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…yesterday, SNY’s Ted Berg and i, along with other reporters and photographers, took an extensive – and freezing cold – tour of Citi Field…did i mention it was snowing…and cold…wow…
…ted and i shot some video, which will hopefully be ready to post in the next day or so…
To view my photos from the tour, click here.
…wearing his Mets jacket and Citi Field hard-hat, Jeff Wilpon told us that his favorite seat in the house will likely be the front row of the right-field upper deck porch, which actually hangs over the field a bit like the old Tiger Stadium…if you’re lucky enough to sit in that first row, i can see how it’ll make it feel like you’re right on top of the field……it’s a pretty slick spot, and a great view, right in line with home plate…
…frankly, they’re right when they say the sight-lines for every seat will be pretty good…i can tell already that i will be spending most of my time hanging out, standing, walking around and watching the game from the promenades…it’s very wide open…very similar to other new parks, like in Atlanta, Baltimore and Philadelphia…it’ll be wide open, but intimate at the same time…
…by the way, left-handed pitchers, like, oh, i don’t know, Johan Santana, are going to love the 18-foot-high fence in left-center field, which is 379 feet from home plate…good luck pulling one 
over that sucker…in fact, i think wilpon mentioned how this caught santana’s eye during his personal tour of the stadium last week…and i don’t doubt it…
…as i noted yesterday, a Home-Run Apple will be featured below the scoreboard at Citi Field, and will rise out of a gigantic cement canister that has already been built, which you can see above, or by clicking here…however, as the team’s spokesman said, “It may or may not be the same apple that is at Shea Stadium today.”…
…wilpon also said, while the entire, overall project is roughly 60 percent complete, Citi Field’s structural steel frame is already 85 percent complete…the steel is a dark, dark color, inspired by the Hells Gate 
Bridge and other bridge work around New York City, and it looks a lot like it…it’s a nice feel…you can see it in this photo here, which displays a foot bridge out in right-center field…also, the first set of lights went up a week or so ago, which you can see here and here, which also uses that same steel work…
…there are a few seats in pairs that have already been bolted in…they’re a very, very dark gray, like the steel…click here for a great photo that appeared in today’s Journal News…ted took a picture of me sitting in the seat, but i accidentally deleted it…ugh…
…there will be 54 suites, 646 toilet fixtures and four restaurants, which will be announced in the next few 
months…
…the Rotunda is under way, and the wide, spiral, concrete steps that border it are already up…but that’s about it…
…all in all, despite the ridiculously cold and wet weather, it was pretty cool to see Citi Field in its infancy…it looks good, and is coming along well…i’m excited…and i can’t wait for its doors to officially open, because i think it’s going to be one hell of a time…
You can bet that I am excited to hear that some sort of apple in a hat will be incorporated into the new stadium. I would hate to spend another thirty seconds coming up with a screenname like I did the first time.
awesome pics..sucks you deleted the pic of you in the seat..how was the legroom on the new seats? enough space for a beer, sausage and peppers, and some souvenirs for the kids?
Yeah, and are the seats roomy for us big boys??
It is my understanding that biggest reason (pun intended) for having less seats in the new stadium then there are now in Shea is because each individual seat is wider then the seats in Shea.
They are fairly roomy. I was comfortable. I’m also always uncomfortable at Shea, so this certainly seemed like an upgrade.
Matt, is the dark blue-gray seat color just the base that will be painted green, or will the seats be the dark blue-gray? All the renderings have green seats. The blue-gray seems coller, more unique, and match the stadium steel.
Thanks for the info!
Great to see CitiField coming along. I drive by at least once a week. I wonder when the rest of the area will get its redevelopment. Actually, I’d also like for the Mets to start calling themselves the Corona Mets instead of the Flushing Mets. The rest of the area is called Corona, and the zip is for Corona. Plus it would be a nice nod given the teams and neighborhoods Latino represenation. Do you guys remember those stupid billboards basically mocking the Mets for playing in “Flushing”. It used to piss me off so much.
I hear ya case. i used to say the same thing. maybe i’m biased because i’m from corona (minaya as well) but better nickname possibilties come from the word corona instead of flushing – ie kings of corona, corona lumberyard co..you can even throw in some corona beer sponsorship somewhere in there..lol.
if the city changed the name from flushiing meadow park to flushing-corona meadow park I think the mets could as well.
i live by the 61st and woodside train station. I sometimes get mail addressed to Flushing, NY. I think Flushing used to cover a lot more of queens than it does now.
