Some of the largest structures in the United States are the stadiums that host NFL games among other activities such as huge concerts from the biggest stars. These places have seen history in the making, as well as some huge wins, so maybe this list helps you determine certain types of home-field advantage when playing at the best NFL betting sites, such as Everygame (check our Everygame Review).
These stadiums are very expensive to build, and we have seen 5 new ones built from scratch in the last decade alone. SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, which opened in 2020, had at least a $5 billion construction cost attached to it.
Which NFL stadiums are the biggest? We didn’t pull out the measuring tape. Our metric is the official seating capacity and that does not include standing room only as some of these stadiums could easily fit 100,000 people if that was included.
Here are the top 10 biggest NFL stadiums by seating capacity in 2023:
10. M&T Bank Stadium – Baltimore Ravens (Capacity: 71,008)
The Ravens moved into M&T Bank Stadium for the 1998 season, their 3rd season in the NFL after the team moved from Cleveland to become the Ravens under then-owner Art Modell.
M&T bought the naming rights in 2003 and “The Bank” holds those rights through 2027. The stadium was used as the venue for the fictional football team in the 2000 movie The Replacements starring Keanu Reeves.
In the 2011 divisional round of the playoffs, the Ravens beat the Texans in front of a record crowd of 71,547 fans. The Ravens have continued to enjoy one of the best home-field advantages in the NFL over the last 20 years as they have the 2nd-highest scoring differential in home games (+1,353) since 2003, trailing only the Patriots (+1,677).
9. Highmark Stadium – Buffalo Bills (Capacity: 71,608)
Don’t let the medical care name trick you. Teams take notice when they visit the Bills in Buffalo, especially if the weather is frigid late in the season. This stadium has been around since 1973, and it has previously been known as Rich Stadium (1973-1998) and Ralph Wilson Stadium (1999-2015) before taking the Highmark name in 2021.
The Bills are 13-2 in playoff games in this building, including all the wins during the 1990-93 run when they appeared in 4 straight Super Bowls. The stadium has never used natural grass, and it had AstroTurf during those glory days for Marv Levy’s Buffalo teams. Today, it uses artificial turf.
With a location near Lake Erie, it can be one of the toughest stadiums to play at for kickers and quarterbacks with the swirling winds and heavy blasts of snow. But with a classic look, a snow game in Buffalo can be a sight to behold.
8. NRG Stadium – Houston Texans (Capacity: 72,220)
Formerly Reliant Stadium (2002-2013), NRG Stadium has always been the home of the Houston Texans, the NFL’s 32nd and most recently added franchise in the 2002 season.
NRG Stadium is historical in that it was the NFL’s first retractable roof stadium. This gives the team flexibility if they want to keep the roof open or closed for each game, and we have since seen this emulated in other new stadiums like Lucas Oil Stadium (Colts) and State Farm Field (Cardinals).
Unfortunately for Texans fans, the biggest games ever held in this building remain a pair of classic Super Bowls won by Tom Brady and New England Patriots. The first was Super Bowl 38, a 32-29 win by the Patriots over Carolina in the 2003 season. The last Super Bowl in Houston was Super Bowl LI in the 2016 season when the Patriots came back from a 28-3 deficit to beat the Falcons.
The Texans have never hosted more than a wild card game in this building, but hopefully, bigger days will be ahead in the C.J. Stroud era in Houston.
7. Caesars Superdome – New Orleans Saints (Capacity: 73,208)
The Superdome has been the home for the New Orleans Saints since the 1975 season. It has undergone a few different name changes, but Superdome has always been part of the name. Caesars most recently purchased the naming rights in 2021.
Fewer stadiums in the country have held more big events than the Superdome, which has already hosted 7 Super Bowls with plans for an 8th in 2025. It has also hosted 5 NCAA men’s championship games in college basketball, and the popular Sugar Bowl in NCAA football has been hosted at the Superdome for decades.
In 2005, the Superdome became a safe haven for New Orleans residents during Hurricane Katrina. With so much damage done to the stadium from that natural disaster, the Superdome was closed for the 2005 season before being fixed and reopened in 2006, which was just in time for the team’s best era of success with Sean Payton and Drew Brees.
6. Bank of America Stadium – Carolina Panthers (Capacity: 75,523)
The Carolina Panthers moved into Bank of America Stadium, formerly Ericsson Stadium, in 1996 for their 2nd season as an NFL franchise. The venue has also been home to Charlotte FC in Major League Soccer.
Bank of America purchased the naming rights in 2004. The stadium has a classic “bowl” design not unlike what the Los Angeles Coliseum and Soldier Field in Chicago have.
Bank of America Stadium was funded in part by securing many Personal Seat Licenses (PSLs), which was a new concept in the 1990s where people would purchase season tickets to sit in the same seat for every game. This stadium was a testing subject for how popular those would turn out to be in selling tickets to NFL games.
5. Empower Field at Mile High – Denver Broncos (Capacity: 76,125)
The Denver Broncos have always played at Mile High in some capacity, but the original Mile High was demolished to make way for the new Mile High stadium in 2001. After a few name changes, they have settled on Empower Field at Mile High starting in 2019.
