Baseball is different. Mostly because it is rarely 10 degrees.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It's rarely 10 degrees here, too. At worst, it's like 20 for a game or two at the end of the year. I could see where January playoff games at home would be brutal, but the Bears have already solved that problem.

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Chicago will have St. Louis’ climate in ten years. The era of it being a cold weather city is basically over. You’re telling me you couldn’t have outdoor concerts there on today’s ten day forecast? It’s mid-November and Chicago has highs at very nearly sixty every day.

Yea you’ll get polar vortices or whatever other shit but the dynamic of there being snow on the ground much past February is done. Winter is like fifty days, if that.

And football is better outdoors for a TV audience.

It's normally a lot worse than a temperature controlled dome for most of November and December.

As I said, I get the funding issue. What I don't get is the idea that a domed stadium in Chicago would not be better than what there is now.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I disagree. I want to see the full panoply of plays when watching football. I don't want to see entire sections of the play book ripped out because it's raining or snowing.

Of the 272 yearly NFL match-ups how many does this apply to? Maybe 5 a year? It makes it fun, and like I said it is becoming more and more rare for winter weather to be a factor unless you are in Buffalo or Green Bay (who both play outside).

Virtually none. So why put any kind of premium on outdoor football?

Aesthetics, the rare game that is affected by it can often be iconic.

Really if anyone should be getting domes it’s the Florida teams. They are the ones who benefit most.

I will never forget the Monday Night Football where the Steelers beat the Dolphins 3-0 in driving rain and the punt got stuck in the mud. This shouldn't happen more than once every few years, but I don't remember any Colts home games from the Andrew Luck years.

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I keep thinking back to the old St. Louis Rams dome: this non-descript brick/glass box that was basically the adjunct to a convention center that occasionally hosted the NFL, and the NFL games that were there always felt dark and sad. And it ably hosted Beyonce concerts and monster truck rallies and the Final Four, but as a football venue, it televised extremely poorly. Of course, part of that was that no one there liked the Rams much and that's why they left, but the Saints have hot crowds and their games look dark and depressing too.

Even Allegiant Stadium, which is what the Bears claim their stadium will look like until budget cuts take it down to looking more like the St. Louis dome, doesn't look that great on TV. You get a shot of the fake plastic flame here and there but for the most part it's dark and dismal and and overrun with road fans. Compare with the Oakland Coliseum, which was a fountain of raw sewage but fit the Raiders mystique and still managed to look cool on TV.

The Bears should have had what the Packers turned Lambeau into, which is basically a neoclassical monument to the game of football.

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The problem is that George fucking hates football.

Meanwhile there is a plan afoot to spend $1B to refurbish the Astrodome. "It hasn’t been home to a sports team since the Astros left in 1999, it was closed to all events a decade later [and] costs between $100,000 and $200,000 a year to maintain..."

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

Does football even need a live audience? It could be played in a studio setting specifically designed to maximize and enhance the television broadcast. The NFL is a television show.

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The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

I've had season tickets for the Bulls and the White Sox. Those two sports you really get to know the team more than you would from television.

Football, I don't know how you can tell jackshit of what's going on. Season ticketholders of the Bears go home and have to watch the game again.

Do think the NFL would prefer that all games took place in domed stadiums which take out the weather factor, fans are optional, just a clean field where the skill position players can meet prop bet numbers for the gambling public. You can only get a feel for a football game if you are on the sideline.

Baseball and Hockey are better in person because you can see the way the defenses are lining up, baseball on TV is batter vs pitcher with a bunch of random guys with gloves on one hand standing around for no apparent reason, a long time baseball fan can tell a lot by watching how the defense lines up.

Basketball is the sport that works best on TV, fewer players and you can see most of the players at all times.

I’d rank the relative value of in-person v. TV as:
- hockey (easier to track the puck, much more appreciation for the speed of the game)
- basketball (similar to hockey, hard to appreciate how quick these guys move and how little space there is on the court on a tv screen)
- baseball (nostalgia & drinking $12 Lites is ok sometimes)
- football (almost nothing about in-person is better than TV)

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College football is better in person I believe when the weather is warmer than 50 degrees.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The best way to get a feel for the size, speed, and otherworldly ability of pro athletes is to be at field level during practice or pre-game.

You could be close to positional drills during Bears training camp back in the day and you notice the speed of everyone from the lineman on up.

Remember as a young kid watching Andre Dawson make numerous throws from right field to one of the catchers who was standing ten feet from us little leaguers on the third base line, the accuracy and velocity of the throws was amazing, there are very few humans that have the genetic ability to throw a ball like that. It also exposes guys that dog it in warm ups and only work on hitting home runs, those are the guys that the broadcasters try to protect, "nobody works harder on defense than Alphonso Soriono", really, then why didn't he shag a few fly balls to get a feel for the wind direction before the game?

Horrible take.

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College football is better in person regardless of weather. The NFL cannot even come close to touching that vibe.

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Are you talking about the non-football parts of the day?

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The feeling in the stadium of a college football game is unmatched, and my favorite team has a below average stadium experience.

The band. The students. The over the top drunkenness. It's another example of American exceptionalism.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

NFL I fully agree is better on TV than it is in person.
College football in person is better than watching on TV.

I guess it's fair to say NFL on TV is better than College football on TV, but officiating around the star QB's of the league and just stupid rules on a catch....the NFL is trying really hard to be worse than college football, but haven't succeeded yet.

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Thank you, BRick....stated perfectly.

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So non-football. I agree the pageantry of a college football game beats tailgating for NFL.

Watching the game itself is also bad, probably worse given the clock stoppages.

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I don't understand why you are excluding the in-stadium experience in this. If I wanted to analyze and learn about the game I'd watch it on tape afterwards. In terms of the actual game, it's better in person for college sports.


Why would it be different? Being home and able to do something else for three minutes is also non-football.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Well I initially was trying to limit it to watching the games themselves, but I’ll acknowledge I opened it up with the beer comment.

If I was going strictly on vibes, college football would be 1.

I have no idea what you’re saying in the second block quote or the thought about video review so I’ll ignore those parts.

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I like going to NFL gamres.
I've been to 39 Bear road games but haven't been to one since Bears @SanDiego.

No idea the number of Bear home games .
Home games are a long day...leave home around 7am arrive back around halftime of Sunday night football.

You referenced the clock stoppages as something that makes watching in person worse. Why would it be better or worse for football reasons? It's the same stoppage at home too.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!