April 10, 2010: The New Meadowlands Stadium opens, adjacent to the soon-to-be-demolished Giants Stadium, at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey. On August 23, 2011, it became MetLife Stadium, with the New York-based Metropolitan Life Insurance Company having bought the naming rights.
The opening event was the Big City Classic -- a college lacrosse festival. Before a paid crowd of 25,710, with only the lower level open, Hofstra University of Long Island, ranked Number 12 in the country at the time, beat the unranked University of Delaware, 12-11; Number 1 Virginia beat Number 2 North Carolina, 7-5; and Number 3 Syracuse beat Number 4 Princeton, 13-4.
While Giants Stadium, the Meadowlands Racetrack, and the Complex's arena were owned by the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, ownership of MetLife Stadium is evenly divided between the National Football League's New York Giants and New York Jets. The stadium lights up in blue for Giant games, and green for Jet games.
This gave the Jets control over a home stadium for the 1st time in their history, as they had previously been "second-class citizens" at the Polo Grounds (1960-63), Shea Stadium (1964-83) and Giants Stadium (1984-2009), with no say in scheduling, maintenance, or revenue matters. Now, they and the Giants were evenly split in control, forcing them to work together. It has worked well.
The 1st regular-season NFL game was on September 12, 2010, and the Giants beat the Carolina Panthers, 31-18. The next night, on ESPN Monday Night Football, the Jets played their 1st game there that counted, losing to the Baltimore Ravens, 10-9.
In the stadium's 1st season, 2010, the Jets advanced to the AFC Championship Game, although they did not play a home Playoff game. In its 2nd season, 2011, the Giants beat the Atlanta Falcons in the stadium's 1st Playoff game, before beating the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers on the road, and then the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.
Super Bowl XLVIII, the only Super Bowl to date to be held at an outdoor facility outside the Sun Belt, was played on February 2, 2014. They lucked out with the weather: It was a reasonable 48 degrees at kickoff, and the predicted snowfall didn't come until the middle of the night. The Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos, 43-8.
It's hosted some college football games. After playing many "home games" at Giants Stadium, Rutgers University has played only 1 at MetLife, and it was a disaster. Not competitively: The October 16, 2010 game against Army was a 23-20 victory. It was a disaster because a Rutgers player, Eric LeGrand, broke his neck during the game, and was paralyzed. Army returned for the 2021 Army-Navy Game.
Soccer games have been played there, with the national teams of the U.S., Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile. I was one of 78,926 fans attending the 1-1 draw between the U.S. and Argentina on March 26, 2011, and made a shocking discovery: After pouring $1.6 billion into the building of the new stadium, they hadn't fixed the biggest thing wrong with the old stadium: The nasty wind that renders some games quite frigid. The new stadium is being considered for the Final of the 2026 World Cup. (UPDATE: It was awarded the Final.)
It's hosted club teams from all over Europe: Liverpool and Manchester City from England; Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Barcelona from Spain; Bayern Munich from Germany; and Juventus and AS Roma from Italy.
As he had for the Prudential Center in Newark, Jon Bon Jovi played the 1st concerts at MetLife Stadium, on May 26, 27 and 29, 2010. Among the other acts who've played it are Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, U2, Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Wu-Tang Clan, Coldplay, Eminem, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, One Direction and BTS. Later in 2022, the stadium will host Elton John on his farewell tour, and Lady Gaga.
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April 10, 2010 was a Saturday. An entire slate of Major League Baseball games was played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 10-0 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. CC Sabathia came within 4 outs of a no-hitter, and was taken out after losing it. He and David Robertson combined on a 2-hit shutout. Robinson Cano hit a home run for the Yankees.
* The New York Mets lost to the Washington Nationals, 4-3 at Citi Field.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-0 at Camden Yards.
* The Florida Marlins beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-6 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (It's now named Hard Rock Stadium.)
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 at Rangers Ballpark in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. (It's now named Choctaw Stadium.)
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Houston Astros, 9-6 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-2 at Comerica Park in Detroit.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. (It's now named Rate Field.)
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-1 at Miller Park in Milwaukee. (It's now named American Family Field.)
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-3 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-4. Adrian Gonzalez won it with an RBI double in the top of the 14th inning.
* The Pittsburgh Prates beat the Arizona Diamondback, 6-3 at Chase Field in Phoenix.
* And the Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-2 at AT&T Park in San Francisco. (It's now named AT&T Park.)
The NFL was out of season. There were 8 games played in the NBA:
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 115-102 at the Meadowlands.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards, 105-95 at the Verizon Center in Washington. (It's now named the Capital One Arena.)
* The Charlotte Hornets the Detroit Tigers, 99-95 at the Charlotte Coliseum.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 120-101 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 105-90 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets, 104-85 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. (It's now named the Ball Arena.)
* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Golden State Warriors, 107-104 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. (It's now named the Crypto.com Arena.)
* And the Dallas Mavericks beat the Sacramento Kings, 126-108 at the Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento. (It's now named the Sleep Train Arena.) Dirk Nowitzki led all scorers on the day with 39 points.
And there were 11 games played in the NHL, including one by a team that used to play at the Meadowlands, now a single exit away on the New Jersey Turnpike:
* The New Jersey Devils beat the New York Islanders, 7-1 at the Prudential Center in Newark. The Devils got 2 goals from Patrick Eliáš.
* On the opener of CBC's Hockey Night In Canada, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Dion Phaneuf scored the winning goal, 2:06 into overtime.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-2 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-2 at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.
* The Atlanta Thrashers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 1-0 at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta. (It's now named the State Farm Arena.)
* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat their arch-rivals, the Florida Panthers, 4-3 in a shootout at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. (It's now named the Benchmark International Arena.)
* The Nashville Predators beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 in a shootout at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
* The Dallas Stars beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-3 in a shootout at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-3 in a shootout at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. (The Crypto.com Arena.)
* The San Jose Sharks beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2 in a shootout at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. (It's now named the SAP Center.)
* And in the nightcap of Hockey Night In Canada, the Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames, 7-3 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
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