Fly to the American Football Conference NFL stadiums
The National Football League's (NFL) 32 clubs are divided into two conferences of 16 teams each: the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). Each conference has four divisions (North, South, East, and West) with four clubs in each division. Here’s a list of AFC stadiums, and the most convenient airports for each. Have fun at the game and see this article about flying to NFC stadiums!
AFC East
The Buffalo Bills play at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York. Fly to Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Prior Aviation has courtesy and rental cars.
The New England Patriots play at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Fly to Norwood Memorial Airport, north of the stadium, which has lower fuel and ramp fees than Hanscom, also north of the stadium.
The New York Jets play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Fly to Teterboro Airport, just north of the stadium, which has six fixed-base operators. Meridian waives the first night ramp fee with minimum fuel purchase and has the least-expensive fuel as this is being written.
AFC North
The Baltimore Ravens play at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Martin State has instrument approaches, a huge runway, cars, and a straight shot to the stadium via I-95. But if your skills and equipment can handle a 2,084-foot runway or you have a seaplane, you can fly to Essex Skypark, which also has a seaplane base (but no instrument approaches or services), and grab a cab.
The Cincinnati Bengals play at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. Lunken Field is your best bet and Signature will soon (fall 2017) have competition in the form of Waypoint Aviation.
The Cleveland Browns play at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland. Can it get any more convenient than Burke Lakefront Airport? The stadium sits right off the end of the runway! Lucky you!
The Pittsburgh Steelers play at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. Allegheny County Airport has good fuel prices and an easy drive to the stadium.
AFC South
The Houston Texans play at NRG Stadium in Houston. Fly to William P. Hobby Airport, where, of five FBOs, Wilson Air Center had the best fuel prices as of this writing.
The Indianapolis Colts play at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Fly to Eagle Creek Airpark, where the FBO can have a car ready for you.
The Jacksonville Jaguars play at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. Fly to Jacksonville Executive, which now has two FBOs competing for your business, Sky Harbor and the new Craig Air Center, with significantly lower fuel prices as of this writing.
The Tennessee Titans play at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. The Nashville International and John C. Tune airports are about equidistant from the stadium and both offer rental cars, though fuel costs less at Tune.
AFC West
The Denver Broncos play at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver. Rocky Mountain Metropolitan and Centennial airports are about equidistant to the stadium, with comparable prices. Jet-A costs slightly less at Rocky Mountain, but turbulence can kick up there on windy days.
The Kansas City Chiefs play at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Fly to Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport where the city’s self-serve 100LL had the lowest price by far.
The Los Angeles Chargers (how I hate to say that!) play at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The closest airport is Compton/Woodley, which doesn’t have rental cars, but most folks just take Uber or a cab. No landing fee, and tiedown fees are only charged for overnights ($5 for singles). However, there are no instrument approaches and the parallel runways are each 3,323-by-60 feet, so if that doesn’t work for you, head to Long Beach.
The Oakland Raiders play at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California, though they will move to Las Vegas beginning with the 2019 season. For now, fly to Oakland International, which is almost within walking distance of the coliseum. Don’t let the thought of airliners intimidate you; they’re usually directed to a different runway. We’ve landed here for baseball games and it’s not a problem, so long as you comply promptly with ATC instructions.
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