There is now no mistaking the sweetest seats in M&T Bank Stadium.

The Blackwing suite area has marbled counters, honeycomb tile flooring, mammoth-screen TVs stacked end-to-end across long corridors. The lavish lounge area feels more like the lobby of a swanky hotel than a football stadium.

On Monday, the Ravens took the media on a tour of the first part of a three-phase makeover to the 26-year-old stadium, including the Blackwing, the clear crown jewel of this first stage.

At times during the tour, Ravens officials noted that the point was to be, in one sense, transported. Private seating, plush lounges with jazz music and game-day servers who greet you with a drink of your choice will only complete the effect.

“Be careful,” executive Rich Tamayo said at one point, gesturing to cushy seating throughout these lounge areas. “If you sit down, you might not want to leave.”

But the feeling I got touring the Blackwing and other luxury parts of the stadium, like field-level seating, was not comfort. It was the crawling sensation on the back of my neck telling me, you don’t belong here.

It’s the same feeling a teenager might get sneaking into a fancy restaurant or hotel, chasing the cheap thrill of tiptoeing through the upper crust with no business being there. It’s that nagging voice you hear when you stray onto a private beach, or take a seat at a club that enforces bottle service at its tables.

I shouldn’t be here, I kept thinking impulsively. Even though seeing these areas, probably for the first and last time, was exactly what I was there to do.

What a curious thing to feel at a football stadium, a place where you and 71,000 of your closest friends gather weekly to watch the Ravens over a beer. But these exclusive spaces — funded by public bond money — are the sweeping stadium movement that far transcends the Baltimore market.

Team president Sashi Brown, who is overseeing this massive, ambitious project, told me that the Ravens have been inspecting new stadiums for the last few years to see what kinds of features they could add. They looked both at home, such as SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles and Chase Center in San Francisco, as well as abroad, when they played at Tottenham last season.

Stadium renovations increasingly focus on premium seating options and how to best monetize the best views in the house. Of course it isn’t lost on me that the Blackwing replaces the press seating area at the top of the lower bowl, but they’re hardly alone in this regard. Kansas City recently built a similar lounge area called the Huddle. Chase Center helped usher in a movement of bunker-like clubs beneath bleachers, a luxurious hideaway from the masses when not perched in courtside seats.

I don’t mean to single out the Ravens, who are really just keeping up with the Joneses. But the tour challenged one of my most stubborn (and perhaps naively held) beliefs: Sporting events are one of the binding elements of the communities and regions where we live. It feels like modern stadiums are gradually drifting from that, a place where we are physically near each other yet living entirely different experiences based on the price tag.

There has been a divide between the front row and the nosebleeds since the Colosseum, but something about the communal experience — like shouting the Baltimore “O” into the brisk fall air — can make that gap seem immaterial in flashes. I’d argue that this communal feel is what makes Ravens home games so challenging for visiting opponents, something the team hopes to preserve with the changes.

“Our game day experience, despite all these new places that have come online, still outpaces the vast majority — we’re usually top 1, 2, 3 in the league,” Brown said. “That’s been a calling card for us. It’s been a real focus. And we’re very intentional about making sure, regardless if our stadium is new or not, we want our game day experience, our fan experience, the way we treat our fans to be top in the world — not just the NFL.”

But it’s difficult to talk about the renovations without the Blackwing, as well as the 138 (or so) field-level seats that are now abutting the home team bench — experiences that are aspirational for all but a few.

Even though the suites will have rollout windows that allow the 30 or so people inside to feel the charged air of NFL football, it’s hard to sit in the lounge area and see it as a stadium experience. It feels like a fancy living room with the comforts of home that just happens to be a stone’s throw from the actual sideline.

It’s worth pointing out that the Blackwing is completely sold out for next season, so the Ravens are addressing a market. But as stadiums increasingly cater to wealthier crowds with luxury experiences, it makes the product less like a football game and more like a club. Meanwhile, others get squeezed: The Ravens have already acknowledged that some fans will be relocated due to changes in the west end zone, and while those fans have access to lower bowl tickets, some of those displaced have been vocally unhappy about it.

It’s food for thought for how stadiums are trending, especially with renovations coming up to Camden Yards. The Orioles ballpark is famous for its open spaces and its egalitarian access to a good view, but will we soon be replacing concourse space or standing room with more exclusive lounge areas? That seems to be the way stadiums are built these days.

In fairness to the Ravens, the Blackwing is just one component of the $450 million renovation, many of which even general admission fans will be able to experience. As a part of the tour, the media and a group of early-access ticket holders dined on new menu options on the rooftop deck of a freshly built two-story bar.

Brown took lots of time on Monday to patiently answer questions from the media, including mine. He pointed out to me that Phases 2 and 3 will include a renovated North Plaza with expanded seating, retail and tailgating, and many of the spaces are for all attendees. It is not lost on me, either, that though the Ravens are using public funds in this instance, they’ve spent millions of their own money in the past for escalators and more expansive video boards.

One goal is to expand M&T Bank Stadium’s offerings beyond football. Officials tout that updated facilities, including suite options that big artists expect, will help them go out and recruit more events, including concerts.

“Now when we lay out what the fan experience is for third parties coming to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore,” Brown said, “we’re confident that our fan experience for your team or for your artists is going to be second to none.”

There are undoubtedly going to be good outcomes from the money earmarked for the Ravens and, hopefully soon, the Orioles. The fact that they’re staying in the city, in their current locations, is a victory in itself. We’ll all enjoy updated facilities, lighting, sound and video elements that make the game feel more present and the experience more comfortable.

And yet something sticks with me — the strange feeling of catching a glimpse of a space so close to where we stand, but worlds apart from where we are.