MetLife Stadium

Lore & Background

MetLife Stadium is one of two stadiums shared by two NFL teams; the other is SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, home to the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers. Additionally, MetLife Stadium is the fifth building in the New York metropolitan area to be home to multiple teams from the same sports league, after the Polo Grounds, which was home to the baseball Giants and Yankees from 1913 to 1922; the third Madison Square Garden, which hosted the NHL's Rangers and Americans from 1926 to 1942; Shea Stadium, which housed both the Mets and Yankees during the 1974 and 1975 seasons and both the Jets and Giants in 1975; and Giants Stadium, which hosted both the Giants and Jets from 1984 to 2009. The architects were tasked with designing a neutral stadium that would still embody the distinct personalities of both franchises. The Giants favored a traditional look of exposed steel framework and rusticated stone while the Jets wanted a sleek and modern look highlighted by metal and glass. With those features in mind the designers used the column/tower dynamic seen in many of Manhattan's skyscrapers as inspiration for the stadium's design.

In Their Own Story

The wind howled across the parking lot on a crisp November Sunday. Fans bundled in green jackets warmed their hands around tailgate grills, the smell of charcoal mixing with the damp Jersey air. Walking through the tunnel, the roar grew louder, vibrating against the chest plates of players stepping onto the pristine grass. Above, the cold sky met the bright stadium lights, illuminating a field where legends had once stood. For one hour and forty minutes, this concrete bowl was everything.

Reader's Guide

The stadium's surface is an artificial surface called the FieldTurf Core System, the first multilayer dual-polymer monofilament fiber surface. The new surface also contains heavyweight infill. The stadium does not have a roof. The seating bowl has seating for 82,500 people, including 10,005 club seats and approximately 218 luxury suites. The stadium includes four locker rooms: one each for the Giants and Jets, as well as two for visiting teams. The base of the stadium's facade is clad in limestone-like stonework while the rest of the stadium is distinguished by an outer skin of aluminum louvers and glass and by interior lighting capable of switching colors, depending on which team is currently playing–blue for the Giants and green for the Jets. Ten giant HD-ready LED pylons are located at the north, south, east, and west entrances. Inside are four HD video displays hanging from each corner of the upper deck. In 2025, the four corner video boards were upgraded with 8MM high-resolution LED boards along with a new stadium wide audio system featuring over 1,000 new speakers. A solar ring on the upper rim consists of 1,350 building-integrated photovoltaic solar panels. The architects are not explicitly named in the source.

Did You Know?

• MetLife Stadium hosted Super Bowl XLVIII in February 2014.
• It is scheduled to host matches during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, though the tournament has not yet taken place and the final location is unconfirmed.
• It is scheduled to host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, during which it will be temporarily renamed New York New Jersey Stadium; the final will be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
• The stadium's louvers have a total linear length of approximately 50,000 feet (about 15,240 meters or 9.5 miles).
• In January 2024, renovations began on the lower bowl to enlarge the playing field for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, completed in two phases by May 2025.