Citi Field
will be the new ballpark for the New York Mets that is being built in Willets Point in the New York City borough of Queens as a replacement for the adjacent Shea Stadium, which was itself constructed in 1964 adjacent to the site of the 1964-1965 World's Fair. It has been designed by HOK Sport. The $850 million Citi Field is being subsidized with $450 million in public funds [1]. Citi Field will reportedly be granted the All-Star Game in 2013. [2] The first regular season home game will be on April 13, 2009 against the San Diego Padres. [3]
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CITI FIELD TICKETS
EVENT | DATE | AVAILABILITY |
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New York Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals Tickets 4/26 | Apr 26, 2024 Fri, 7:10 PM | | New York Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals Tickets 4/27 | Apr 27, 2024 Sat, 4:10 PM | | New York Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals Tickets 4/28 | Apr 28, 2024 Sun, 1:40 PM | | New York Mets vs. Chicago Cubs Tickets 4/29 | Apr 29, 2024 Mon, 7:10 PM | | New York Mets vs. Chicago Cubs Tickets 4/30 | Apr 30, 2024 Tue, 7:10 PM | |
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Plans for a new Mets ballpark
The original plans for what will now be Citi Field were created as part of
New York City's
2012 Summer Olympics bid. After plans for a
West Side Stadium fell through, New York looked for an alternate stadium to host the opening and closing ceremonies. The Olympic stadium project was estimated to cost
$2.2 billion with $180 million provided by New York City and
New York State. If New York had won the bid, the stadium would have been expanded to host the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as other sporting events.
Design and construction
The new stadium is planned to have a capacity of 45,000 (42,500 seats, ~2,500 standing room). The exterior facade and entranceway rotunda will be reminiscent of
Ebbets Field (which was long sought by Mets owner
Fred Wilpon, a Brooklyn native). Citi Field will have an interior design that evokes design features of recent ballparks, most notably
Oriole Park at Camden Yards in
Baltimore. The projected cost of the new stadium and other infrastructure improvements is $610 million, with the Mets picking up $420 million of that amount. The agreement includes a 40-year lease that will keep the Mets in New York until 2049. The stadium will be accessible via the
Long Island Rail Road (
Shea Stadium station) and the
New York City Subway 7 train (
Willets Point-Shea Stadium station), as with the current facility.
On
March 18 2006, the New York Mets unveiled the official model for the new stadium. By July 2006, initial construction of the new park was underway in the parking lot beyond left-field, with a projected finish ahead of
Opening Day 2009 in late March.
By August 2008, the New York Mets and
Daktronics will be installing of integrated scoring and video boards throughout the stadium.
[4] As of
April 13, all of the structure for the Jackie Robinson Rotunda is now in place with the arched windows receiving their paneling and glass; the upper deck of the ballpark is now in the process of having its seats installed. According to recent reports, the construction is far ahead of schedule, but won't open until 2009. In late August 2008, most of the Citi Field signage has been installed.
Home of the Mets
This stadium will be the third stadium that the Mets call home during their nearly 50-year history. The Mets played the 1962 and 1963 seasons at the
Polo Grounds, which had also been the home of the
New York Yankees and
New York Giants.
[5] In 1964, they moved to their current home,
Shea Stadium, which in the recent frenzy of ballpark building, is now the
fifth oldest stadium in Major League Baseball, and the third oldest in the
National League.
Naming rights
On
November 13 2006, it was officially announced that the stadium would be called Citi Field, named for
Citigroup Inc. Citigroup will be paying $20 million a year for the
naming rights to the park over the next 20 years. This made Citi Field the second major league sports venue in the area named for a corporate sponsor (after
Izod Center in New Jersey, but preceding
Prudential Center in
Newark and
Barclays Center planned for the
Atlantic Yards proposal in
Brooklyn), officially becoming the first in New York City itself, aside from two minor league ballparks (
KeySpan Park,
Richmond County Bank Ballpark) and
Citibank Park home to Long Island Ducks of Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, includes an option on both sides to extend the contract to 40 years, and is the most expensive sports-stadium naming rights agreement ever, subsequently equaled by Barclays' $400 million deal with the Nets for their planned arena in Brooklyn.
[6]
At the groundbreaking for Citi Field, it was announced that the main entrance, modeled on the one in Brooklyn's old Ebbets Field, will be called the
Jackie Robinson Rotunda, possibly due to campaigns to forego naming rights and name the ballpark after Robinson. The Mets are spending more than $600 million for the new stadium, which New York City and New York state are also supporting with a total of $165 million for such costs as infrastructure and site preparation. On February 24, 2008, the Mets and Citigroup unveiled the new Citi Field logo.
[7]
Delta Sky360 Club
Delta Air Lines signed a multiyear deal to sponsor an exclusive section in the Mets’ new ballpark on September 15, 2008. The new Delta Sky360 Club will be a 22,500-square-foot club directly behind home plate. Delta will hold exclusive naming rights to the stadium’s "Sterling Club" level in addition to the providing significant branding presence throughout the park and on the Mets’ official television station, SportsNet New York (SNY).
[8]
Planned stadium facts
| Shea Stadium
| Citi Field
|
Opening Day
| 1964
| 2009
|
Capacity
| 57,333
| 45,000 (approx.)
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Seat width
| 19" to 20", 19" average
| 19" to 24", 21" average
|
Legroom
| 32"
| 33" to 39"
|
Average concourse width
| .
| .
|
Wheelchair seating
| 174
| 830
|
Luxury suites
| 45
| 54
|
Restaurants (total capacity)
| 2 (528)
| 4 (3,334)
|
Team store
| .
| .
|
No. of toilets
| 568
| 646
|
Public elevators
| 4
| 11
|
Field dimensions (feet)
| Left field - 338 Left center - 371 Center - 410 Right center - 371 Right field - 338
| Left field - 335 Left center - 379 Center - 408 Right center - 383 Right field - 330
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Citi Field Construction Photo Gallery
See also
- Shea Stadium, the current home of the Mets.
- New Yankee Stadium, a new baseball stadium in The Bronx for the New York Yankees, under construction
- Prudential Center, a new arena in Newark, New Jersey for the New Jersey Devils, which opened in October 2007.
- Barclays Center, a new arena in Brooklyn for the current New Jersey Nets, scheduled to begin construction in August 2007 but not yet underway
- Meadowlands Stadium, a new football stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the New York Giants and New York Jets.
- Red Bull Arena, a new soccer stadium in Harrison, New Jersey for the New York Red Bulls, under construction.
- West Side Stadium, a failed proposal for a stadium and business complex over the MTA's Hudson Yards
Notes
- http://www.fieldofschemes.com/documents/Yanks-Mets-costs.pdf
- Mets likely to get 2013 All-Star Game
- Mets reveal 2009 schedule
- The Official Site of The New York Mets: Official Info: Press Release
- Mets Ballparks: 1962–Present, MLB.com. Accessed May 8, 2007.
- The Name Game: Company banners flying on more college stadiums, arenas
- Mets honor Robinson at new home
- Mets go first class with Delta