surprised no posts. sure there will be mass caos and logistical nightmares, but i'm glad to see football played in the elements...the way it should be played.
giants and jets in home stadium would be cool

I'm very happy about it. Our area (NYC/north jersey) can handle big events. I don't think it will be a big deal logistically.

your right, perhapse i went a bit over there....just imagining the traffic more than anything. other than that im sure it will be fine. anyone been to the stadium? i was talking to a person in the higher ranks of security there and he was saying it was a bit anoying to get around the stadium (inside) as you have to move up or down certain levels to get to different parts of the stadium. so unlike the old stadium you have to make sure you go in the right gate otherwise moving directly around to another part of the stadium is not a direct route. not sure how correct, just regurging what he said.

the new stadium also has limited view seats(columns blocking about 40 seats). WTF is that all about, its 2010 not 1910

Haven't been there yet but i plan to hit a Giants game this year.

As far as sightlines with these new stadiums i heard, at least for baseball, it's architecturally impossible to not have some obstructed seats unless the stadium is perfectly symetrical.

thats what the security guy said impedes them from moving completely around a concourse. thought they were going to remove those seats though??? no?

come on sat you show me one stadium with columns blocking your view. Even other architects are blasting the designers of the stadium. Rumor is it was a money issue.
heres the article,



What a bunch of blockheads!

These are the worst seats in the new $1.7 billion Meadowlands football stadium -- so bad the Giants and Jets scrapped selling tickets for them because the only action fans would see is paint peeling on the massive columns in front of them.

Each of the two end-zone mezzanine sections has four pillars supporting the upper deck -- unsightly and archaic steel structures that experts say are routinely avoided in modern stadium design.

Behind each column are rows of seats where views of the gridiron are fully obscured -- 59 seats in total. Some others have limited sightlines.


j.c. rice
GIRDER KING: The Jets and Giants won't be selling this preposterous seat.e
"The fact that there are columns in there and possibly obstructed-view seating is a joke," said a Jet season-ticket holder and New Jersey resident who spotted the upright eyesores during a walk-through of the stadium last weekend.

The steel curtain affects sections 201, 202B, 203B, 249B and 250B in one end zone and 224B, 225B, 226, 227B and 228B in the other.

The kicker is that fans in those affected sections must pay for a personal seat license -- a $4,000 one-time fee -- and then shell out another $1,200 each season for tickets to eight regular-season and two preseason games.

Some of America's pre-eminent stadium designers were shocked by the architectural oddities.

Famed New York architect Peter Eisenman, who designed the 63,400-seat Phoenix Cardinal stadium that opened in 2006, said his Arizona structure and the 80,000-seat Dallas Cowboy stadium, which debuted last season, don't have columns.

"I'm surprised. I don't know why the columns are there," Eisenman said. "Those things are usually worked out when you're working on big projects like that.

"They didn't put [the columns] there because they wanted them there. I can tell you that."

Eisenman, a lifelong Giant fan and season-ticket holder, speculated that costs might have factored into the decision to use steel supports instead of just cantilevering the stadium's upper levels.

"They might have saved a lot of money in terms of the steel needed in the cantilevers," he said. "They might have been under a lot of pressure to bring the cost down or under enormous time pressure."

Theo David, a professor of architecture at Pratt Institute, agreed that such columns are usually employed to save money.

"There are technologies in place today that allow for huge, clear spans in these kinds of structures," David said.

The Jets and Giants took a pass on commenting. But the stadium's designer, George Heinlein, of Kansas City, Mo.-based 360 Architecture, defended the columns, saying they were necessary to create seating that surrounds the field on all levels and is stacked as closely as possible to the game action.

"The objective of ownership . . . was to create the most intimidating home-field advantage in football," he said. "Columns are not needed in other stadiums, which do not have the capacity or the proximity of end-zone seating."

He said the seats with obstructed views were never intended to be sold -- but provided an odd explanation as to why they are there in the first place.

"The seats were installed during construction as a temporary solution to prevent a hazard and will be removed shortly with a permanent railing," he said.

james.fanelli@nypost.com

Yeah what i was talking about was as different issue. Nevermind.

I think it's a great call. Would be nice to see the Super Bowl played in a colder weather climate. Here's hoping for an arctic outbreak and some snow squalls around that time. A snowstorm could put a huge damper on travel to the game.

It's a real longshot but a blizzard the scale of 96, PD II or a few of this years storms could cancel the game. Remember in 96 the GSP and NJT were closed for 48 hours. I actually think cancellation of a game here is more of a threat than a colder climate region like the MW because the 18"+ snowstorm threat is greater here. I'm glad we got the game but the danger is a paralyzing blizzard on the afternoon and evening of game day. Anything else is easily handled.

I've been dying for years for the NFL to start playing the Super Bowl outside in northern cities. actual weather. Football is a game made for the elements. Some of the greatest/most memorable games of all time are just that because of the setting.

Think about the memorable championship games of the past: The Sneakers Game, The Ice Bowl, The '49 (or was it '48?) Championship in a blizzard, The Fog Bowl - weather has made some of the most interesting games in NFL history. Even Peyton winning in the rain in Miami made for a better game...especially for a quarterback who had been knocked for only playing in perfectly climate-controlled domes. "Perfect" Super Bowls with polite fans and overly-packaged entertainment are the forgettable ones.

Bring on mother nature, and bring on fans who love the sport no matter what.

right on point

The other point I'd make here is that anyone that thinks a really great warm weather team can't play in brutal cold weather should watch the original ice bowl as the Cowboys, for much of that game with GB, were the better team on the field.

But one thing I'll tell you is that watching a game in snow or rain will really be disappointing, even when the rain falls in a warm weather site. A game played in fair cold weather is one thing but a game played in real adverse rainy or snowy weather is another thing entirely in my book. A muddy SB will not make for great entertainment and if it's snowing I may be more interested in the snow than the game.