This was our first trip to the Georgia Dome but fourth excursion to the wonderful city of Atlanta. The stadium is conveniently located downtown right next to Phillips Arena.
There were a number of people tailgating in parking lots around the stadium but it wasn’t as memorable as other tailgating experiences for other stadiums/teams.
The unfortunate thing about partying in Atlanta on a Sunday is that you are unable to purchase alcohol from any stores. There are limited locations that serve alcohol – mostly only bars that also serve food.
We ended up at Stats about 90 minutes before kick-off which is a great bar and has the option to pour your own beer at your table at your convenience. The nachos were fantastic. The bar was filled with mostly Bears fans – odd considering that were in Atlanta.
The walk to stadium was painless and short with entertainment by a local marching band.
The stadium itself is gorgeous – both inside and outside. The fans were great with a limited number of confrontations between the representatives of the two teams.
Our seats were in the very last row of the top section but the people around us were great and friendly. The view was ideal from virtually any location in the stadium.
One downfall was that they stopped serving alcohol at the end of half-time. Brutal!
The game itself was entertaining with the Falcons coming out on top with a 21-14 victory. Matt Ryan started the game off slow but proved to be a difference-maker as he got more settled into the game. The Bears couldn’t establish the run so Cutler was forced to throw the ball more and some key mistakes (not scoring in the red zone, turnovers) lead to the Bears trying to tie the game with less than a minute on the clock.
The other unfortunate part of the game is that all the bars in downtown and midtown were closed after the game. Thus, we had to try and get a cab (60 minutes later) to a location outside the city – about a $25.00 drive in each direction. Most Chicago fans must have been unaware of this as there were many white and purple jerseys scrambling to enjoy a drink following the game.
I plan to return to watch games in the future on days that aren’t Sunday. Perhaps an SEC Championship game so we can party in full before and after the game – sober-up during the game.