By HOWIE RUMBERG, AP
May 13, 2008
The Mets' new stadium is starting to look like a ballpark.
Rows of seats, forest green in tribute to the Polo Grounds, have been installed in the right field upper deck at Citi Field.
Though the playing field was still a busy construction zone Tuesday, with the home-plate area boxed by orange netting, steel trusses for the two enormous high definition video boards, one 70-by-40 feet, were in place beyond center and right-center fields.
PHOTOS: Progress Made at Citi Field
And distance markers - it's 408 to center - dotted walls that ring what will be the outfield, jutting in and out, rising and dropping in height, to create the nooks and niches popular with new stadiums.
Chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said the outfield of the $800 million ballpark, scheduled to open next year, was "somewhat evocative of the Polo Grounds."
Unlike Shea, a dual-purpose arena and the team's home since 1964, Citi Field is being built just for the Mets, and it has a more intimate feel with seats positioned closer to the field and angled for better sightlines. One section hangs over right field for a short home-run porch.
The capacity of about 45,000, including standing room, is approximately 12,000 less than Shea's. The ballpark's upper deck is closer to the field and is less steep than at many stadiums.
"We made sure to correct the mistakes made at other stadiums," Wilpon said.
The concourses are wide - there is plenty of room for standing room - and the Mets say all but three of the 54 luxury boxes have been sold.
Last month the Mets showed designs for the 180-foot-wide Jackie Robinson Rotunda, which evokes Ebbets Field, home of the Dodgers when they were in Brooklyn.
