The Holy Grail at the New Giants/Jets Stadium
If you are a Jets or Giants fan or just a Springsteen fan, you have something incredible to look forward to next year! The new stadium, set to open in time for the 2010 season will revolutionize the way people attend major events in the tri state area. Last week I got a private tour of the new Giants, um I mean Giants/Jets Stadium and I am excited to share with you what I learned.
The day started out with us driving to the stadium from the Premiere Global Sports office on 34th Street on the west side of Manhattan. It’s so nice that it only takes fifteen minutes to get to the Meadowlands when there is not a game. On game day that same trip takes about an hour and a half. 10 minutes to the stadium and another hour and twenty minutes in the parking lot.
I should know that even when there is not a game going on things are never easy. For instance right off the bat we pulled up into the Giants new corporate offices which are now located on site. Pretty cool to see their offices right there in the complex; has to make coming to work a bit easier with nice new state of the art offices. Once we realized we were in the wrong place to meet our guide we pulled into the stadium parking lot which is a complete construction zone. We proceeded to get into an argument with one of the parking officials who asked us what our mission was? When was the last time someone asked you what your mission was? I told him our mission was to find the Holy Grail inside the old Giants stadium and proceed to bring it into the new stadium. He didn’t like that one but let us park in the back anyway.
The new stadium is only built maybe 90 ft away from the current one, and the size of it is overwhelming. We met the Giants Stadium VP of sales, Kevin Frattura, so he could show us around the current stadium. We were led down the back hallways and then through the tunnel onto the field where the maintenance crew was actually putting in real grass over top of the turf, for the upcoming international soccer games to be played in Giants Stadium. As I stood on the field I was imagining all of those historic games, players, and plays that happened on this field like the miracle at the meadowlands ala Herm Edwards or the Giants clinching Super Bowl berths and then I thought about my Jets who have made me suffer for the last thirty years and that’s when I got very excited to get the hell out of the place. It’s nice to know us Jet fans will finally have a home to call our own, or at least half of one.
Next we were taken up to the luxury suite level in the old stadium. Surprisingly the lounge areas were first class, but they just weren’t up to par with facilities of a newer stadium. This is no one’s fault, but with this surge of new stadiums being built there is nothing the Giants Stadium team could do to compete. We were then led into a room in which is only for luxury suite ticket holders. It is one of the primary stops the front office makes when showing a free agent around the facility. This room included an exact replica of what the new Giants, urrr Giants/Jets stadium will look like. The model was so detailed. It had everything from each blade of grass to the four major video screens in the stadium working. I couldn’t help but think to myself, of the movie Zoolander with Ben Stiller, when they built him a model of what his library would look like and he screamed in anger, “what is this a center for ants?” but I didn’t think that would be to professional if I told them that. I did let our tour guide know that the model was getting me very excited for fantasy football.
So far every part of the tour I kind of expected to happen, but I didn’t anticipate what occurred next. With a flip of a switch the model stadium started to lower and a video screen came down from the ceiling. Then he showed us a five minute video of every new and innovative idea which the stadium is going to offer, filled with video and radio clips of famous Jets/Giants plays of the past, that would have given “The Terminator” goose bumps. I felt like I could have suited up right then and there and played a couple downs with LT himself. That’s the original LT who I mean. 
One of the really neat parts of the tour is when we got to walk through an exact model, to scale, of what one of the luxury suites in the new stadium is going to look like. The Giants Stadium workers had ripped out one of the old luxury suites and re-built it to what it will look like in the new stadium. This suite is first class all the way, with multiple flat screens, luxurious sofas and chairs, and the actual seats you watch the game in which are nice and cushioned. I was thinking to myself who was going to get this suite, the only redone one in the whole stadium for the coming season. It’s like the guy who builds a mcmansion and all his neighbors are still living in ranch homes around him.
We finally headed into the new stadium, and like I said before this thing is HUGE! It is 2.1 times the size of the old stadium with more than twice the amount of luxury suites also. The great part is plenty of bathrooms as most of the extra space is in the corridors and hallways. We then got to walk right onto the future 50 yard line construction hats and all. You can’t even imagine how intimidating it was to see how monstrous the stadium seems. The field is lower than all of the seats and because of the new architectural capabilities, even the upper level seats are close to the field so it feels like everyone is on top of you standing on the field. I was intimidated just standing there with a no one in the stadium; I can’t even imagine what it is going to feel like for an opposing rookie coming in there with 75,000 screaming fans. It is going to be ridiculous. One of the coolest features of the new stadium is going to be a field level luxury suite area.
These are the only fans that will have field level access and it is a patio type thing that extends onto the field right behind the bench. If you are lucky enough to have one of the designated tickets for that area, you are in for a treat. Ticket holders can walk out, basically on the field, and be right behind the player’s benches. There are no seats in this area, it is just for “hanging out” and once fans have had enough, they can go back up to their cushioned luxury suite seats. Can you imagine? Hey Rex you want a beer to get over that missed field goal?
Some other new innovations to this stadium include, a private road being built for luxury suite owners only so they don’t have to deal with the regular traffic flow. Hell I don’t care what price you charge for that. It is not enough! A new train exit/entrance letting you off 20 feet from the entrance to the stadium. How great is that for those of us coming from NYC? Dozens of additional access roads are also being built to lessen the heavy flow of traffic. I think there will now be eighteen access points to come and go.
For those of you who take the train into the stadium and don’t get to experience the pre-game tailgating, there is going to be a specific area constructed just inside the stadium gates that includes live music, food, beverages, games and much more. And what if you don’t have a ticket but want to experience the atmosphere of the game? No problem, there are gigantic video screens located all around the stadium that can show multiple games at once.
New York football fans aren’t just going to a game anymore, they are going to a spectacle every time inside or even around the new stadium. I want to thank Kevin Frattura and the Giants Stadium Crew for showing us around and giving us an inside look of what the future is for New York Football. I can’t wait until they flip that little switch and the stadium turns green. In the meantime how about going after JetBlue airlines as the naming rights sponsor for this building. Could anyone be better suited to house Big Blue and Gang Green?
4 Comments on “The Holy Grail at the New Giants/Jets Stadium”
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Sounds Great. But I was Hopeing for a stadium that the Jets could call home. As long as they are in Giant Stadium they will never rilly have a home terf and that to me is just sad. So I will keep praying for a home for the Jets and mabie that it would be in the state of New York if not also in the city. So that at least one of the teams would be in the city/state that there name includes. Are You ready for some Football?
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The new Meadowland's stadium,from a Jet's fan's perspective,give's the team a new identity.Since 1983,when the Jet's vacated Shea Stadium(which was a horrible venue for football) to play in Giant's Stadium ,our team has been the subject of ridicule from Giant fan's and was embarassing to us, as Jet fan's to call a venue built for another team ,home. It was uncomfortable to watch Jet "home" games in a stadium named for another team draped in blue and red. The large "Giants Stadium" sign outside did'nt help either. Now,with the unique and creative versatility this stadium will provide it certainly will give the Jet's a home field advantage . First of all, the Jet's paid for half of the stadium's construction, making them co-owner's, not tenant's in the new building.Second the stadium will be corporately named,and not Giant's Stadium. And the interior and exterior of the facility will be versatile,surrounded by green & white for when the Jet's play home games.FINALLY! A facility we,as Jet's fan's,can be proud of.
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As a huge Jets fan i agree its exponentially better then what we had it would have been sweet to have one in manhattan
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I drove by the stadium. It's an eye sore. Not as awesome as the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
