This list ranks every stadium currently hosting an NFL team by the year it first opened its gates, from the league’s oldest ground still in use down to its newest. Renovations, roof additions, and sponsor-name changes don’t reset the clock here — the year reflects when the original structure was built, which is why a stadium can carry a brand-new corporate name and still be one of the oldest buildings in professional sports.
The gap at the top tells its own story. Soldier Field has hosted the Bears since 1924, more than three decades before the next-oldest venue, Lambeau Field, opened in 1957. After that, the list doesn’t hit another entry until the 1970s — there’s essentially no NFL stadium construction between the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations, a lull that makes the sport’s two true relics stand even further apart from everything built since.
Soldier Field and Lambeau Field: the sport’s two living landmarks
Soldier Field predates the NFL’s modern era by decades — it opened in 1924 as a monumental, colonnaded lakefront venue built for track and civic events long before it became a football-only building. A major early-2000s renovation dropped a modern steel bowl inside the original Doric colonnades, which is why the stadium can feel like two buildings stacked on top of each other: a 1920s shell wrapped around a 21st-century seating deck. It’s still the oldest address in the league by a wide margin.
Lambeau Field, by contrast, has never changed teams or cities. Opened in 1957, it’s the longest-tenured home in the NFL for a single franchise, and its reputation as the coldest, most tradition-soaked building in football comes directly from that unbroken 65-plus-year run. Everything else on this list opened after both of these stadiums had already been hosting games for at least a decade.
| # | Venue | Team | Opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soldier Field* | Chicago Bears | 1924 |
| 2 | Lambeau Field | Green Bay Packers | 1957 |
| 3 | Arrowhead Stadium | Kansas City Chiefs | 1972 |
| 4 | Highmark Stadium* | Buffalo Bills | 1973 |
| 5 | Caesars Superdome | New Orleans Saints | 1975 |
| 6 | Hard Rock Stadium | Miami Dolphins | 1987 |
| 7 | EverBank Stadium | Jacksonville Jaguars | 1995 |
| 8 | Bank of America Stadium | Carolina Panthers | 1996 |
| 9 | Northwest Stadium* | Washington Commanders | 1997 |
| 10 | M&T Bank Stadium | Baltimore Ravens | 1998 |
| 11 | Raymond James Stadium | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1998 |
| 12 | Huntington Bank Field* | Cleveland Browns | 1999 |
| 13 | Nissan Stadium* | Tennessee Titans | 1999 |
| 14 | Paycor Stadium | Cincinnati Bengals | 2000 |
| 15 | Acrisure Stadium | Pittsburgh Steelers | 2001 |
| 16 | Empower Field at Mile High | Denver Broncos | 2001 |
| 17 | Ford Field | Detroit Lions | 2002 |
| 18 | Gillette Stadium | New England Patriots | 2002 |
| 19 | Lumen Field | Seattle Seahawks | 2002 |
| 20 | NRG Stadium | Houston Texans | 2002 |
| 21 | Lincoln Financial Field | Philadelphia Eagles | 2003 |
| 22 | State Farm Stadium | Arizona Cardinals | 2006 |
| 23 | Lucas Oil Stadium | Indianapolis Colts | 2008 |
| 24 | AT&T Stadium | Dallas Cowboys | 2009 |
| 25 | MetLife Stadium | New York Giants / New York Jets | 2010 |
| 26 | Levi’s Stadium | San Francisco 49ers | 2014 |
| 27 | U.S. Bank Stadium | Minnesota Vikings | 2016 |
| 28 | Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Atlanta Falcons | 2017 |
| 29 | Allegiant Stadium | Las Vegas Raiders | 2020 |
| 30 | SoFi Stadium | Los Angeles Rams / Los Angeles Chargers | 2020 |
* An announced or under-construction replacement is on the way — see Replacement Watch below.
Replacement Watch: What’s Next
Highmark Stadium*: The Bills open the new Highmark Stadium across the street in 2026; the 1973 original is coming down.
Nissan Stadium*: The Titans’ new enclosed Nissan Stadium opens next door in 2027.
Huntington Bank Field*: The Browns are moving to a planned domed stadium in suburban Brook Park, targeted for 2029.
Northwest Stadium*: The Commanders have an agreement to build a new stadium on the RFK Stadium site in Washington, targeted for 2030.
Soldier Field*: The Bears are advancing plans for a new stadium in Arlington Heights that would end Soldier Field’s run as the NFL’s oldest venue.
Why ‘opened’ isn’t the same as ‘original’
Almost every stadium on this list has been renovated, expanded, or partially rebuilt at least once — new roofs, added decks, retractable domes, and full interior overhauls are common. The year in this ranking is the stadium’s original opening date, not the date of its most recent facelift, because that’s the number that actually measures a building’s age. It’s also worth remembering that many of these venues have changed sponsor names multiple times over the years; the naming-rights deal on the building today often has nothing to do with when it was actually built.
What surprises people about this list
The biggest surprise is usually the dead zone between 1924 and 1957, and then again between 1957 and the early 1970s — for roughly half a century, the NFL basically stopped building new stadiums, which is why Soldier Field and Lambeau Field feel like they’re in a category of their own. There’s also a noticeable cluster around 2002, when Ford Field, Gillette Stadium, Lumen Field, and NRG Stadium all opened within the same year, part of a wave of new construction as multiple franchises replaced aging multi-purpose stadiums at once. At the other end, Allegiant Stadium and SoFi Stadium are tied for the newest venues on the list, both debuting in 2020 just months apart.
Explore more: Browse every NFL stadium on ThrillZing.
Oldest NFL Stadiums FAQs
What is the oldest NFL stadium?
Soldier Field in Chicago, home of the Bears, opened in 1924 and is by far the oldest stadium currently used by an NFL team.
How old is Lambeau Field?
Lambeau Field opened in 1957, making it the second-oldest stadium in the NFL and the longest-running home for a single franchise, the Green Bay Packers.
What is the newest NFL stadium?
Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas Raiders) and SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles Rams and Chargers) are tied as the newest, both opening in 2020.
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Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.