Any reviews of New Meadowlands?

[hail2skins]

I know a few ESers went up to witness the debacle yesterday and I was just interested in their impressions of the Giants new stadium. Thanks in advance.

[Duckus]

I don't know if it was just me, but the place looked empty on TV. Every shot of the sidelines, it looked like the first 10 rows of the lower bowl were 50% full at most. It reminded me of behind home plate wen watching a Nats game on TV.

This was 1st quarter too, not late i the game.

Was it really that empty?

[Conn]

My review? Not good.

Mostly because of the fans, however. Lots of jackasses, lots of rude, incredibly childish remarks about being a Skins fan made. Of course, there were a couple of really nice ones, as well. But they were few.

Nice stadium. Cold, of course. But if you weren't ready for that, you're a moron haha.

I may even have met some of you who also went, there weren't many Skins fans at all. I sat in section 328.

My only complaint, besides the fans , is that they didn't show ANY important replays. They never showed the replay after a Skins fumble. Of course, this could be to avoid giving our coaches a good look on the big screens.

[hail2skins]

Duckus, I didn't pay as much attention early in the game, but I remember them showing the seating bowl late in the game and that played looked really cleared out!! I don't think FedEx empties that much when the Skins have a game in hand late.....of course, the last time that happened was probably Gibbs last year!

[Crazy Levi]

No it wasn't that empty - it was close to packed at kickoff. Certainly nothing like Fed Ex and its legendary club level. I do think lots of people started to leave early - it was a joke of a game and it was the first really cold day we've had in the area this year...once the shade started to take over the stadium it became fairly freezing.

The stadium is nice - it's fairly nondescript, but it appears well designed. There was a direct staircase you could use instead of the escalators or ramps, and I thought that was a very nice touch. I got from the upper deck to in front of the stadium in about 2 minutes. Try that at Fed Ex.

The food is ok, and there is certainly a ton of it. There are concessions everywhere. You could always get something to eat without waiting too long. Bathrooms were huge with lots of stalls.

The 4 HD screens are better than the 2 everyone else has.

I'm sure the luxury/club levels are great but that's not where I was. In the general admission area, it appears a nice, clean, new stadium, but in spirit not much different than the stadiums I've been to my whole life. Very utilitarian.

All seats have cupholders, which is really nice. I was first row of the upper deck on the 35, excellent sightlines, nice leg room, great. And watching the small jets fly right over the stadium at low altitude into Teterboro every 5 minutes was fun.

A note about Parking - I went to a Jets game early this season, and caught a ride with a friend. We didn't have a parking pass. Ended up in a remote lot nightmare like those office park lots 2 miles from Fed Ex. Took TWO shuttle buses to get to the stadium. After the game, it took about 50 minutes to get to my car. Not as bad as the 2 hours it's taken me at Fed Ex, but still sucks. Don't go to a game there without a parking pass.

[CPORTISFAN999]

Duckus, I didn't pay as much attention early in the game, but I remember them showing the seating bowl late in the game and that played looked really cleared out!! I don't think FedEx empties that much when the Skins have a game in hand late.....of course, the last time that happened was probably Gibbs last year!

gibbs wasnt with us last year...

[IONTOP]

gibbs wasnt with us last year...

gibbs' is what he meant

[CPORTISFAN999]

gibbs' is what he meant

ah ok.

[RFKFedEx]

I thought it was very nice. I found the Giants fan base to be much classier than I expected. The venue is user friendly with fast moving concession and restroom lines. The concourses were nice and wide.

[Crazy Levi]

I thought it was very nice. I found the Giants fan base to be much classier than I expected. The venue is user friendly with fast moving concession and restroom lines. The concourses were nice and wide.

The Jets fans are far nastier than the Giants fans. NY sports fans are very class/trash oriented (and this is coming from them). Giants/Jets - Yankees/Mets - Rangers/Islanders...you get the picture.

