|
A group of reporters – including myself – will tour the unfinished Citi Field on Tuesday.
Alongside Mets public relations master Jay Horwitz, we’ll probably explore the much-hyped Jackie Robinson Rotunda, as well as the rest of the ballpark, designed to be a new-millennium version of Ebbets Field.
A few quick facts about the Mets’ new digs:
- Citi Field will seat approximately 45,000. Shea Stadium has 57,333 butt-parking spots. Forty-two percent of the new ballpark’s seats will be located in the concourse seating level.
- There will be a smattering of climate-controlled bars, restaurants and lounges. Think: Prudential Center, home to the New Jersey Devils, in Newark, N.J., but on a grander scale.
- The Mets will commission a statue to honor Jackie Robinson, the legendary pioneer and great American who broke baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. What? No love for Armando Benitez?
- Outfield demensions: LF – 335 feet; LC – 379 feet; CF – 408 feet; RC – 383 feet; RF – 330 feet. Guess the Mets will move from one pitcher’s park to another.
- Citi Field will not feature a retractable roof. Arizona, Houston, Toronto, Seattle and Milwaukee have one.
I’ll post a few things we learned on the tour later Tuesday from my full article, which will be available at SNY.tv.
 |
 |
 |
RSS 2.0 Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Houston has a retractable roof…
Thanks, BlueCapsOnly. So does Toronto. Blah.
How come they have fewer seats? Don’t they realize that the more seats they have the more opurtunities they’ll have to rip people off when they have to sell their seats? It does look beautifull.
this is the current trend in stadium design. fewer seats makes it more comfortable for fans. they can charge more per seat to help recoup the loss of seats. the increase in luxury boxes will also make up for the lost seat revenue.
exactly…less seats = more demand =higher price = more money for Freddie.
Overall I like it though, b/c most games will now appear to be sold out and the place packed. Unlike the majority of regular season games at Shea where theres always thousands of empty seats in the upper decks.
Exactly. I don’t understand how people can still be upset about the fewer seats. I’ve been to about 5 Phillies games this year, including last Friday, and there were at least 10 to 12 thousand empty seats. If you can’t get a sellout for a friday night game against the Phillies, especially with the number of Phillies fans there, there is no reason to keep the same amount of seats next year. The only games that fill Shea completely anymore are opening day, the Yankees games and playoff games.
New York (pop 8.2M) is not Philadelphia (pop 1.4M), and Mets fans are not Phillies fans.
While I can understand not making Citified as large as Shea, reducing the capacity by over 20% in a city the size of New York is ridiculous (and BTW, that 45K represents total capacity – including standing room; the seated capacity will be closer to 43K).
Chase Field in Phoenix (pop 1.5M), has a capacity of 49K. I can’t see why the Wilpons couldn’t have made Citifield as large (other than simple greed of course).
Does anyone know if they’re gonna use orange foul poles at Citi Field or if they’re planning on switching over to yellow? As it stands now they are the only team in the league not to use yellow foul poles (the Expos used to have red ones), and while not a big deal, it would be kinda cool if they kept that unique feature.
Let’s Go Les Expos!!!
Incredible. I had never noticed that before. I suspect the foul poles will have to be standardized especially with the instant replay rule on HR’s.
I heard there will be Armando Benitez bathroom, for us to poop on.
Nice post, looking forward to your feedback after the tour.
I didn’t know Jackie was a Met! That’s Great!
Good thing he became a Met because otherwise we’d have a giant Dodgers jersey standing there the moment we walked into CitiField.
Good ting nothing humiliating like that is going to happen…
P.S. If it was up to SNY… there would be a statue of Jeter too.
“Good thing he became a Met because otherwise we’d have a giant Dodgers jersey standing there the moment we walked into CitiField.”
Well, with the slow transformation of the Mets into the Brooklyn Dodgers Redux via Wilpon’s wet dream come true…
Yes. That was sarcasm.
*sigh*
Please, the Wilpons would never allow a Dodger uniform to be the first thing Met fans see as they enter CitiField.
The Jackie statue will be a nude.
I keed, I keed!
Someone a naked Jackie Robinson is less offensive to me than one dressed like a Dodger.
How about we settle and have him wear a speedo?
someone= somehow
From what i had read, there was not suppose to be a statue of Jackie Robinson at Citi Field. That was the whole reason for the Big 42 in the Rotunda. Mrs Robinson thought it would be a more fitting way to pay respect to Jackie. Although i think we should have a statue of Seaver. After all, he is the greatest Met of all time.
The features that have been hyped the most have been those that honor a team that if memory serves me left Brooklyn high and dry and moved west, where they still play. I for the life of me can’t figure out why we have to honor Brooklyn Dodgers while seemingly ignoring the Mets. Once again the Wilpons are totally clueless.
The ironic thing is CitiField and Shea are where the Brooklyn Dodgers refused to go to. It was unacceptable. Across the city was out of the question, across the country not so much
The Mets have a history?
Should have been Gil Hodges. That was a no brainer. He was the only true connection between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Mets.
At he very least have a statue of both of them together.
But “no brainers” are too far to grasp for the Mets organization.
once again…sarcasm.
