I've only been to a handful of current NFL stadiums - US Bank, ironically being my favorite is ranked #1. They hit an absolute homerun there. It's beautiful. I'm getting old - none of the old nfl stadiums I played in during college even exist in the pro game anymore. That's sad.
Shoeshine Can Stadium is ranked pretty much spot on, if not a place too high maybe. Just an abysmal effort. Terrible.
I think it's also interesting how many recently built stadiums are ranked so low. SoFi and the Niners joints stand out.
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Interesting that he put fan experience and crowd noise as factors in the ranking. AT&T #5?? Atlanta #8(iirc)?
Looks to me MetLife is nothing like Giants Stadium. The old one was closer to the field and the upper decks over hung more.
He did a decent job and gets most of it right.
“Just watch the game and then get out.”
The architects that designed MetLife, what were those design meetings like?
“Hey, here’s an idea, let’s put seats all around the field”
“Great idea. Like, in a circle?”
“Yeah, a ring of seats and then another ring of seats right behind. All the way to the top”
“Ok, great. So our work is pretty much done here”.
“Well, what about parking?”
“No problem, fans will just park outside the stadium. We’ll put lots all around the stadium. For the cars”.
“We’re done!”
Such a lousy stadium. It really makes you wonder what the heck anyone was even thinking about. Not the fans obviously.
But the grey seats and the grey louvers make it feel like it’s no one’s stadium. The lighting that’s supposed to bring color doesn’t. It’s generic, and it’s dull.
Let's be real - that dump should've been named Waste Management Stadium.
I will tell you, though, the freedom of movement in MetLife is so vastly superior to Raymond James Stadium, that function over style plays.
Take your pirate ship and shove it. I'll take the lack of pedestrian choke points all day. Appreciate the simplicity because if you have waited 45 minutes to traverse past the pirate ship like I have, you'll appreciate MetLife a lot more.
But the grey seats and the grey louvers make it feel like it’s no one’s stadium. The lighting that’s supposed to bring color doesn’t. It’s generic, and it’s dull.
I remember years back reading an article on how they screwed up the lighting (possibly for budget reasons) and went with cheaper exterior lighting.
The design was SUPPOSE to mimick Allianz arena.
One of the bigger whiffs of the stadium.
I will say that from a pure fan experience standpoint, I've been to a handful of other stadiums myself that are markedly worse than MetLife. It gets a bad rap for being somewhat lifeless, but there are some real stinkers elsewhere.
On the other end, I don’t think MetLife is that bad, or not as bad as people make it. I’ve driven by it many times at night when it is lit blue, it looks sharp. It’s the meadowlands, I don’t need to see some ridiculous over the top stadium like we see with the Rams in LA. That’s not north jersey.
Lastly, we’d all think differently about MetLife if the team won. The team has stunk. A competitive team with a loud stadium changes the perception of the stadium.
Meanwhile, the Giants began their design of their new stadium, which was a brick facility patterned after their cousin team, the Steelers. Neil Best was on the beat and has tweeted the original designs in the past.
Johnson and the Jets roundly get rejected by the city and then Tagliabue gets involved, asking the Giants to take them back, since Woody's only alternative is to get a stadium built in Flushing (which Woody didn't want).
Not only do the Giants take one for the teams, but they allowed Woody to pull a petulant act and argue about every aspect of the stadium, which results in the tin can we have today.
As far as the "fan experience" stuff, IMO you can keep it. One thing matters to me, and that's a decent on-field product.
In 10 years, we've played just one (1) playoff game there... fortunately it was a win. There just isn't enough big game history (yet?) for it to even start to develop the kind of soft spot I had for Giants Stadium. Some of the divisional games have been entertaining, and there have been memorable moments, but we've pretty much been a bad team for as long as the place has been open.
Fan impressions will change in a hurry if we start winning again, host a few playoff games, etc. The stadium was plenty loud for the Atlanta wild card game in the 2011 season; I have no doubt the place will be rocking the next time we play a consequential game there.
