For many sports fans along tobacco road it doesn’t get any better than watching the Tar Heels at the Dean Dome or the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor. But recently another area sports venue has outranked both iconic basketball arenas.

Jason deBruyn with the Triangle Business Journal says the trade publication, Stadium Journey, has an annual ranking of sports venues.

“This is the fourth year they’ve been [ranking] the top 100 in-stadium experiences,” he says. “The number one ranked stadium experience in North Carolina was the Durham Bulls Athletic Park; they ranked 33 in the nation.”

deBruyn says the DBAP got $20 million in improvements prior to last baseball season – with $12 million coming from the city of Durham – but most was done on the inner workings of the stadium. The DBAP got very high marks from the trade publication, with seemingly the only negative being the lack of lodging and restaurants in walking distance.

The home of the Durham Bulls checked in at number 33 on Stadium Journey’s list, but other venues in the Tar Heel state cracked the top 100.

“The only other two spots to crack the top 100 in the nation,” he says, “were, in fact, the Dean Smith Center and the Carolina Panthers stadium.”

Accessibility could be an issue; tickets to Cameron Indoor and the Dean Dome are much harder to come by than tickets to DBAP. deBruyn says last year the UNC – Duke game at Cameron was one of the most expensive tickets in the nation.

“The UNC – Duke game at Cameron Indoor was the toughest ticket,” he says. “The average cost of a ticket to that game is $1,400.”

You can see the full list of the Top 100 Stadium Experiences of 2014, according to Stadium Journey, here.

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