CitiField

[soupcan]

Sorry - I looked for an already existing 'CitiField' thread but couldn't find it. I was fairly sure we had one.

Anyhoo - Opening Day was great but I gotta tell ya that stadium out there is quite intrusive. From my brother-in-law's seats this is now the view.




It feels like Shea is an enclosed stadium. It's really unsettling. You're used to going to see a game at Shea and seeing sky and open space out there. Now there's just this big honkin' wall.

I'm sure we'll all get used to it in a few weeks but wow- when I first walked into the place it just hit me in the face.

[Farmer Ted]

I want your Brother-in-law's seats. I want to be your Brother-in-law. I want to marry your Brother-in-law (my wife may actually approve that offer, too, for those seats).

[soupcan]

Why do you think I married my wife in the first place?

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think it looks good out there. Makes Shea look like the urban stadium that it never really was.

[soupcan]

Good, bad, whatever. Its just shockingly different.

[Guest AG/DC]

It's visually confusing, though, not looking into the horizon and seeing that U-Haul Sign.

If a truck is burning in the parking lot, how are you going to know?

[soupcan]

Is what I'm trying to say.

[Guest Triple Dee]

Will all the seats in Citi Field be green?

Please say it ain't so.

[metirish]

A few home runs have died out there because of the super structure , Easley for one is certain he hit a homer the other night , it does take getting used to , I like it.

It was cool seeing all the construction guys watching opening day from the new stadium.

[Guest Kong76]

I was in the last row of the bleachers under the A in Sharp and took a few
pictures of that monstrosity too from there. Just haven't had a lot of forum
time last couple of days to post 'em. It's just like BAM in your face with no
open space left. I agree, it's an odd feeling.

[seawolf17]

Triple Dee wrote: Will all the seats in Citi Field be green?

I want to make this into some sort of money joke about jacked-up ticket prices, but I can't do it.

[metirish]

seawolf17 wrote: ="Triple Dee"]Will all the seats in Citi Field be green? I want to make this into some sort of money joke about jacked-up ticket prices, but I can't do it.

Way to kill it for the rest of us.........

[soupcan]

metirish wrote: A few home runs have died out there because of the super structure , Easley for one is certain he hit a homer the other night , it does take getting used to , I like it.

Why would that be? I'm no meteorologist but I would think it would help homeruns not hinder them. It seems that the structure would stop wind blowing into the stadium not out of it.

What do you like about it?

[metirish]

soupcan wrote: ="metirish"]A few home runs have died out there because of the super structure , Easley for one is certain he hit a homer the other night , it does take getting used to , I like it. Why would that be? I'm no meteorologist but I would think it would help homeruns not hinder them. It seems that the structure would stop wind blowing into the stadium not out of it. What do you like about it?

Apparently the wind currents in Shea now are all over the place, which is no different than before is what I think , Gary claims that the structure in LF at least is so close to Shea that it's like being in Manhattan....

What I like about it is what Grimm said.....

]I think it looks good out there. Makes Shea look like the urban stadium that it never really was.

[Guest Triple Dee]

soupcan wrote: Why would that be? I'm no meteorologist but I would think it would help homeruns not hinder them. It seems that the structure would stop wind blowing into the stadium not out of it.

Gary mentioned on the broadcast that it's a phenomenon of the wind in April at Shea that kills home runs. I don't recall anything said about Citi Field being responsible.

[stevejrogers]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I think it looks good out there. Makes Shea look like the urban stadium that it never really was.

I think the chop shops do a pretty good job with that though! Not to mention across the Whitestone you are right in the middle of Corona, Bayside, and Jackson Heights (there's a hold up in the Bronx...sorry can't resist), and of course just down Roosevelt Ave and Northern Blvd. is downtown Flushing.

So while Shea was meant to be part of some rural Robert Moses planned sprawl, it is minutes away from urban communities.

[Farmer Ted]

Chief meterologist Joe Morgan on the ESPN broadcast last night said that a wind sheer occurs between the new stadium and Shea, knocking balls down.

Huh?

[seawolf17]

Let's not get too excited about what Joe Morgan has to say. I think I trust StevieJeets' analysis more.

[soupcan]

SteveJRogers wrote: Not to mention across the Whitestone you are right in the middle of Corona, Bayside, and Jackson Heights (there's a hold up in the Bronx...sorry can't resist), and of course just down Roosevelt Ave and Northern Blvd. is downtown Flushing.

Um, across the Whitestone is the Bronx.

[Guest AG/DC]

I think Esteban Rogers must mean the Whitestone Expressway and not the Whitestone Bridge.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yeah, but you can't see any of that stuff from your seat at Shea, unless you're sitting way up high, and in that case, it's far in the distance.

I still don't know what they're going to build in the area around Citi Field after Shea is gone, but hopefully you'll be able to see some outside urban architecture from within the ballpark. Real, pre-existing buildings would be better, but there just aren't any. (I love what they did with that old building in San Diego's stadium.)

[soupcan]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: (I love what they did with that old building in San Diego's stadium.)

I took a tour of Petco a year or so back. They told us that that because of how the building codes are in San Diego, that the stadium is officially classified and listed as an addition to that building (Western Metal Supply I think is the name on it) as opposed to the stadium being classified as it's own separate structure or the building being incorporated into the stadium.

Pretty cool, no?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yes, it is.

What would have been even cooler would have been to keep the structure's original name.

"Come see the Padres take on the visiting Giants tonight at the Western Metal Supply Building!"

[soupcan]

I guess Western Metal Supply couldn't come up with upwards of $20 million per.

[Frayed Knot]

="Benjamin Grimm"]I still don't know what they're going to build in the area around Citi Field after Shea is gone, but hopefully you'll be able to see some outside urban architecture from within the ballpark. Real, pre-existing buildings would be better, but there just aren't any. (I love what they did with that old building in San Diego's stadium.)

I don't see how you'll see much of anything from inside except maybe from higher levels.

First of all it'll be completely enclosed without Shea's open-gapped OF. And while those OF seats, scoreboard, advertising and such won't be as high as the back end of CitiField is now to Shea, I still doubt the field-level folks will be able to see out.

Upper deckers might get a view out, but the new joint is to face more towards the north than the current ENE which means essentially towards Flushing Bay, or, more accurately, the highway ramps between the stadium and Flushing Bay. Which might make for a good view for some but it's probably not going to involve any architecture other than what can be done with a paving truck. Most buildings, including whatever replaces the 'iron triangle' area, are to the west and away from the seats.





As far as the wind issue goes, it's all speculatiion at this point.
The numbers say that Shea has traditionally been very tough on RH power while slightly helping HRs towards RF. The theory being that the winds - particularly in early season and other bad weather days - come in from the N & NE directly into the open end and knock HRs down. Except that the scoreboard tends to block those coming in from RCF while those coming in unblocked from LCF swirl around the bowl before going out towrds RF. So theoretically, CitiField is now there to block virtually eveything and make it a better HR park in '08 than we're used to seeing.

Whether that's actually going to happen or not or whether two games prove that it's not the case is still all just conjecture.

[metsmarathon]

i would expect it to funnel winds even stronger along the east face of citi and into left field, swirl around a bit inside, and exit out right field. the end result being more balls to left field knocked down, perhaps some adventures in center, and something of a tailwind going out to right.

[Guest AG/DC]

Looks like a pretty harrowing encroachment from space:

[soupcan]

FYI -

[Guest AG/DC]

I'm dropping that much money, it should be to buy, not to rent.

I'd damn well sleep in the thing.

[metirish]

The only time I'll be seeing those , no wonder they can cut back on the number of seats with the price they are charging for the suites.