Meanwhile, the Giants began their design of their new stadium, which was a brick facility patterned after their cousin team, the Steelers. Neil Best was on the beat and has tweeted the original designs in the past.
Johnson and the Jets roundly get rejected by the city and then Tagliabue gets involved, asking the Giants to take them back, since Woody's only alternative is to get a stadium built in Flushing (which Woody didn't want).
Not only do the Giants take one for the teams, but they allowed Woody to pull a petulant act and argue about every aspect of the stadium, which results in the tin can we have today.
Absolutely ridiculous to blame how shitty the stadium is on the Jets. They equally deserve blame. The Jets west side stadium designs were a hell of a lot nicer than MetLife, and the steelers stadium isn't a brick facility at all so I'm not sure I see the pattern between what the Giants wanted and Heinz field.
The two teams built a remarkably awful stadium. Of the new stadiums in the last 20 years, it's the worst. And construction costs have nothing to do with how bad it is. The teams bills were cut in half by having two teams fund it so that puts costs in line (or cheaper) than stadiums other teams built. On top of that, they got funding from the NFL both teams and then the PSL's paid for a huge chunk.
Anyone involved in the design of that stadium should find a new line of work. The owners can't be fired, but that place is a disaster.
Has the character of a prison. Everything they talked about it being, it isn't. They called it the most technologically advanced stadium in country when it was built and how it was going to have wifi everywhere and all this crap, yet 90% of the stadium you cant connect to the wifi.
The lighting outside is laughable. They clearly cut corners there on costs because it was supposed to light the stadium up in giants or jets colors and instead it lights like 5% of it up
No one gets off the hook for that design. I dont care if Woody fought them on everything. That they ever agreed to this design is 50% on the giants, 50% on the Jets. It's horrible.
Everything about it was done in a cheap way.
As for Met Life, I agree. The old Giants stadium was a treasure because every seat felt like you were part of the action where Met Life is so big and spread out....
Also sharing a stadium with another team does not lend itself to the fan experioence for your particular team....no matter the lighting changes.
Look at Arrowhead and Heinz field. You know when you walk into the stadium who the home team is.
Everything about it was done in a cheap way.
You actually raise an excellent point which I failed to consider, and perhaps frames MetLife in a slightly more favorable way. At least to me.
While I'm sure there is state and federal money that went into roadway improvements and such, MetLife was privately-financed. No sales tax increase, no bond float, no hotel tax, no public cash contribution, etc. Of course, New Jersey taxpayers are still (I think? At least until recently) paying the original Giants Stadium bonds, but I am of the opinion that public funds should not pay more than a de minimis percentage of stadium costs... especially when the average taxpayer is essentially priced out of attendance.
While there is certainly economic impact to the area, team owners are ultimately the greatest direct beneficiaries of what amounds to a subsidy, and in an era where most NFL owners are multibillionaires, there's no doubt they have access to avenues of private finance to fund such projects. In this respect, MetLife was ahead of its time and at least the Giants/Jets are (now) doing right by the local population.
I believe SoFi stadium in CA is also privately-financed, so good on them, as well. Most NFL stadiums are still publicly-funded in significant part, including some of the more-beloved NFL palaces in Minnesota and Dallas.
I don't remember any discussion of a brick facade stadium, and certainly it wasn't going to be modeled after the Steelers stadium because their's doesn't even have a brick facade. I think that was fan fiction.
But all the seats are further away. Everything is disproportionately more expensive... especially the scam around the prepaid parking. And it's bleak and ugly.
That's too bad. I enjoyed several games at Giants stadium.
I had many fantastic experiences at Giants Stadium (and some good ones at Yankee Stadium too, as a kid). I would only go back to MetLife if someone comp'd me a good seat. No more upper deck there.
