The new stadium rising in the Meadowlands will be home to more than just the Jets and Giants.
Mark Lamping, CEO of the New Jets Stadium, and the U.S. Naval Academy announced this week that the 2010 Notre Dame-Navy game will be played at the $1.3 billion venue.
Jets chairman and CEO Woody Johnson applauds the college booking.
"I am thrilled that Navy and Notre Dame will be playing their annual game in our new stadium when it opens next year," Johnson said. "Our new state-of-the-art facility was not only designed to be our new home but also to bring a variety of spectacular events, including high profile college football matchups, to this region and to our fans."
Lamping said: "We couldn't be more excited to bring the pageantry of college football and the rich history of Navy-Notre Dame to our brand new facility."
Some of the fans Johnson referred to will be Midshipmen and their backers.
"This will be a very special day for our program playing one of our traditional rivals," said Chet Gladchuk, Navy's director of athletics, "in an area that is not only an easy drive for our fans but has a great history of hosting some very special Navy games in the past."
Other fans in the stands could be Jets season ticket holders. Although the procedures haven't been finalized, this is the type of event for which New Jets Stadium PSL holders will have the opportunity to purchase tickets, subject to availability.
This will be the Middies' 12th game in the Meadowlands and the sixth against the Fighting Irish, with their last matchup having been played in 2004.
The stadium seats 82,500 fans, including 9,500 club seats and 222 luxury suites. It will be the third-largest stadium in the NFL upon completion in 2010.
Inside the stadium, four 30-by-110-foot HD video replay boards will hang from each corner of the upper deck. Outside the stadium, fans will be treated to a 350,000-square-foot outdoor plaza filled with fan-centric activities and pregame entertainment zones. A signature amenity of the stadium will be the brand new rail line that will drop off passengers less than 100 feet from the stadium — the total trip from New York's Penn Station will take less than 20 minutes.
The new stadium will have numerous restaurants, wider concourses and more HD square footage than any other stadium in North America.
Another feature of interest for those attending the game at the Meadowlands is the new 2.3 million-square-foot entertainment and retail complex known as Xanadu. This one-of-a-kind, $2 billion complex features a variety of unique elements, including indoor skiing, the tallest ferris wheel in North America providing spectacular views of Manhattan and North New Jersey, indoor skydiving, live theatre, bowling, a dozen restaurants, movie theaters, an extensive media experience, a cooking school and retail shops.
Xanadu is scheduled to be completed this year.