I had absolutely no problem at the game at all. Not one single mocking word - I guess they felt sorry for me. Some Giants fans even gave me beer on the train. I think I mentioned that already, but free beer is worth mentioning twice.

The meatball sub I got was messy but fantastic. Clam strips and fries were serviceable. My main complaint about the meadowlands (both venues - the Izod center arena also) is NO BOOZE. I hate beer and that's all they sell. Maybe it's a Jersey ordinance or something.

If anything calls for hard liquor, it's watching the Redskins "play."

[dockeryfan]

Honestly? I was expecting to be blown away, and what I found was basically an average stadium with very little character.

Pros:

Lots of food concession and variety. I didn't eat much but the lines were not that long, and it looked OK.

I sat lower level,and the seats were great. Really fantastic. Can't speak for the upper levels at all in terms of ease getting to seats or sight lines.

Bathrooms. No real line at mine, but it was kind of tucked away on the lower level. I did see lines at others.

Parking. Well I parked in the G lot so I was close.

Support staff was pretty friendly.

Cons:

Security. Ouch. I hate getting frisked like I'm a criminal. Expect it. It was cold, but they were frisking very thoroughly, and there was a drug sniffing Shepard nearby, so leave it at home. Very slow process getting into the stadium.

Jumbotrons? Meh. There are 4 but they do a poor job with replays. Especially if it looks to be in the opposing teams favor. I was not overly impressed with the video.

(As an aside they have one of the gayest "make some noise" clips that they put on the Jumbotrons. They must have shown it 4 times and I laughed every time it was so weak. Almost as bad as the Quiet Riot montage they used at Fedex a number of years ago.)

Character. There is none. It feels completely non-descript. No colors of any kind, no feeling that you were at the Giants game at all. It could easily have been Jets, but I guess that's the point. No character to the stadium at all. (I have a cousin who says firsthand that the "luxury boxes" are equally no frills). Just a concrete box designed for maximum seating and concessions.

I liked the old Meadowlands, with the steam pipes, and the bathrooms 100 degrees in the winter, and the leaky upper deck when it rained about 1000X more because at least that had character even if it was a dump.

[Crazy Levi]

Honestly? I was expecting to be blown away, and what I found was basically an average stadium with very little character.

Pros:

Lots of food concession and variety. I didn't eat much but the lines were not that long, and it looked OK.

I sat lower level,and the seats were great. Really fantastic. Can't speak for the upper levels at all in terms of ease getting to seats or sight lines.

Bathrooms. No real line at mine, but it was kind of tucked away on the lower level. I did see lines at others.

Parking. Well I parked in the G lot so I was close.

Support staff was pretty friendly.

Cons:

Security. Ouch. I hate getting frisked like I'm a criminal. Expect it. It was cold, but they were frisking very thoroughly, and there was a drug sniffing Shepard nearby, so leave it at home. Very slow process getting into the stadium.

Jumbotrons? Meh. There are 4 but they do a poor job with replays. Especially if it looks to be in the opposing teams favor. I was not overly impressed with the video.

(As an aside they have one of the gayest "make some noise" clips that they put on the Jumbotrons. They must have shown it 4 times and I laughed every time it was so weak. Almost as bad as the Quiet Riot montage they used at Fedex a number of years ago.)

Character. There is none. It feels completely non-descript. No colors of any kind, no feeling that you were at the Giants game at all. It could easily have been Jets, but I guess that's the point. No character to the stadium at all. (I have a cousin who says firsthand that the "luxury boxes" are equally no frills). Just a concrete box designed for maximum seating and concessions.

I liked the old Meadowlands, with the steam pipes, and the bathrooms 100 degrees in the winter, and the leaky upper deck when it rained about 1000X more because at least that had character even if it was a dump.

It's not a drug-sniffing dog, it's a bomb sniffing dog. I know because I walked right past him at the AC/DC concert at the old stadium a couple years ago with a couple joints in my pocket. Good dog!

