So after a thrilling Jets win the other day I had a chance to reflect on my visit to the new Meadowlands stadium and my opinion, which is the same opinion of many others, is it’s a nice stadium when you’re inside but everything is inconvenient.

The train that stops right in front of the stadium, which is nice, but you have to get off at Secaucus, and then find the way to go upstairs to go to the other side to wait for the shuttle (train). There were at least 15 of us confused by this and the signs were no help. That shuttle takes 14 minutes to basically cross the street.

Ok so I get there and the place looks like an unfinished steel construction. Really, the only Jets items were the flat screen boards that had Jets pics and items for sale, like the cheerleader calendar, which is being marketed harder than the team!

So when you try and find your friends who will likely be tailgating what will seem like a half mile or 20-minute walk away remember you will be doing that trip multiple times, if you can find them. I saw so many people on the phone desperately trying to find their peeps. I tried to walk across the parking lot and parts of it had a plastic orange barricade so I hopped it so I didn’t have to walk around it yet adding more time to my trek. BTW, I noticed some folks being carted to the stadium so if you have trouble getting around flag down one of these guys.

So when you go inside one of the sponsored gates, you’ll find a big slow escalator that you will most likely have to take to get to your seat. So will everybody else and the ride will be slow and there will be a detour or two because some areas are blocked off? Give yourself at least 40 minutes to get patted down and into the stadium and up the escalator to get to your seats, if you want food, add 10 minutes, those lines weren’t that bad, although the food is very average, at least in the “cheap seats”.

This new stadium has a real class system feel to it. The upper level team shop certainly isn’t what it could be as compared to the big one in the lower level. The view from your seats will be great, provided that the people sitting around you will sit in them for more than five minutes at a time. I can’t tell you how many times we had to keep getting up and having our view temporarily blocked as a result. Roomier aisles would have helped that situation.

So now here’s the deal when leaving the stadium. If you don’t leave early you will wait a very long time in your car to leave the stadium, which is expected, but the train will take you at least an hour. I had to wait around 20 minutes and I walked out of the gate and to the train right after the game ended. The original entrance to the train was blocked? Why are all these entrances blocked? Then I got on line and eventually caught the third train out.

It’s too bad that the Jets/Giants haven’t created an area of restaurants to hang out after the game and the shuttle was only running for less than two hours after the game expired, so they want you to leave, unless you drove in.

The employees were very nice and as helpful as can be. The fans were having a good time but had a hard time overlooking the extremely temporary banners that get swapped out every week, unless they had been there before. Newcomers like me were a bit shocked based on the prices that were printed on the tickets. Instead of $10 banners how about placards? The flat screens at the refreshment stands were a nice touch, but they were blurry? Why? Not sure but maybe the constant banners about the cheerleader calendars were affecting the resolution?

My final thought about the new stadium is it’s very pricey, and the fan just doesn’t get a lot for their money. It was easier to get in and out of the old stadium.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/sportsology/sets/72157625460077544/