http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/sports-1/1175232411107850.xml&coll=1 Say goodbye to drab concrete and hello to shining aluminum and glass. After more than a year of debate, the Giants and Jets are closing in on a final design of their $1.2 billion stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Earlier this month, the teams revealed the essence of the building they will construct, as well as the new Giants practice facility, in a preliminary planning document they submitted to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. While there is still time to make aesthetic changes before -- and even for some time after -- the planned groundbreaking in June, the plans for the yet-to-be-named stadium provide the first glimpses of a building the teams expect to become the signature venue for the National Football League. It will open in 2010. As the documents reveal, there is a little something for everyone here: tailgate zones, lined football fields in the parking lot for pickup games, field-level suites for the team owners, multiple stadium clubs and a plaza area that connects a new rail station to the stadium. For two teams that have been rivals for years, on and off the field, the near-final plans for the stadium are a significant development. "The cooperation between the teams has been very impressive," said Carl Goldberg, chairman of the sports authority, which operates the complex. "They seem to be of the same mind-set." The stadium: The skin: Current plans call for it to be wrapped with horizontal metal louvers -- think silver aluminum siding turned sideways -- that designers say will have a lightening effect on the massive building. The lights: Colored lighting will be installed within the metal louvers and can make the building glow red and blue for the Giants, green and white for the Jets, or scarlet red if Rutgers ever wants to play there. The zones: The plaza area surrounding the stadium will be divided into several zones, where fans can take part in activities. They include a tailgate zone, a fantasy football zone and one zone called "Fields in a Forest," described as several football fields lined on concrete and separated by trees where fans can play pickup football before games. The seats: Three tiers hold 76,767 general and club seats. The suites: More than 200 that account for 4,971 seats, located on four levels -- 25 are on field level, including the team owners' suites, 67 are on the first concourse level, 78 are on the next level and 57 are a level above that. The premium seats: The 9,222 premium seats are near the stadium club areas that will provide exclusive indoor eating and drinking opportunities for club seat holders The displaced: Exact club seat locations are not finalized, however plans call for 2,000 club seats on the east side of the stadium's lower level and connecting to the "40-40 Club." In situations when other stadiums have been replaced, fans who had owned seats in areas that in the new stadium became premium seating were given the chance to upgrade to a more expensive seat or move to another, general seating area of the building. Soccer-ready: The field is designed to meet international soccer standards. This one does. The soccer field dimensions are 105 meters by 68 meters, with extra room in the corners for corner kicks. Playing surface: It's FieldTurf, just like Giants Stadium has. The training facility: It's traditional red brick (what else would you expect from the Giants?), with four outdoor fields and one full-sized field under a bubble.
And to help finance the beautiful stadium as described above, season ticket holders will be handed a jar of vaseline, bent over, violated several times to the tune of $5,000 PSL...
While I do understand the reason to be upset. Its impossible to please folk short of the owners paying for this out of pocket which isn't going to happen. People were mad at the idea of the WSS due to possiblity of PSL's, upset due to PSL's being mentioned for the NJ facility. Please don't think if they would have done this in queens that there would have been PSL's so what would work for everyone?
I'm not a season ticket holder but I do feel bad for those who are. Were I faced with the prospect of paying X amount more for a PSL, I wonder if I'd walk away and buy the 60" Plasma for the wall, upgrade the surround sound to boot.
Thats an idea i can get with! Honestly, the cost to build a modern facility are seriously expensive and there's no way around it esp. in an area where real estate is at such a premium to begin with. We have to grin and bear it, or let go of the tickets. I'm not a season ticket holder either, but i go to at least 2 games a year and its going to be increasingly expensive to go. Guess the price of being a fan kinda screws over the everyman as the prices quickly out pace our entertainment bugets
I'm actually excited about this, can't wait to see the pictures. Yeah, PSLs are going to suck but it sounds like it will be pretty awesome...
Have two kidneys? ... not if you want to go see the Giants or Jets play at the Meadowlands! Surgeons will be on call to harvest kidneys to ensure payment.
