October 5, 2025
Lucas Oil Stadium (Capacity: 63,000)
Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis Colts vs Las Vegas Raiders
Final Score: 40 – 6
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The annual football trip with my brother brought us to the Midwest in 2025 and after seeing a game at Ohio State on a College Football Saturday, we drove to another state capital for NFL action on Sunday. Indianapolis is at the center of Indiana in more ways than one as all roads seem to point to The Circle City. Indy has a varied economy and it has become a popular center for many tournaments and conventions. Even though basketball is most popular here, football has had a steady following since the Colts arrived in 1983. For awhile, the team was never that great and their best season was 9-7. That all changed when Peyton Manning arrived and his 13 seasons with Indianapolis featured near continuous success. They went 141-67 with him at QB and won 8 division titles, made it to 3 AFC Championships and 2 Super Bowls. In 2006, the Colts reached the top of the mountain with a Super Bowl win. During more recent times, Indy has been up-and-down and their last playoff victory came in 2018. The Colts have always played indoors during their time in Indianapolis, first in the Hoosier Dome near the Convention Center and then starting in 2008, Lucas Oil Stadium. The latter has the ability to be open-air as both the roof and large end zone window are retractable. It doesn’t happen often as 70% of the time it’s solely an indoor venue for the Colts, albeit an excellent one.
Prestige Ranking: 4.5 out of 5
Location
Indianapolis may not be on the radar of most travelers, but it should be as there is a lot to do in this clean city. My first visit came a few years ago on vacation to the Hoosier State and we had plenty to fill our four days. That included trips to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Connor Prairie and the massive / world-renowned Children’s Museum. Downtown features CanalWalk and it’s more than a stroll as you can rent a paddleboat and take it along the canal and through the city. Very cool experience. From there, walk to White River State Park and see the State Museum. As for Lucas Oil Stadium it’s on the southwest side of the downtown core, about a 10-15 minute walk from these attractions. The immediate surroundings south of the train tracks around Lucas Oil is a little more blah as you’ll see parking lots, varied-use buildings and a huge post office. At least Indianapolis’ city center is also walkable from the stadium and there are a ton of places to eat, including the famous St. Elmo Steak House and Indiana’s oldest bar: The Slippery Noodle. The heart of the city is centered by the beautiful Soldiers and Sailors Monument.
Location Ranking: 8.5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Nearly all of Indiana’s major highways converge on the capital in the central part of the state. I-70 provides the most direct access to downtown Indianapolis and since the stadium is near the city core, you have plenty of choices on how to arrive and where to park. There really isn’t much good reason to park in a lot right near the stadium. Along with paying an arm and a leg, traffic getting out stinks. If you want to be where the party is at, that would be the plots south of McCarty Street. Otherwise, plenty of cheaper surface lots exist at least a few blocks north closer to the city center. Your best bet is to research ahead of time how much you’re willing to walk as the parking options are seemingly endless. For us (not tailgating), we went with the Capital Commons Garage on Washington Street. Pre-paying months ahead of time was half the price than what was seen on gameday. That garage was an easy 10-minute walk to the stadium and getting out of the city and back to I-70 after the game did not involve much time or stress.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 7 out of 8
Exterior
Lucas Oil Stadium is a beautiful building as the brick layout fits in well with the nearby power station and it is consistent with other Indy sports venues. High School basketball is big in the state and the historic field houses in which many teams play was an inspiration to this design as well. The industrial appearance includes a charcoal-color gabled roof and similarly colored trusses. There’s plenty of tinted glass windows too. If viewing on a map, the rectangular stadium is placed diagonally on the plot of land that otherwise is divided by north-south and east-west running streets. I think this was done to enhance the downtown skyline view from the inside, something I greatly appreciate. It also allows for more corner plaza space.
Exterior Ranking: 8.5 out of 10
Concourse
The entrance from the downtown end of the building is notably great as the inside seating bowl is right in front of your eyes. This opening section also features plenty of eye candy as Colt displays and wordmarks let you know who’s house you’re in. Escalators are just off to each side in case you want to head right to the upper concourse and your seat (note that the only other escalators are at the other end). While being generally spacious, the rest of the street-level concourse is varied in design with occasions of brick, concrete and glass window openings. There is an overload of advertisements and that takes away from the vibe a bit. A Loge Level concourse is below the higher Terrace Level and I found this upper area to be equally decent on space. In fact, at halftime, the logjams were only confined to a few spots and I even was able to find a corner bathroom with barely a line. What’s nice about this upper concourse is there are ends overlooking the field and good for congregating. The side window features make for a halftime stretching spot and they have ceiling fans to control the temperature when the sun is shining in. Only when I went to my seat did I have a “ugh” moment as the entrance stairs are narrow and not great for two-way traffic.