This has always been one of the best home-field advantages in the league due to the altitude in Denver, Colorado. The city is a mile above sea level, so that elevated level can make it difficult to catch your breath if you are not conditioned for it.
The Broncos debuted a new video scoreboard for the 2023 season, and it is the 5th-largest screen in any NFL venue.
Surprisingly, the record for attendance at Mile High is not for a Broncos game but for an Ed Sheeran concert in August 2023. They fit 85,233 people in that night.
4. GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium – Kansas City Chiefs (Capacity: 76,416)
Don’t let the name fool you. Arrowhead Stadium has been the home of the Kansas City Chiefs since 1972, making it the 3rd-oldest stadium still standing in the NFL behind only Chicago’s Soldier Field (1924) and Green Bay’s Lambeau Field (1957).
GEHA bought the naming rights in 2021 for a decade, but the Chiefs have been playing at Arrowhead for over 50 seasons now. Arrowhead is also scheduled to host games in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Arrowhead has long been considered one of the noisiest stadiums in the country. In a 1990 game against Denver, the Chiefs’ fans were so loud that Denver quarterback John Elway reportedly complained to a referee who threatened to penalize the Chiefs if the crowd did not quiet down to allow Elway to call a play backed up in his own end.
The Chiefs actually appeared in the Guinness World Record book for the loudest stadium. They were briefly topped by Seattle’s stadium, but the Chiefs regained the record at Arrowhead in 2014 by recording a noise level of 142.2 decibels.
3. AT&T Stadium – Dallas Cowboys (Capacity: 80,000)
You know they have to do things bigger in Texas. Opened in 2009, AT&T Stadium has often been referred to as Jerry World for Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who had the vision for this being a massive stadium that can hold different forms of entertainment.
AT&T Stadium has a listed capacity of 80,000 fans, but it can be fixed to fit in over 100,000 people if necessary. In fact, this stadium broke the attendance record for a regular-season NFL game in 2009 when 105,121 people watched the Cowboys take on the Giants.
A retractable roof stadium, one of the highlights when it opened was the huge video scoreboard, which was at the time the largest HDTV screen in the world.
While the Cowboys have infamously not returned to the NFC Championship Game since 1995, AT&T Stadium did host Super Bowl 45 in the 2010 season between the Packers and Steelers. It has also hosted countless big college football games, multiple WrestleMania events, multiple NCAA Men’s Final Four basketball events, and it will be a site for multiple 2026 FIFA World Cup matches.
As for when the Cowboys will ever host an NFC Championship Game at Jerry World, that remains to be seen.
2. Lambeau Field – Green Bay Packers (Capacity: 81,441)
Many people will tell you that if you could only visit one NFL stadium in your life, make sure it’s Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Opened in 1957 as New City Stadium, it took on the Lambeau name in 1965 to honor the great coach Curly Lambeau and has remained the same ever since.
Continued renovations have increased the capacity at Lambeau from 60,000 during the 1990s heyday of Brett Favre to over 81,000 today. The stadium has hosted some concerts but it is primarily a football stadium through and through.
The Packers used to have an incredible home-field advantage at Lambeau thanks to the Frozen Tundra when things get really cold late in the season. Lambeau Field was the site of The Ice Bowl, the nickname for the 1967 NFL Championship Game when the Packers defeated the Cowboys 21-17 in a game played in minus-15 degree weather.
But in the last 20 years, the Packers have lost several high-profile home playoff games to teams like the 2002 Falcons, 2004 Vikings, 2007 Giants, 2011 Giants, 2013 49ers, and 2021 49ers to lose a lot of that luster.
Still, seeing a game at Lambeau Field remains a bucket list item for many football fans.
1. MetLife Stadium – New York Giants/Jets (Capacity: 82,500)
Capacity might be the only metric where MetLife Stadium ranks No. 1. If we are just being honest, the New York Jets and New York Giants have not been the most exciting teams to watch in the NFL in the last decade, and the artificial turf used at the stadium has been under heavy criticism for leading to player injuries during games.
But the Giants and Jets needed a new home after old Giants Stadium was showing its age. They designed the New Meadowlands Stadium to house both teams again, and at the time, it was the most expensive stadium ever built at $1.6 billion when it opened in 2010.
The name was changed to MetLife Stadium in 2011, and to be fair, things were off to a great start with the Jets reaching the AFC Championship Game in 2010 and the Giants winning the Super Bowl in the 2011 season. The lean years with bad offense would come after that.
MetLife Stadium hosted a Super Bowl too in the 2013 season. Unfortunately, it was one of the most lopsided games in history as the Seattle Seahawks blasted the Denver Broncos 43-8 in a rare Super Bowl held outdoors on the East Coast, an experiment the league has not gone back to since.
MetLife Stadium will be one of 16 venues to host matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It has also been the site of college football games like Army-Navy, WrestleMania, outdoor hockey games (NHL), and many concerts.
It also was the location of the Butt Fumble in 2012, a moment that will live in infamy.
