Texans road trip: Jacksonville’s EverBank Field review

The Houston Texans headed out to Jacksonville for a Week 6 visit with AFC South divisional rival, the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Toro Times made the trip to check out the Texans on the road, while also seeing what the highly touted EverBank Field had to offer football fans.

Here are some ratings for the stadium;

Accessibility: A+

We have all made that road trip for a game where the parking was absolutely atrocious. You have to pay an extreme amount to park, and even dropping around $50, there is still a trek of a mile or more to the stadium.

For EverBank Field, that was not the case. Parking was simple to find and Duval St. garage was just $20 with a short walk to the field from there. The traffic before and after the game was nothing to be too angry about, although the after the game may have had as much to do with safety Andre Hal sending the crowd home early with a fourth quarter pick six.

Concessions: A

The food choices were nice. There is of course the traditional game menu which includes popcorn, peanuts, candy corn and soft pretzels. Hot dogs and burgers are available all around the stadium as well.

Vendors make their rounds with water, snacks and beer. All this the norm for most sporting events. A good value for drinks can be found as well as the stadium offers $7 souvenir cups, which can be refilled for just $3. With a normal drink being $5, this cup becomes a value quick on a sunny Sunday in Florida.

What earns EverBank a good grade however is the fact that they do throw in a couple more choices, one of which is a must in southern food, good old barbecue! Bono’s Pit BBQ is available in several spots and they have an amazing snack option in pulled pork barbecue nachos. The name says it all.

Another awesome choice for wing lovers (and everyone should be a wing lover) is the wing chain, Dick’s Wings. Several choices of sauces are available besides just Buffalo wings, making this a great option for those who want more than the traditional game food.

Fan Experience: A+

Credit needs to be given to those in charge of the Jaguars stadium as their scoreboards are absolutely amazing. The size and clarity of these screens cannot be understood or appreciated until they are seen in person.

Replays are super high def and there are constant game stats shown on either side of the game action as well. What really sets the stadium’s experience over the top is their forward thinking with in-stadium fantasy updates as well as the constant playing of the popular NFL RedZone channel.

During play stoppages and timeouts, it was great to look up and see how your favorite fantasy players were performing, or being able to watch the Tennessee Titans lose on the RedZone channel as Texans fans could see their team sliding into second place in the AFC South all alone.

Overall EverBank Field was a great experience and the fans were polite to those of us who showed up in Houston colors, which is not a given at all stadiums. It really begged the question as to why the NFL moves the Jags to London yearly to take a game away from one of their better stadiums in the league.

It was a fun game and great experience. Anyone who has a chance to hit the road to Jacksonville will not be disappointed in the game experience. Hopefully anyone who can make it will also see the Texans come in and steal a W.