Concourse Ranking: 4.5 out of 5
Food
When visiting Indiana, the breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich is the food item most associated with the Hoosier State. I searched and searched Lucas Oil until getting down to my last few stands before I struck gold (well, more like tan). It may have taken a 10 minute wait to be made, but the Pork Tenderloin here was decent for a football stadium. It’s also common for the meat to overwhelm the bread and that was the case here as I finished full for the game. The Colts have several other offerings, but nothing that really stood out or was all that exciting. Other recommendations include: Mambo’s (South American sandwiches), Rice Bowls and Cheesesteak Loaded Fries. For beer, there’s a few local offerings, but they were hard to find amongst the plethora of Bud and Michelob.
Food Ranking: 5.5 out of 8
Interior
Indianapolis is one of 11 NFL teams to play indoors and I was quite happy to be comfortably inside on the 86 degree day that we attended. The rarely-open roof is retractable and while there isn’t anything special about the metal and gray trusses that make up the ceiling, Lucas Oil has a pair of cool features at the ends of the stadium. There are large windows and one of them opens up to allow air in on nice days (and also some very distracting sunlight/shadows). My favorite part is that this large glass opening gives a decent glimpse of Indianapolis’ skyline. As for stadium design, it’s somewhere in between the more simplistic 90s stadiums and the suite/club behemoths built in the 2010s/20s. The lower-deck (street-level) features 100s/200s, split by a wall and narrow walkway as the shape follows the field in a slightly rounded rectangle design. Sightlines are good here. Up next is the Loge Level, which is in between a line of luxury suites. These sections in the 300s and 400s feature a mix of club and regular seats. Lastly is the highest deck with separated 500 and 600 level sections. There is a breaking up of these as you go around the bowl, thanks to scoreboards and open corners. Sightlines are ok, though getting to be distanced because of how much seating lies between the 600s and the field. Plus there are several front rows where rails get in the way of view. Seats are blue and the width is average.
Interior Ranking: 10 out of 14
Scoreboard
The two corner scoreboards are out of the way (from a distraction standpoint), yet there when you need them. It isn’t all that big, but the screen is clear and large enough, plus it is not cluttered with ads. They did lack various statistical information and my biggest pet peeve was the lack of scores and stats from other NFL games. When it’s a 1 PM game, the majority of commercial breaks should be filled with that and other highlights.
Scoreboard Ranking: 2.5 out of 4
Displays
Peyton Manning will always be a hero in this city and the franchise’s most important player is honored with a statue outside the north entrance of the stadium. I was disappointed to see it barricaded and even protected by security before the game! Couldn’t get an up-close look. Inside, the coolest Colts feature I saw was the anvil that is part of a new pre-game tradition as they push the horseshoe narrative. There’s also a memorable ticket stub collection that is pretty neat. Nothing though on Colts history or moments/players. Lucas Oil does do a good job of making this a state venue as there are helmets for high school teams, honors for current state football champions and an Indiana Football Hall of Fame. One of the great things about playing indoors is that you can hang banners from the roof. They do that quite appropriately here with the right ones standing out. Finally, while Peyton is the only one with his number retired, 17 other past Colts have their name on the Ring of Honor around the stadium.
Displays Ranking: 4 out of 6
Cost
We took care of everything in August ahead of this game and as we got closer to gameday, the Colts blazing out to a 4-1 start meant that I thought we got some great deals. On the contrary as somehow tickets didn’t get jacked up on the secondary market despite the team being pretty good. We were able to get tickets for $49 through TickPick initially and there were still several $55-$65 seats available up to game time. Even some later season divisional games had a get-in price of just $35 (those ones however did double as we reached October). I would avoid buying through the team as that means you’ll need some luck to keep the price under triple digits. Better seats will run between $150 and $300, which is pretty crazy, but the reality of the times for a mid-tier NFL franchise. When it comes to parking, there are several choices and that’s nice if you’re looking to save money on that front too. It’s possible to get away with just a $5 – $8 charge for a lengthy walk (or even free as there is no street parking charge on Sundays). More realistically, a downtown lot or garage within reasonable distance is going to run $15 – $25. Parking around the stadium is $40 – $60. All of this is reasonable to other nearby downtown stadiums like in Cincinnati and Detroit. Somehow, the Capital Commons Garage that I booked on ParkWhiz in August was just $22.50 (that went to $45 the day of the game). Add all that up and this was the cheapest NFL game I’ve been to since a Bills game in 2016. For concessions, a Hot Dog was $6.50, Cheeseburger basket $11.50 and a beer $10.25.
