"The enclosed tunnel is 192 feet long and 23 feet side to side, marked by a gray concrete floor that exaggerates the many wheels and shoes that go up and down it. The blue walls are painted with black accents. The trek from the field to the tunnel features a 7% incline. At the top there are two locker rooms -- one home, one away."
"Entering into the tunnel after an NFL game is walking into organized chaos. The visiting team trudges equipment up and out, venturing the incline that can get slippery with inclement weather outside. Loud beeps accompany trucks or carts driving through. Entrances for the Bills' equipment room, an officials locker room, access to news conference and photographer workrooms, and a drumline dressing room all live in this one space."
"On non-game days, former Bills player Steve Tasker (1986-1997) described the differing environment, "You may as well be on the moon surface when it was empty. And then when you come out there and 80,000, it seems like you're standing in a crowded room." This type of tunnel, with its size and singularity, is not expected to ever be seen again. Its functionality is no longer logical for the modern needs of a stadium."
Highmark Stadium's east-end tunnel is a narrow, historic passage 192 feet long and 23 feet wide with a gray concrete floor and blue walls accented in black. The path rises at a 7% incline to two locker rooms, one home and one away. After games the tunnel becomes chaotic as visiting teams move equipment up the slope amid loud beeps from trucks and carts and shared access to equipment, officials, media workrooms and a drumline dressing room. On non-game days the space feels empty, yet every Bills player since 1973 and numerous performers and athletes have used the tunnel, making it functionally obsolete but historically romantic.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]