GIANTS STADIUM

Giants Stadium, located at 50 State Highway 120, East Rutherford, NJ 07073, has the distinction of being the only stadium in the NFL to be the home to more than one team. The New York Giants have played at Giants Stadium since the stadium opened in 1976, but since 1984, the New York Jets have also played their home games in East Rutherford. Giants Stadium also currently is the home of the New York/New Jersey Metrostars of Major League Soccer, and over the years, the stadium has also hosted Rutgers University football, the New Jersey Generals of the USFL, and the New York/New Jersey Hitmen of the XFL. In 1976, the stadium cost $78 million to build, and the money was financed through a NJSEA bond issue. Giants Stadium can hold almost 80,000 people and offers 119 luxury suites to fans.

Before Giants Stadium was built, the New York Giants played their home games in Yankee Stadium, a baseball park with only adequate functions as a football stadium. Neither team liked the idea of a football team on a baseball field, especially since the football didn’t start until the Yankees had finished their season and essentially run down the field, the Giants signed a 30-year lease for the new building in 1971. The seats of the stadium completely encircle the field and are broken into three distinct tiers. As with most stadiums in the NFL, two scoreboard/video boards are located behind each end zone. In 1984, the New York Jets moved into the stadium to avoid having to continue to play in Shea Stadium, also a baseball field for the New York Mets. The field has an Astroturf surface from 1976-1999, but after the 1999 season, the turf was ripped out and replaced with natural grass. The grass only lasted three seasons and was then replaced by Fieldturf, the newest innovation in surfacing. The Jets will see their lease in Giants Stadium expire in 2008, but the Giants will be there for years to come.

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