As for Met Life, I agree. The old Giants stadium was a treasure because every seat felt like you were part of the action where Met Life is so big and spread out....
It's big and sprawling, yet somehow they made it feel claustrophobic. An amazing feat, really.
The problem is the Giants have been trash for most of the 11 years we've played there. If and when they ever get good again, we'll deal with all its quirks a lot better.
The current iteration of that place is nothing at all like Joe Robbie Stadium (which was reminiscent of Giants Stadium).
Following the renovations, Hard Rock Stadium is virtually unrecognizable from its prior form, and absolutely a better place to watch a game than MetLife. On the other hand, I went to a game there in 2013 and the place was awful, definitely a worse experience than current MetLife. We can only hope a renovation to MetLife in the next 5-10 years might make it more enjoyable.
Meanwhile, the Giants began their design of their new stadium, which was a brick facility patterned after their cousin team, the Steelers. Neil Best was on the beat and has tweeted the original designs in the past.
Johnson and the Jets roundly get rejected by the city and then Tagliabue gets involved, asking the Giants to take them back, since Woody's only alternative is to get a stadium built in Flushing (which Woody didn't want).
Not only do the Giants take one for the teams, but they allowed Woody to pull a petulant act and argue about every aspect of the stadium, which results in the tin can we have today.
Wow, I didn't know any of this. I'm not surprised, Woody is a mediocre man born into his wealth. He'd screw up a free lunch.
A friend of mine has seats in the upper corner of the end zone, and you might as well be watching from a plane flying into Newark. He's been really generous, I go to a couple of games a year, and went to the Atlanta playoff game, so I'm thankful for that, but the stadium is a joke. Getting in and out is a nightmare. Giants Stadium certainly wasn't a Rembrandt, but at least it was functional.
The problem is the Giants have been trash for most of the 11 years we've played there. If and when they ever get good again, we'll deal with all its quirks a lot better.
This is what it boils down to. The team stinks.
The team does have nicer facilities underneath and the press area is much nicer.
None of that helps the fans though. The game experience is worse and so are the sight lines. Two teams skimmed PSLs from two fan bases to build one sub par generic stadium that does not fit either team.
The cost was also driven by NJ politics in demanding they use the very expensive union labor to build it.
My NFL Ticket seat is always good...
The team does have nicer facilities underneath and the press area is much nicer.
None of that helps the fans though. The game experience is worse and so are the sight lines. Two teams skimmed PSLs from two fan bases to build one sub par generic stadium that does not fit either team.
The cost was also driven by NJ politics in demanding they use the very expensive union labor to build it.
God forbid we pay people a living wage in the area they live in. Labor materials were sky-high when construction was underway and building in densely populated area has it's own expenses that building out in the middle of nowhere have.
By contrast, TunaCan actually has steel columns among the seats holding up the upper levels, blocking the line of sight for many seats. I remember being flabbergasted when I discovered this, especially after being in Giants Stadium whose biggest asset was sight lines and proximity to field.
It reminds me of those old baseball stadium concourses you see in the sepia photos from the Ken Burns baseball doc, where it looks like fans are sometimes sitting among a dark forest of steel columns.
MetLife is a $2B compromise.
Met Life was built by greed by two billionaire families and one millionaire family. Between High Definition 85" TVs and the Met Life "experience" there is no longer a reason to fight the traffic and the drunks.
I feel bad for anyone dumb enough to get suckered into a PSL but you should have known better.
That's too bad. I enjoyed several games at Giants stadium.
Don't listen to them, there's really nothing wrong with it. Its a perfectly acceptable place to watch a football game.
That wasn't all: part of our outing included meeting with the five onfield officials (center, two ARs, substitute entry + 5th official) and the head of MLS referees for debriefings in a conference room in the bowels, probably mezzanine level...just as ancient and decrepit as the field facilities...an eye-opener...a Snyder Special.