I more or less agree with the rest of your reveiw, except that you are nuts if you prefer the old place. The food was awful, the concourses were too small and crowded, and it didn't have any more character than the new place. In fact, you can can draw a straight line in stadium development from the old Giants Stadium to Fedex field. Fedex is basically the height of "characterless football stadium" development. Fedex is basically the old Giants stadium with about 20,000 more seats.

The Jets/Giants thing is a little better defined at night - it's lit up with green LEDs for Jets games, and Blue for Giants. I think the grey seats were the right choice. Jets fans were tired of all the Blue after 30 years.

[Mr. Cooke]

I went to the Navy-Notre Dame game in October. Our seats were located approximately twenty rows from the field near the five yard line. The site lines in the lower levels are spectacular. From these seats there was no need to stand to see the game as there is at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium (sorry, I refuse to use any corporate name until the company compensates me for doing so), even when the fans in front of us were standing. The four big screens in each corner of the upper deck are a nice feature so there's no need to turn your head all the way right or left to watch a replay. The lower level also has a nice feature: there are two easily visible huge scoreboards/playclocks behind each sideline (consider how small our stadium's scoreboard is).

Like The Big Jack, it feels like a huge stadium inside, unlike the Eagles, Ravens and Steelers facilities which all seem smaller perhaps because they are and perhaps because these three are open venues. It's definitely nicer than our stadium but I expected to be blown away and was not. It was nice and sunny day that day but New Meadowlands seems and feels kind of dark and detached. If If we were required to pay a PSL of $20Thous for a new stadium similar to Meadowlands (as I've heard some Giants fans in general admission seats were required) I'd prefer that we just stick with the dump we have.

[Popeman38]

The stadium is nice - it's fairly nondescript, but it appears well designed. There was a direct staircase you could use instead of the escalators or ramps, and I thought that was a very nice touch. I got from the upper deck to in front of the stadium in about 2 minutes. Try that at Fed Ex.

There are stair cases at FedEx you can take up to and down from the UL. In about 2 min.

[RFKFedEx]

The parking flow was regulated beautifully. The lot attendandants opened and closed the lots as necessary. I didn't see any conflicts between tailgaters and later arriving vehicles. The location id signs in the parking lots and inside of the stadium were well marked and easy to follow.

[sundancer91]

I've been to Giants Stadiun for the last 10 years, I must say I have alot of respect for the Giants fans this year.I had no problem what-so-ever this year.My cousin is a season ticket holder and seems as though most fans like the old stadium better. parking, escalators, and views seem to be the reasons.

[RFKFedEx]

Two older gentlemen next to me plunked down $10k each to share a four seat set of LL endzones. I can't imagine paying that for PSLs, but they boasted of attending games and holding STs in the family since the Giants played at old Yankee Stadium. I had to respect their fandom for that kind of comittment. Obty, the face value on the seats is $120 per. Exactly what I paid for my three tix.

[Tastes Like Chicken]

Nice stadium. I was most impressed with these above ground staircase-tunnels that allow roads around the stadium to flow uninterrupted from pedestrian traffic.

Lines at the mens room were long but typical of any stadium. We sat in the 200 Mezz level which would be similar to the club level at fedex. The fans were respectful. Overall the crowd seemed really subdued, didn't feel at all like a division game. That was a bit odd.

Had a great tailgate with about a dozen skins fans. Inside the stadium there are far more giants fans that infiltrate fedex I can tell you that...

[RFKFedEx]

Nice stadium. I was most impressed with these above ground staircase-tunnels that allow roads around the stadium to flow uninterrupted from pedestrian traffic.

Good point TLC. When FedEx gets it's much needed renovation I'd like to see bridges and tunnels over/under the ring road. Love the fact that there was virtually no conflicts with pedestrians and moving vehicles at the Meadowlands. The whole experiance really showed what a cluster **** of a design FedEx is.