Cost Ranking: 6 out of 8
Fan Support
You can thank Peyton for turning this “basketball state” into a Colts first culture. I’d say now the general pecking order of sports popularity is 1) Colts, 2) IU Hoosiers, 3) Pacers. The game we attended featured a mostly at-capacity Lucas Oil Stadium as any empties were few and far between. Just the highest of sections featured a few smatterings of partially open rows. Fans are also cordial and there is a solid reputation here that visiting fans won’t have any issue. It’s also a fine place to bring kids. Now it is important to note that the lack of a significant ticket price markup when it became apparent the Colts were having a great season tells me the Fan Support isn’t as rambunctious as other NFL cities surrounding Indy.
Fan Support Ranking: 7 out of 8
Atmosphere
Touchdown Town gets the gameday experience going as this fanfest area in front of the stadium includes knick-knacks and corporate giveaways. The area wasn’t as great as other NFL cities, especially because a lot of the tents required sign-ups to participate. There is at least a stage with a band playing. Inside, as we get closer to kickoff, cheerleader and mascot appearances are followed by a motorbike entrance as the team follows. There is then a guest “Anvil Striker” before we are off and running with football. Indoor stadiums help enhance noise and that is the case at Lucas Oil Stadium as the crowd got loud on plenty of occasions. It didn’t come close to the deafening volume of Ford Field, but Indy did a great job on the noise front, matching some of the louder outdoor stadiums that I’ve been to. Having watched a lot of NFL, my ranking on how they come across on TV for noise/atmosphere, I’d probably put Indy somewhere #10 – #12. For our game, the crowd brought it when they should and big plays / touchdowns featured impressive roars. Not everyone liked to stand though as it was a sporadic mix. It was the first time in an NFL stadium that I was asked to sit down. When the Colts score a touchdown, expect a few fireworks and confetti streamers, which is fun. In 2023, they started playing DOOP (“Maria”) after each score and that gets the fans pumping their arms. My issue with it is the Philadelphia Union (MLS) have been using this for wayyyy longer and the Colts should find something original.
Atmosphere Ranking: 12 out of 14
Other Stuff
With the frequency of fireworks (even a few of them) before the game and following touchdowns, the place can get a little smoky. It’s not enough to be annoyed from a breathing perspective, just enough to bug me in that my pictures aren’t as clear as I want…..The Colts really have been all about this “For The Shoe” slogan. While original, it’s just kind of strange to me…..Fun fact: Each appearance that the Colts have made in the Super Bowl, the game was played in Miami. That even was the case when the franchise was in Baltimore…..The opening atrium is an odd mix of Colts and Lucas Oil racing propaganda…..A few years ago, the Colts changed their endzone font. This one is more modern and crisp, but I’m a sucker for that old Western Movie style font and always stared at how they could squeeze all those letters of Indianapolis in that space…..During the National Anthem, they always bring out a huge flag that covers the entire field. Great visual!…..I kept seeing people in Boise State Broncos apparel, enough that I started keeping track and it was at least a couple dozen. Ashton Jeanty, former Broncos star, was playing for the Raiders, but I couldn’t figure out why all these Boise fans were in Indiana. It wasn’t until the next day that I pieced it together: Boise played at Notre Dame on Saturday and their fans made it a double-dip over the weekend by making the couple hour drive to see Jeanty on Sunday.
Game
All but written off, Daniel Jones came to Indianapolis and has done nothing but throw dimes after being kicked out of New York. He was a big reason the Colts started 4-1 and the smart move of elevating him past Anthony Richardson paid off. In this game against the Raiders, he was 20 for 29 with 212 yards and 2 TDs. Meanwhile, Jonathan Taylor had 3 TDs and the Colts scored 40 unanswered after Vegas started with a field goal. This game also featured a blocked punt and a brutal roughing the kicker.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