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In comment 15293778 JoeyBigBlue said:
BTW, I no longer give a damn, at age 67, about weather experiences. Put a lid on it!!!
In comment 15293864 Sean said:
On the other end, I don’t think MetLife is that bad, or not as bad as people make it. I’ve driven by it many times at night when it is lit blue, it looks sharp. It’s the meadowlands, I don’t need to see some ridiculous over the top stadium like we see with the Rams in LA. That’s not north jersey.
Lastly, we’d all think differently about MetLife if the team won. The team has stunk. A competitive team with a loud stadium changes the perception of the stadium.
In comment 15294033 EricJ said:
The team does have nicer facilities underneath and the press area is much nicer.
None of that helps the fans though. The game experience is worse and so are the sight lines. Two teams skimmed PSLs from two fan bases to build one sub par generic stadium that does not fit either team.
The cost was also driven by NJ politics in demanding they use the very expensive union labor to build it.
Meanwhile, the Giants began their design of their new stadium, which was a brick facility patterned after their cousin team, the Steelers. Neil Best was on the beat and has tweeted the original designs in the past.
Johnson and the Jets roundly get rejected by the city and then Tagliabue gets involved, asking the Giants to take them back, since Woody's only alternative is to get a stadium built in Flushing (which Woody didn't want).
Not only do the Giants take one for the teams, but they allowed Woody to pull a petulant act and argue about every aspect of the stadium, which results in the tin can we have today.
+1 million
Meanwhile, the Giants began their design of their new stadium, which was a brick facility patterned after their cousin team, the Steelers. Neil Best was on the beat and has tweeted the original designs in the past.
Johnson and the Jets roundly get rejected by the city and then Tagliabue gets involved, asking the Giants to take them back, since Woody's only alternative is to get a stadium built in Flushing (which Woody didn't want).
Not only do the Giants take one for the teams, but they allowed Woody to pull a petulant act and argue about every aspect of the stadium, which results in the tin can we have today.
+1 million
Met Life was built by greed by two billionaire families and one millionaire family. Between High Definition 85" TVs and the Met Life "experience" there is no longer a reason to fight the traffic and the drunks.
I feel bad for anyone dumb enough to get suckered into a PSL but you should have known better.
+ infinity
But the grey seats and the grey louvers make it feel like it’s no one’s stadium. The lighting that’s supposed to bring color doesn’t. It’s generic, and it’s dull.
Meanwhile, the Giants began their design of their new stadium, which was a brick facility patterned after their cousin team, the Steelers. Neil Best was on the beat and has tweeted the original designs in the past.
Johnson and the Jets roundly get rejected by the city and then Tagliabue gets involved, asking the Giants to take them back, since Woody's only alternative is to get a stadium built in Flushing (which Woody didn't want).
Not only do the Giants take one for the teams, but they allowed Woody to pull a petulant act and argue about every aspect of the stadium, which results in the tin can we have today.
I don't remember any discussion of a brick facade stadium, and certainly it wasn't going to be modeled after the Steelers stadium because their's doesn't even have a brick facade. I think that was fan fiction.
I was at the win an in game vs Dallas at MetLife! It was loud , but it didn’t have that same feel!
The new Yankee Stadium probably needs it own thread because that Monstrosity is even worse!
Meanwhile, the Giants began their design of their new stadium, which was a brick facility patterned after their cousin team, the Steelers. Neil Best was on the beat and has tweeted the original designs in the past.
Johnson and the Jets roundly get rejected by the city and then Tagliabue gets involved, asking the Giants to take them back, since Woody's only alternative is to get a stadium built in Flushing (which Woody didn't want).
Not only do the Giants take one for the teams, but they allowed Woody to pull a petulant act and argue about every aspect of the stadium, which results in the tin can we have today.
Does anyone have a link or pictures of that original new giants stadium design?
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I believe the Times had a color sketch of the brick face stadium but I can't find it via google. This image from that Neil Best tweet might be close