Toughest Places To Play In North America: Where Do Arrowhead, Michigan Stadium Rank?

Earning the No. 1 seed in the NFC is important for the Seattle Seahawks, partly because of a combustible and rowdy environment created by one of the loudest open-air stadiums in the NFL residing in the Pacific Northwest.

This will be the fourth time the Seahawks host the NFC championship game. The three previous times, Seattle has advanced to the Super Bowl. However, the Emerald City is not the only pro sports venue that creates an intimidating environment for the opposing team on game days.

That said, we take a closer look at the toughest places to play in all sports and why it’s difficult for visiting teams to come away with a win.

Honorable mentions

10. Cameron Indoor Stadium (home of Duke basketball)

One of the things outsiders often overlook about Cameron Indoor Stadium is how quaint the building really feels. It holds fewer than 10,000 fans per game — some of whom paint their bodies from head to toe in blue after camping outside for days at a time — and the verticality of the arena’s layout is such that the first few rows are only separated from the court by a few feet. That’s where the viral photos of Cameron Crazies nearly touching opposing players on in-bounds passes are born. 

The environment reached fever-pitch levels during the unparalleled tenure of former head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who won five national titles and reached 13 Final Fours before stepping down after the 2021-22 campaign. Any win by any opponent at Cameron Indoor Stadium is a good one. — Michael Cohen

9. Ohio Stadium (home of Ohio State football)

The Buckeyes have turned Ohio Stadium into the kind of place where opposing fans just do not expect to win, even in the modern era of the sport. 

Despite the arrival of name, image and likeness rules, the allowance of immediate eligibility via the transfer portal, enforced revenue-sharing with student-athletes across sports and the extension of the College Football Playoff from four teams to 12, Ohio State has lost just four games at “The Shoe” since 2020. Only Oregon (2021) and Michigan (2022, 2024) have managed to board a plane out of Columbus, Ohio, with a win in tow. 

If you win at Ohio State, you tend to build your legacy around it. Just ask Jim Harbaugh, who used his 2021 win to launch Michigan on a trajectory toward its first CFP appearance and its first CFP national championship three years later. — RJ Young

8. Allen Fieldhouse (home of Kansas basketball)

A significant portion of the mystique surrounding Allen Fieldhouse, which is widely regarded as a bucket-list locale for college basketball junkies, is linked to more than a century of tradition for the Kansas program — even if the building itself only opened in 1955. 

The program’s founder and first coach, James Naismith, literally invented the sport with a peach basket. The arena was subsequently named after another coach, Phog Allen, whose time in charge spanned parts of five decades, from 1919-56, by which point the hoops cathedral named after him was already built. It’s a place where future Hall of Famers like Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Bill Self all won national championships as head coaches, not to mention the home of 37 eventual first-round picks. 

When opponents walk into Allen Fieldhouse, they feel everything it represents. — Cohen

7. Beaver Stadium (home of Penn State football)

There’s nothing quite like playing in Beaver Stadium – especially at night, and especially when there’s a White Out, when all 106,572 rowdy and wild fans in attendance are dressed head to toe in white and ‘Mo Bamba’ is blasting. Fans wave around their white shakers and, of course, there are always those ultra-dedicated people who paint their bodies totally white. 

In other words, it’s a lot of blinding white for opponents to get used to. The whole thing is an electric environment that gives you chills.

Beaver Stadium was once an older, rickety stadium, but it’s currently undergoing a major $700 million renovation that is not expected to be completed until Fall 2027. The facelift is necessary, but don’t expect it to take away from the intimidation factor – Penn State is 327-85 all-time at home. 

With a new coaching staff in place for the 2026 season, expect Beaver Stadium to be extra energized. – Laken Litman

6. GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium (home of the Kansas City Chiefs)

The home of the most accomplished player in the league, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his three Super Bowl wins, Arrowhead Stadium has created an outdoor environment that rivals Lumen Field for its crowd noise and impact on opponents during game day.

However, the Chiefs have an added element late in the season: cold. 

Kansas City’s victory over the Miami Dolphins in the 2023 AFC Wild Card game is one of the coldest games in NFL history. Game-time temperature was minus-4 degrees, the fourth-coldest game in NFL history. Mahomes is 10-1 in games when the temperature is 30 degrees or below. However, the need for him to play big in inclement weather could change in the future, as the Chiefs have proposed moving to a $3 billion new, indoor facility built across the Kansas-Missouri state line in Kansas in 2031.

For now, Arrowhead Stadium holds the record for the loudest stadium at 142.2 decibels, according to Guinness World Records, recorded in September 2014 during a Chiefs’ victory over the Patriots.

