Ask locals and they will confirm that the stadium has long had a poor reputation.
“For lack of a better word, the technical term for MetLife Stadium is ‘blah’,” says long-time New Jersey sports columnist Steve Politi. One of his readers once compared its appearance to a giant prison toilet, another to a big air conditioner.
The stadium is home to two American football franchises, the New York Giants and the New Jersey Jets – and Politi explains that, by design, the stadium had to fit a lot of different people’s wants and needs.
He said the result was a soulless, large empty building that, for many fans, did not quite live up to its $1.6bn price tag.
Opened in 2010, the stadium has a modern metallic louvered exterior, with programmable lighting that can glow in any colour. It is one of the largest stadiums used in the NFL, and adjustments can be made for concerts and other events, with an open-air bowl that fits 82,500 spectators and 200 luxury suites across four levels. It has hosted everything from a Super Bowl and Wrestlemania to Paul McCartney and Beyonce concerts.
The multi-purpose venue is five miles west of Manhattan on a former swamp surrounded by highways, a 750-acre area known as the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The area is generally difficult to navigate without a car, and even then it is very congested.
Fans who took rideshares had to navigate winding lanes of traffic and closed roadways to find their way to the correct drop-off zone.
Those who took shuttles, or the 20,000 people who took the train, had an easier experience. Although they were frustrated by the high price – $98 a ticket for NJTransit tickets – and having to wait in large crowds to board the trains, most were pleased with the efficient commute itself.
“There was a little bit of a delay to get in, but it was OK,” says 56-year-old Jason Bentham, who travelled over from Manchester. His main complaint about his experience, though, was the high cost of beers at the stadium. Of the three venues he visited – he also went to Boston – his favourite was Atlanta, which is air conditioned, unlike MetLife Stadium.
“The stadium [in Atlanta] was amazing,” he says. “It was scorching hot when I was outside so when we got inside it had the roof on and it was all air conditioned, unbelievable stadium… and the beers were not as expensive.”
Still, the city he enjoyed the most overall, hands down, was New York, where he also watched the darts competition at Madison Square Garden and enjoyed the atmosphere and bars of the city.
To Fifa, that is the appeal of MetLife Stadium – its access to the largest media market.
