The Stadium Where They Forgot The Roof - MetLife Stadium - Home of the New York Jets and Giants

MetLife Stadium is the massive 82,500 seat open air stadium that’s home to the New York Jets and New York Giants. Built at a cost of $1.6 billion dollars, it was the most expensive stadium ever built in the United States at the time of its completion. Today we’re going to be learning the history of the stadium, its features, and ultimately its shortcomings that make it a mid-tier NFL stadium today. Before we dive in don’t forget to subscribe for more NFL history videos! Let’s get started.
MetLife Stadium’s life began when the old Giants Stadium started showing its age. Wanting a new stadium and with the possibility of the 2012 Olympics being awarded to the city, a new facility called West Side Stadium was proposed to be built on the island of Manhattan. The stadium would have been built over train tracks in the Hudson Yards section of the city. The Jets and Giants agreed to share the stadium and split costs, but the proposal was ultimately scrapped due to widespread opposition due to the significant public funding that would have been necessary. A site was ultimately chosen near the historic Giants Stadium in what would become known as the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The stadium was designed to combine the classic look of a traditional outdoor stadium, while bringing in sleek steel and glass elements that could be found on the skyscrapers of New York City. The stadium is designed to be easily configurable with an NFL logo at the center instead of a Jets or Giants logo, and “hot swappable” end zones that take around 18 hours to switch over between teams. Although the stadium was originally designed to host Final Four games and other indoor events, funding for a roof failed, leaving the stadium in its current somewhat incomplete state.
Feature wise the stadium features seating for 82,500 fans, with 10,005 club level seats, and 218 luxury boxes for VIP fans. Other features include large HD video boards, and special lighting on the top of the stadium that displays both Jets green and Giants blue at night. These lights are powered by solar panels as part of a green technology partnership with NRG Energy company. MetLife Stadium is also one of the most well connected stadiums with access to the New Jersey rail service, bus service, and of course a large parking lot for fans driving in. Perhaps my favorite fun fact is MetLife Stadium boasting the shortest stands to field length of only 46 feet ti the 50 yard line. Because of many of these unique features the stadium was named the Greenest Stadium in the NFL by the EPA in 2009, and the overall Venue of the Year in 2017 by Stadium Business Summit.
The positive reception was capped off with hosting Super Bowl 48 in 2010 where the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos in the third coldest Super Bowl of all time at 49 degrees due to the stadium having no roof as previously mentioned.
Despite the early positive reception and hosting a Super Bowl, recent reception to the stadium has been mixed to negative. In the time that the stadium was built, it has received little to no updates aside from the new lighting package. There have been calls to add the original proposed roof, although no solid plan has ever been proposed. With the Giants/Jets lease up in 2024, one or both of the teams could leave the stadium, but due to its massive cost this will never happen. With MetLife Stadium hosting a World Cup game in 2026, perhaps there will be renewed interest in refreshing the stadium with new technology and video boards.