Matt, did you get to keep the hard hat or will they be auctioned off at as part of Steiner Sports?
They took them back, of course.
Matt,
Did you hear of any plans to sell off pieces of Shea? (ie Seats?)
I’ve heard that the City has contracted with a company for both Yankee and Shea to sell seats, etc. or whatever’s left that the fans don’t get away with. Apparently (at least for the Mets), they’ve already starting removing some things (like signs and posters and replaced them with replicas in anticipation of fans removing stuff from the stadium.
Proceeds will be split between the City and the teams.
Matt, will Citi Field have any distinguishing marks on the outside so you know you’re entering a baseball stadium? The way it looks now, it reminds me too much of Arthur Ashe stadium (just another brick building).
awesome, awesome, awesome….now if Mike Carp can develop into a beast of a firstbaseman we can name that overhang Carp’s Corner.
The one down side I see from the upper deck seats, is that if you have lower deck seat in the back rows you won’t be able to see baseballs hit in the air. Kind of like the back rows of the loge and mezzanine at shea. Great sightlines of the field, but what good is it if you can’t follow where the ball is hit.
18 feet. Can Endy jump that high?
Maybe he can climb it ala Ken Griffey Jr & Gary Matthews Jr.
LOL! That was my first thought.
Did they happen to say…hey don’t worry Mets fans you’ll still be able to get into some games for $5, $7 or $12. Fat chance….this is going to be a nightmare for us real fans for the first couple of years. I’m definitely excited and bummed at the same time. It’ll never be THAT easy to see any game again.
Promenade is free.
Why does the inability for you to afford a more expensive seat qualify you as a “real fan”? Last I checked, real fans are allowed to earn a decent living too. It just depends what you like to spend your money on. I do not make a ton of money, but I devote alot of my disposable income towards mets tickets, which some may say makes me a “real fan”. I hate this complaining about prices.
at least you get to watch the games on TV from a nice stadium… or are “real fans” unable to afford cable?
Ok…when you see all these suits sitting there barely clapping when Santana strikes out the side….you be happy. Believe me, I will and can afford tickets….there is just going to be more non fans going and less seats for REAL fans.
aka Yankee Stadium
The only thing we have going for us is it’s in Queens. Queens is like a dirty word to people in Manhattan.
matt, question: what do you think about Citifield having much fewer seats than Shea? What impact will that have on the non-luxury box fans in your opinion? I don’t think I have ever seen your thoughts on that whole issue. Sorry if I missed it. Thanks.
Sorry to be off topic, but I was reading Jason Stark’s blog on the Clemens hearing… it’s quite entertaining, reading about how that stubborn Texas roid raging redneck is burying himself, and earning himself years in prison trying to preserve a tainted legacy. (OK, so I’m still bitter that he hit Piazza and threw a bat at him)
Anyway, thought you might find this bit amusing.
11:01 a.m. ET
Just a thought as the questioning of the Rocket gets rolling:
Since he’s under oath, any chance one of these congressmen could ask Roger what the heck actually happened when he threw that bat at Mike Piazza?
He didn’t really think that was the ball, did he?
Wonder what the four restaurants might be. Hopefully no chains. I’ll go for Mexican, Chinese, Itialian, and American.
*Italian*
I head its Chili’s, Gourmet Wok, Olive Garden and Burger King
LOL
Are those seats cushioned? It almost looks like they are.
Very, very dark gray seats are going to get very, VERY HOT in the mid-day sun!
I’m sure those are the premium, exclusive, gotta know someone type seats. We’ll be sitting on concrete blocks.
And the sny-ification of metsblog continues.
thats a bad thing? how? you think matt would have been given a pass to tour citifield and tell us about it without his newfound affiliation?
Not to mention, I remember Cerrone being excited for Citi Field long before this SNY partnership.
People just like to talk to hear their heads rattle…
i had a look at the new yankee stadium to compare. as unbiased as i can say, citi will be better, simply because it seems so much more personal and intimate. also, it has character, something the stadium and yanks dont have
any one concerned about that 18 foot high wall in terms of a hitters stand point. In comparison to Shea, thats about where that extension of the outfield bleachers are (that area where someone hit a ball over, but it came back in and it was initially ruled it hit the wall and then someone saw the replay and it got changed to a home run). Maybe I’m crazy, but it seems like a lot of balls leave the park at that point. Kinda scary.