Sunday, February 8, 2009

Welcome To CitiField

By Denise I Smithson

After a deal was constructed for the new Shea Stadium to receive $20 million a year from Citi Group for naming rights, the stadium was named Citi Field. Not a bad day at the office considering the team is looking at $400 million in the next 20 years. Then of course, you have the Sterling area that will be named after Delta Airlines as well as a substantially large area behind home plate. However, this is just the beginning to many benefits the stadium has for its fans.

However, one of the things which will not be incorporated into the new home of the Mets will be increased seating. In fact, there will be only 45,000 seats in Citi Field, as opposed to the 57,000 in Shea Stadium. Despite this, there will be a number of amenities and improvements in Citi Field; among them are seven more elevators, for a total of 11, 9 additional luxury suites, 2 more restaurants, 700 more wheelchair accessible seats and nearly 80 more restrooms.

The seats at the new stadium will also be a little larger, making for a more comfortable day at the ballpark. All of this is great, but the best news of all for New York baseball fans is that the Mets are committed to remain in Queens until at least 2049. Incredible as it may seem now that Citi Field is an inevitability, but the new stadium may not have happened, at least not so soon were it not for New York Coty losing its bid to host the 2012 Olympics. This paved the way for the Mets to build a new stadium.

While it was only a matter of time until Mr. Met had a new place to hang his hat, the timing worked out rather well for the Mets organization as well as for fans. Have a look at these images of the new stadium under construction and the projection of what the finished stadium will look like.

Soon Citi Field will be completed and fans will be able to see and enjoy the park in person. Shea stadium will be missed of course, but we'll always have our memories. The opening of Citi Field will be a new era in Mets history - and you could be a part of it! - 16887

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