Opened in 1972, the Chiefs own a 257-164-1 record during the regular season and a 14-8 postseason record at Arrowhead Stadium. – Eric D. Williams

5. Michigan Stadium (home of Michigan football)

Walking into Michigan Stadium is a magical experience for college football fans. 

From the outside, it doesn’t really look like the biggest stadium in the country. But when you walk in around row 74 and feel the grandeur and the energy inside, you understand why it’s called “The Big House.” Capacity is 107,601 and the Wolverines are 470-135-17 all-time playing at home. It’s certainly a bucket list type of place for opposing fans to visit.

And it’s not just the excitement you feel simply by being inside the stadium, but the traditions and rituals fans experience while there. For example, before kickoff, players run out of the tunnel at midfield on the east side of the stadium and each one jumps up to slap the “Go Blue” banner. Alum James Earl Jones is the voice you hear in a pregame video. “Mr. Brightside” blares in between the third and fourth quarters. 

And, of course, you’ll be inundated by “Go Blue” chants and renditions of “Hail to the Victors.” – Laken Litman

4. Estadio Azteca (home of the Mexico national soccer team)

Forget Estadio Azteca’s unparalleled history: the record 19 World Cup matches played there, the two iconic finals, those indelible images of Pele and Maradona being carried on their teammates’ shoulders as 100,000-plus fans looked on with the impossibly colossal upper deck as the backdrop.

Forget that this June 11, when Mexico welcomes South Africa in the 2026 tournament opener, Azteca will become the first stadium in soccer history to host matches at three World Cups.

Besides being among the most storied cathedrals of the planet’s favorite sport, Azteca is also an almost guaranteed loss for El Tri’s opponents. 

Situated 7,200 feet above sea level, oxygen-starved foes are spent before halftime. Massive partisan home crowds — while renovations have capped Azteca’s current seating capacity at 87,000, it’s still the eighth-largest venue on planet fútbol — and high noon kickoffs in blazing temperatures complete the home-field advantage. That edge has slipped a little in recent years, but the numbers don’t lie: Mexico has lost just two of 50-plus World Cup qualifiers there all-time. 

Sure, lore remains a huge part of Azteca’s appeal. But please spare a thought for the South Africans in June, too. – Doug McIntyre

3. Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium (home of Alabama football)

Since 2019, the Crimson Tide have lost just three games at Bryant-Denny Stadium and just once since the field was named after Nick Saban, who won six national championships as head coach at Alabama. And one of those losses came against No. 1-ranked LSU (2019) in a year when the Tigers were unbeatable.

Couple that stat with Bama’s run to finish the Saban era, resulting in 70 wins and just eight losses, and it’s easy to see why Alabama — which has won 15 national titles and 30 conference championships since 1925 — and it becomes easier to understand just why the Tide sit at No. 3 on this list: They have never made losing a habit. — Young

The second-oldest stadium in the NFL to Soldier Field (1927) and a shrine to the NFL built in the comfy confines of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Lambeau Field remains one of the toughest places to play for opposing teams. Home to the Packers since 1957, Green Bay has won 13 NFL titles, and the Super Bowl trophy bears legendary coach Vince Lombardi’s name.

Home to the “Lambeau Leap,” Cheeseheads and the coldest game ever played in league history in the Ice Bowl, there is a reason this iconic stadium is on the bucket list for every NFL fan.

From the metal bleachers still in place and a 25,000 square-foot Packers Hall of Fame that gives it an old-school feel, to critical on-field modernizations like a heated grass field, Lombardi Stadium offers a unique experience for fans and players.

Most importantly, it’s a tough place to get a win. The Packers are 269-136-6 during the regular season and 18-7 in the playoffs all-time at Lambeau Field. – Williams

The home of the 12th man, the Seahawks retired the No. 12 jersey in 1984 to recognize the impact of the noise fans created during the franchise’s time in the Kingdome before moving to what is now known as Lumen Field in 2002.

The Seahawks set a then-Guinness World record for crowd noise at 137.6 decibels during the team’s victory over the Saints in 2013 on Monday night. Because of the deafening noise regularly created at the stadium, the Seahawks hold an NFL record 11 false start penalties called in a win over the New York Giants in 2005.

Marshawn Lynch’s historic “Beast Quake” 67-yard touchdown run during a 2011 playoff victory over the Saints created so much noise that it registered as a minor earthquake on a nearby seismometer.

Rams head coach Sean McVay says he anticipates an electric environment when his team travels to Seattle for the NFC Championship game on Sunday.

“It’s going to be a hell of an atmosphere and environment,” McVay said last week. “We’re excited about it. Those are the moments that you feel the most alive as a competitor.”

The Seahawks have 11 consecutive postseason wins at Lumen Field with fans in the stands dating back to 2005. Seattle is 17-7 against the Rams at Lumen Field, and it’s 128-66 at Lumen Field since its completion in 2002. – Williams