A Tale of 2 Citi(fields)

As opening day at Citi Field (Citi) and the New Yankee Stadium (NYS) approached, Andrew and I spoke about how we would each review the new home field for our respective teams. Several weeks ago he published his review of the NYS, seen here. Thanks to my friend Matt I got my first glimpse of Citi on the team's workout day right before the season started on April 5th. It was a bright sunny day and the park looked great. There was no game on the field but Taste of the City, the new concession area, was open, and we got to see the Mets players take BP before they hit the road for the opener in Cincy. I have since been to Citi four more times (I am 3-1!) and now feel qualified to write a review of the facility - so here goes.

Last season my family became Met season ticket holders. We had two seats in the upper-box at Shea stadium right near third base. Our seats were in the second row of the box and offered a view of the ENTIRE playing field. This offseason when the Mets moved into Citi the team offered us "equivalent" seats in the Promenade reserve. They were supposed to offer the same or better sightlines as we had at Shea. After a little deliberation we decided to stay in the "box", and paid up to move down to row 6 of the Promenade Box near third base. I have now sat in these new seats for two games, including a GORGEOUS Saturday afternoon Johan start, and can say with confidence that my seats at Shea Stadium were superior. My new seats, which are NOT advertised as obstructed, are quite obstructed indeed. The way the new park decks hang over the field completely prevents me from seeing pretty much the entire left field corner. If a ball is hit to left and the leftfielder has to go left to his right to play it (in to the corner) odds are I am missing the play completely. At Shea I saw the whole field. At Citi I am spending more, and seeing less. - But hey, there are luxury clubs that I don't have access to, seems like a great "upgrade."
So if you are still with me here you may have noticed that I said my record at Citi was 3-1, but I only sat in my new seasons twice. No typo there - I spent the other two games I saw sitting with friends - one game in the back of the 500s (Promenade Reserved) on the first base side (ok view, similar to my seats), and the other game in the Delta Club, 16 rows behind home plate, dead center. It is from here that the Tale of 2 Citi(fields) begins.
Amenities - The Delta Club seats are on the Sterling Level, an elite section of the ballpark completely segregated from the general population. Behind the seats there is a full floor indoor lounge (The Delta360 Club) complete with a full bar, sit-down restaurant, food counter, coffee shop counter, a viewing window down into the Met batting cages and enough LCD HDTV's to stock the Best Buy on 5th Avenue. The Mets have boasted that Citi Field is equipped with over 800 HDTVs - I'd venture to guess half are in the this area. The Delta Club also boasts beautiful marble bathrooms with urinal dividers and, you guessed it, TVs. By contrast the bathrooms in the rest of the stadium are made of concrete, the urinals are crammed together with no divider walls, and the Mets radio broadcast plays in leiu of TVs.
The Delta Seats - where some, but certainly not all, of the people on this level watch the game. That is if they care, or even know who is playing. Unlike my hard plastic seats in the Promenade, that offer no visible size improvement over Shea (the Mets claim they are bigger by an inch, who knows) the Delta seats are fit for a king, or a modern stadium seating movie theater. They are wide, highbacked and cushioned top to bottom, excellent all around. They offer a cupholder built in to the armrest that is actually slightly in the way - I knocked over my friends water when the Mets actually got a hit with RISP - so score one for the rest of the park with the cupholders mounted on the back of the seat in front of you. The seats, as they did at Shea, have waiter service, with a selection of the best Danny Meyer options from Taste of the City (Shake Shack, the Taqueria and Blue Smoke). Unlike last season, when the delivery menu was marked up over the actual concessions, the menu is priced the same as the offerings out in Center and arrives at your seat, hot, without the 30 minute line.
The View - It is here that the difference between the experience upstairs and the experience in these seats really starts to matter. Unlike my obstructed view seats, the Delta Club seats offer a view of the entire playing field (a minuscule portion of the corners are blocked out by the stands), just like my friend's seats did behind the plate at Shea. His view has improved (less foul ground behind the plate), while mine has drastically degraded.

The truth is there really are two different Citi Fields. My experience on the Sterling Level was one of insulated luxury - at times it barely felt like I was in a ballpark (which in my opinion is terrible). It is a privilege, but one that does not come cheaply - face value for this "value" game was $105 vs. the $21 to sit in my Promenade Box. That cost difference is staggering. You could go to that Friday night game in my seats and then head into Manhattan and have dinner at a premiere steakhouse for about the same money as you spend on the ticket alone in the Delta Club. The Mets have gone to great lengths to make the premium experience distinguishable from the rest of the park - but there remains one major problem

The team on the field is the same heartless, edgeless, soft, lackadaisical bunch, regardless of where you sit. Even in the premium seats you are still treated to the same old team playing the same old game, and for that, a seat on your couch at home is probably the best deal.