Brief History of Citi Field
Citi Field cost $850 to build, out of which $615 million was given in the form of public subsidiaries, which included proceeds from the sale of New York City municipal bonds. These needed to be repaid back to the city by the Mets with interest. The payments will help to offset the property taxes for the entire life of the park.
Designed by Populous, the first game was played at Citi Field on March 29th, 2009, by college teams St. John’s and Georgetown. However, it wasn’t until April of 2009 that the Mets played their first two games at the park against rivals Boston Red Sox. The regular season home game was played in April against the Padres.
Since its construction Citi Field has hosted the 2013 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, it was the second time that the Mets hosted their event, with the first being in 1964, which was previously in Shea Stadium.
On March 21st, 2019, the team announced on Twitter that the park’s permanent address has changed to 41 Seaver Way, to honor Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, who played at no. 41. The official ceremony was held on the 27th of June 2019 and was part of celebrating the 50th anniversary of winning the World Series in 1969.
