Shea Stadium

Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets, is located in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The stadium was named after William A. Shea, the man to bring back National League Baseball to New York. Costing 28.5 million dollars, the circular Shea Stadium opened on April 17, 1964. The seats in the stadium were originally made of wood, but were replaced with plastic seats before the 1980 baseball season. Each level of seating was done in different colors of blue, green, orange and red. Not only is this the home to the Mets, this was also home to the New York Jets, a professional football team, until 1984 when the Jets moved to Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Although Shea was originally used for both baseball and football, when the Jets moved to New Jersey, the Mets changed the stadium to be used solely for baseball. Between 1986 and 1988 the team made some changes, repainting the exterior blue and adding neon signs to the widescreens.

Not only have there been sporting events held here, there have also been several musical concerts. One of the most famous concerts was the Beatles on August 15,1965. There were 55,600 people in attendance, which made it the record for attendance for eight years until Led Zeppelin broke that record at Tampa Stadium in 1973. Some other groups that have played here have been the Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, Eric Clapton, Elton John and The Who. The last concert to be held here will be Billy Joel in July 2008 before the stadium is completely demolished. In the parking lot behind left field at Shea, Citi Field is under construction and will be completed for the 2009 season.