: )
This story has played it’s course…let it go..you bitchin about it aint helpin it…..Without the Giants & Dodgers leaving there is no Mets…With out the Mets they’res no Metsblog for you to complain on…
Ok.. let’s have the statue be of Cerrone then! It’s settled… let’s get Matt to dip his head in some molding this afternoon… :)
Can you ask them about why it is so Dodger Heavy. Between the “Coogan’s Landing” section, the “Ebbets Clubs”, the Rotunda, the exterior, I see or have heard nothing that hints that the Mets play there. I saw the outside for the first time on Sunday, and the only indication the Mets play there is the orange color of “FIELD” at the top. It’s very disappointing.
I’m totally lost as to why we have to honor a team that bolted town and still plays in another city. Maybe when the dodgers come to play here we can let them be the home team, it seems more like their field than ours.
Kevin Burkhardt’s tour of Citi with Jeff Wilpon, shown on SNY, was pretty cool. I’m intrigued by the seats hanging over right field.
That section is called “Tommy Lasodra overhang”
The “Tommy Lasorda gut”
I heard they’re replacing all kosher Hebrew National hot dogs with “Dodger Dogs”.
Is Jackie going to be the only statue? No offense to JR, but that is kinda crappy that the only statue is of a player who never played for the Mets (although the NY connection is there). Tom S. should have his own statue.
I agree the J. Robinson statue is a little bit overboard. The Dodger d!ck riding (pardon my french, but IMO its the best way to describe it) is getting annoying. This is a franchise that is still in existence. Look, Jackie is a guy I’ve admired since I was a toddler, and he is a great NY sports figure, BUT HE IS A DODGER. AND THE DODGERS ARE STILL AN OPPONENT.
Wonder if any of the media will ask how manyof the Season Ticket Holders have accepted their relocation to the Exclesior Level seats at a minimum of $75 a pop?
Eh, I have no problem honoring the Brooklyn Dodgers. The fact is, the Mets were created as an homage to NL baseball in New York. What pisses me off is that it’s ONLY the Dodgers that are being honored here. There are 2 other NY NL teams who seem to be forgotten. The Giants were here and were actually more successful than the Dodgers technically speaking . And, wait, what’s the name of that other NY team? I keep forgetting…you know, the one with Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez and Mike Piazza? Damn…this is a tough one, oh, yea, that’s right, the METS.
Again, I have no problem honoring the Brooklyn Dodgers, but they should honor the history of ALL 3 teams. Why not put up a Willie Mays statue? He at least played for the Mets. Gil Hodges was a Dodger who managed the Mets to our first World Series. And I’m sorry, but how can “The Franchise” not get a statue? Aside from the fact that he’s easily the best player in franchise history, he also has one of the most iconic deliveries of any pitcher in history, which would look great in statue form.
I hope the Wilpons come to their senses and put at least a few touches of the other teams in this park.
I respect jackie robinson and what he did for the game but how about a statue of a met like i dont know tom seaver
i would of loved to see citi field with a roof (no rain delays) but no matter what its still going to be the best ball park in the MLB.
A dome would be a financial and logistic nightmare. Besides, out of 81 games, how many get rained out? 5 at most? I can live with that. Besides, I like doubleheaders.
financial nightmare? For who? The Mets are poised to make back every cent in 5 years. Adding a roof probably pushes that break even back a couple years. If anything it increases the potential revenue since you are then able to hold events you could not have before. (Which boggles my mind why the new Jets/Giants stadium doesnt have a roof – think Super Bowl and additional millions) With that said, I am glad that the Mets are not putting a roof on it since it takes away from the experience.
logistical nightmare? Why? You probably dont even know what “logistics” mean. In fact it probably lessens the logistical load since you wont have to worry about rescheduling for inclement weather.
Umm logistics as far as time, money, manpower and materials needed to build a domed stadium by opening day 2009 is a bigger problem than “rescheduling for inclement weather.” Genius.
So you think that the group of engineers / contractors building the current stadium would not be able to had they planned on a roof? I am guessing they can do it – easily.
You are the one that used the term nightmare – not me.
Even though I am a fan of open air stadiums, a dome would be ideal from an owner’s standpoint. We all know the revenue and events potential for an owner would be a dream. So if it was that easy, why doesn’t everybody build one? Obviously the task is not worth it for them. Besides, my original point is that only a handful of games get rained out in a season, a dome is not really worth the money, manpower, time and materials just to close the roof 5 times a season tops.
Does Dodger Stadium even have a Jackie Robinson statue??????
Somehow I think the answer is NO!
While still a pitcher’s park, Citi seems to favor the hitters more than Shea.
Consider: LF is 3 feet shorter. RF is 8 feet shorter.
The LC gap is 9 feet closer, the RC gap 6 feet and the CF fence is 2 feet shorter. Are the fences higher to compensate?
I realize a lot of those distances are somewhat negligible, but it will likely play a bit more neutral than Shea.
I’m not sure where you got those dimensions from, but I believe that Citi Field is deeper than Shea in the power alleys, plus it appears to have high fences in some areas. The new park could play as an even better pitcher’s park than Shea.
actually the lf gap is 8 ft further and the rf gap 12 ft further to go along with 18ft walls in various parts of the park
reyes and wright have a chance to be featured all over this park after their careers. too bad doc and darryl screwed up. though i think doc’s #16 should be retired. he was the mets.
anything for seaver?
Those outfield dimensions scare me.