Citi Field Is No Substitute for Shea Stadium

My neighbor Jeff returned from his annual spring weekend in New York City with nothing good to say about Citi Field, the New York Mets’ new stadium. You need to understand the significance of his commentary. Jeff loves the Mets even more than the game of baseball and makes Seinfeld’s Mrs. Sokol look like a fair-weather fan. Mrs. Sokol may have watched every inning of every game played by the ’86 Mets, but Jeff has been a fan through thick and thin and has personally endured their agony and ecstasy over their 47-year history. If the new stadium didn’t impress him, who’s going to be impressed?

Jeff complained about the fact that the new stadium’s Jackie Robinson Rotunda pays tribute to New York’s National League roots, but pays no homage to the Amazing ’69 and ’86 Mets, Tom Terrific (Seaver) or any other stars of its story book past. Notwithstanding the venue’s physical superiority to Shea Stadium in so many technical ways, it falls short on a few features that matter most to fans. First, athough the seats themselves are two inches wider than the old ones, they number 15,000 fewer than in good ‘ol Shea. Second, while seats may be more spacious and provide more leg room, their relative comfort is debatable as their slight alignment toward home plate makes viewing the whole field more of a chore for even the most physically dexterous. Finally, the new venue has several blind spots obscuring the view of the action on the field from most seats, even apparently from those in the press box. For true fans that go to the ballgame to actually see the game, such tangible shortcomings cannot be compensated for with a larger team store, more luxury suites, and more restaurants. However, even Jeff would agree that all fans will benefit from more elevators and more toilets (per seat) that the new venue offers. Jeff shared his views with his friends attending the game with him, and given the reaction of fans seated around him listening to the conversation, Jeff’s sure many others share his disappointment.

How could that be? The new $900 million stadium was designed by HOK Sport, the internationally renowned architectural firm. HOK Sport has designed and renovated 13 of the 30 major league ballparks in use today and seven of the last eight to open in Major League Baseball. Shea Stadium cost less than $30 million to build and even though that was real money nearly 50 years ago, dramatic improvements in both technology and building materials since then should have guaranteed a physically superior stadium in every way. Also, thousands of people were involved for years with the planning and development of the new stadium. Didn’t any of them ever go to a ball game? The New York Mets will be paying the bulk of the tab for Citi Field until the cows come home in the form of principal and interest on the $850 million in municipal bonds issued to cover most of its construction cost. I hope at least they’re happy with their new home.

New Yorkers are among the world’s greatest baseball fans, but they are also among the least forgiving. I have little doubt that by the end of this inaugural season Citi Field will have many new nicknames. The most obvious will come from an unflattering mispronunciation of its first syllable from a “C” sound in "Citi" to “Sh.” Some may say the mispronunciation incorporates the memory of old “Shea,” but most will know that the deliberate mispronunciation more aptly captures the fan experience at the new stadium.