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Today's question: Buffalo has one of the NFL's oldest venues, Ralph Wilson Stadium. Owners Terry and Kim Pegula have pumped the brakes on talk of building a new stadium, even as some of the league's newer venues are being renovated or replaced. From your experience covering the NFL and visiting Ralph Wilson Stadium frequently, where does it rank among NFL stadiums? James Walker, Miami Dolphins reporter: I'm not much of a stickler for stadiums. I always felt the most important aspect was the product on the field. Also, it makes me a little uneasy how teams threaten to leave if they don't get hundreds of millions in public funding when school systems and other vital parts of the community are struggling. With that said, Ralph Wilson Stadium doesn't bother me one bit. I enjoy the nostalgic feel to it, and when I'm there it often reminds me of the 1990s Bills games that I watched on television growing up. It doesn't have the modern bells and whistles. So I would rank Buffalo's stadium in the middle of the pack or early 20s. For an old and comparatively outdated stadium, you can do much worse (i.e. San Diego or Oakland). Mike Reiss, New England Patriots, reporter: The walk through the crowd to the post-game interviews is what stands out; serving as a reminder that The Ralph is a relic and outlier among most modern stadiums in the NFL. Prior to the press box moving to a renovated space two years ago, the temperature in the old box could sometimes be icy in the front row if you were there in December, which brought back memories of covering high school games. The single tunnel in which both teams enter and exit the field is also symbolic of a stadium that doesn't have some of the features of newer facilities around the league. News conferences for the visiting team, and the locker room, are as cramped and overcrowded as any in the NFL. While those are all examples of an older venue, covering games in Orchard Park ranks among the top of the list for me because of the throwback feel, the passion of the fans and a reminder that as time passes some things don't change. Newer isn't always better. Rich Cimini, New York Jets, reporter: Reporters judge stadiums differently than the fans. To me, it's all about the view from the press box, the accessibility to the locker room and the size of the locker room. The Bills score low grades in all three areas. They used to have a great press-box view at the 50-yard line, but they sold out to the corporate muckety-mucks (like most every team), turning the press box into luxury suites. Now we're in a remote corner of the stadium, so far from the field that we might as well be watching from Niagara Falls. To be honest, the sight lines in New England and Miami are no better, but at least their locker rooms are bigger than a tool shed. I'd say the Bills rank among the bottom five in stadiums, which is too bad. The great fans of Western New York deserve better.
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