MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Giants and Jets, opened in 2010 and is never mentioned on anyone’s list of favorite sports venues.
The drab, utilitarian confines perhaps get a bad name because it has been the backdrop of one of New York’s worst decades of football. Only two postseason games have been played there — one by the Giants in 2012 and Super Bowl XLVII, which was played by the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos.
The traffic and the public transit access are two other knocks on the venue by fans but players hate it, too.
Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce explains why he rates MetLife his least favorite stadium (“hands down, not even close”).
“It’s a terrible surface,” Kelce said during an appearance on Today’s 94WIP Morning Show. “I’m surprised the league hasn’t stepped in at this point. But I think it’s really bad. There’s a higher injury rate on that surface for years now. I don’t know if it’s because there’s two teams playing on it or what’s going on there but it’s easily the least favorite.”
Kelce is not dreaming. The San Francisco 49ers lodged a complaint to the NFL back in 2020 when they lost several key players to injury during an odd scheduling that saw them play the Jets and Giants at MetLife in back-to-back weeks.
The complaint was investigated and the league deemed the turf was up to code. That doesn’t mean much to the players. The injuries are piling up and the proof is in the pudding as the Giants are one of the most injured teams in the NFL year after year.