The above quoted article is on the front page of today's Star-Ledger, complete with artist concept drawings. It really looks like something terrific and I'm excited and proud of it too. I can't wait for it to open. It looks like there's a lot more seats being planned than we had previously been told too, so that may bode well for us season ticketholders. As far as the PSLs, it seems like many of you NY guys are now using this as fodder for your sour-grapes "I told you so's." Please, let's not go there. You have to know this is idiotic at best because we all know that if PSL's are a possibility in a stadium whose costs are being split by two teams, they would surely have been a definate reality in either the WSS or a stadium in the Queens, where the costs would have been borne by the NJ Jets only, with no help from the Giants... and NY construction costs to boot. To express your anger over losing the stadium (and the team) to the Jersey side is one thing, but let's stop taking it out on the Jersey fans who really had nothing whatsoever to do with the decision. You guys in NY are the ones who voted in the politicians who chased the Jets out of NY permanently, and now you don't want to accept the blame for having done so, so you hammer away at the possibility of PSL's in the Meadowlands while continuing to remain in denial that ANY stadium in NY would have had PSL's up the a$$.
Hey Baamf, I'll address this to you because I know you and I have discussed the PSLs before and in your recent thread. If I do the math on the above figures, it seems encouraging to me concerning PSLs. Here's why: If there are 76,767 general and club seats and 9,222 premium seats, that's a total of 85,989. Giants Stadium currently holds approximately 77,000 seats, or just about the same number of the new "general and club seats." I'm not sure how they differentiate "club seats" from "premium seats," but if my memory serves, Cross mentioned the words "premium seats" in conjunction with his "possible PSL" statement. If they were to levy PSLs on above the "premium seats," as he's contemplating, that leaves 76,767 other seats (general and club). In other words, you could just about put all of the current ticketholders in Giants Stadium into the new stadium (and not charge them PSLs) and you'd still have the 9,222 "premium seats" left with which to charge PSL's. It's possible (fingers crossed), that the Jets/Giants are looking at the new expanded seats as the ones to target for PSL's. This would substantially reduce any backlash from current ticketholders and put the burden on new, corporate "sponsors" that want to step up and bite the bullet. I know I'm getting pretty far ahead here, but this is a way for the Jets and Giants to charge their PSLs (on the new "premium" seats guys) and leave us loyal ticketholders alone. It's a win-win across the board if they do it this way.
Big deal. I despise this new building already. I know only that it will cost me more to see my team. If I give up my tickets after 25 years, so be it. The only game that will ever bring a Championship to the Jets will never be played in that biulding anyway.
Sounds pretty negative. If you're in 105, you're probably not looking at PSLs anyway, so it sounds like there's something else going on besides that. I don't think I've ever said "If I give up my tickets, so be it." I ain't goin' down that easy. They're going to have to pry my tickets out of my cold, dead, bankrupt fingers before I give them up.
is this what the lights will look like? this is only a drawing from a long time ago, i dont know if its the current project.
The pictures in the paper of the current concept look pretty close to this, although I'm not sure of the interior lights. But there will be 4 giant screens in all 4 corners for replays. And there are box seats at ground level for the teams. Then the three tiers each have their own boxes too. The outside of the stadium looks like aluminum louvers and lights can be turned on to either make the stadium green or red and blue, or even all red if Rutgers plays there.
"You guys in NY are the ones who voted in the politicians who chased the Jets out of NY permanently, and now you don't want to accept the blame for having done so, so you hammer away at the possibility of PSL's in the Meadowlands while continuing to remain in denial that ANY stadium in NY would have had PSL's up the a$$." i don't got nothing againt new jersey fans, but i do wish they had a stadium in NY. I'm only 14 so i can't get transportation to all the games unless i have someone else bring me, but if it was in NY it would be easier for me. And if i could vote i would never have voted for those polititions who chased the Jets out of NY. The new stadium does look cool though
could you please refer to the 4 screens as four large screens, not Giant screens going forward? Thank you...
Damn right I am negative! I can Endure yearly price hikes, but If did have to pay 5,000 bucks a seat, that is 15,000 bucks for me. I can do a lot of other things with 15 grand and I still can be a fan. Tickets would be available in the parking lot on gameday that I can buy that don't come with the 5K tag attached to them.
How did the New York fans "lose" the Jets to NJ when the Jets have been playing in NJ since 1984 and haven't played a game in NYC since 1983???????????????????????????? I would hope that the NY fans got over losing the Jets in 1983 and not today. NYC "lost" the Jets to NJ the same as LA lost the Jets to NJ. You can't lose what you don't have.
Well concerning the PSL's I am sure that if every season ticket holder protested on the very first game, and didnt go into the stadium. I am sure some kind of statement could be made. Youth™
I for one am pumped. Somoene is going to have to pay for a state of the art facility so I'm not surprised about the PSL's. It'd be a shame to have long time season ticket holders feel like giving up their tickets but the way I see it it's just more of an oppurtunity for just as die hard Jet fans who have been on the waiting list for years. New stadium will equal added revenue and more money to spend on improving the team towards becoming a Super Bowl contender which is what we all want.
