kid zone.)
There's a clear bag policy here... and if you bring in a bag, it needs to fit within a certain size limit. I wore a Fanny pack that was literally the size of my cell phone. It's basically a phone carrying case that I wear around my waist and keep my license and a single tissue in it... the lady ALMOST didn't let me bring it in. She said she'll allow it but said that others might not. IT WAS THE SIZE OF MY OLD A** IPHONE 8... not even one of those bigger-sized iPhones. The old small one. Shocked. SHOCKED that a Fanny pack the size of an iPhone 8 technically isn't allowed. Weird.
Getting up to our nosebleed seats was pretty simple. The place looked fairly clean.
Concourse was ok. There seemed to be plenty of concession stands. Food prices seemed pretty fair. There were a few $5 combos. We went with an order of chicken fingers & fries, $2 bottles of water and a bottomless popcorn. Riddle me this... they offer $2 for a 12oz water. $4.89 for a 20oz water... WHY would you pay .89 MORE for 4oz less of water??? (One 20oz vs getting two 12oz bottles (24oz) for $4)????
Anyways, at this initial visit, fingers and fries were EXCELLENT. Popcorn needed some work. The first bucket was SO SALTY it was almost inedible. I couldn't do it, my husband was able to. Later in the game, he got a refill, this time it tasted like they didn't salt it at all. This time it was inedible because it was so bland and not worth the carbs. (When my husband took our son, he again got the popcorn. Said it tasted ok that visit BUT when they went to get a refill, they waited in line for nearly 30 minutes to only get up to the counter and they WERE OUT OF POPCORN. The guy said they had to make more. The worker then scraped up whatever scraps were left at the bottom of the popcorn maker and gave him 1/4 of a bucket. For buying a bottomless bucket and waiting as long as they did, my husband said it wasn't worth the price.)
OH YEAH, one more thing- so there is a DJ up on the nosebleed level who mixes out in the concourse. The music is entirely too damn loud. Like, it is obnoxiously loud. And of course it is right outside where our seats are... so when we order at the concession stand, you literally have to repeat everything a couple times. It's uncomfortably loud. Like, to the point where we might walk down the concourse to order at another place. It was awful. It needs to change. It's not fair that we have to suffer in pain from horribly loud music.
All in all, football isn't my jam but I will go because my husband loves it. I'm sure I'll be back to more games. read more