The World Cup final between Spain and Argentina on Sunday will be played at a venue that has been called “blah” – the MetLife Stadium outside New York, a venue long criticised for its design, transport and pitch quality.
New Jersey sports columnist Steve Politi said: “For lack of a better word, the technical term for MetLife Stadium is ‘blah’.” One of his readers compared its appearance to a giant prison toilet; another likened it to a big air conditioner.
“MetLife Stadium, called 'blah', hosts World Cup final amid criticism over design, transport and pitch.”
Opened in 2010, the $1.6bn stadium is home to the New York Giants and New Jersey Jets. It sits on a former swamp in the Meadowlands Sports Complex, East Rutherford, five miles west of Manhattan, surrounded by highways and notoriously difficult to navigate without a car. Fans using rideshares faced heavy congestion.
The 82,500-seat open-air bowl, with 200 luxury suites and programmable lighting, has hosted a Super Bowl, Wrestlemania, Paul McCartney and Beyoncé. But as a World Cup venue, it has drawn sustained scrutiny while other stadia – Mexico’s Azteca, the luxurious SoFi outside Los Angeles, the state-of-the-art AT&T near Dallas – earned praise for design or atmosphere.
Politi explained that the stadium had to accommodate two NFL franchises, resulting in a “soulless, large empty building” that, for many fans, did not justify its price tag. Whether Sunday’s final will change perceptions remains to be seen.