Giants Stadium, 1976-2010

Giants Stadium opened in 1976 and was home to the New York Giants until 2009. The New York Jets also played at this stadium from 1984 to 2010. Before this stadium was built, the Giants played home games at Yankee Stadium while the Jets shared Shea Stadium with the Mets. This stadium has had its share of memorable games, and some historical milestones. Before the Jets joined the Giants at Giants Stadium, the record for most games played in one stadium belonged to Wrigley Field, when the Bears and Cubs shared the stadium. They Jets and Giants broke that record prior to the demolition of the stadium in February 2010.

This stadium has hosted different concerts, and sporting events. Most of the memorable ones have come from the sports aspect. In the early years the Jets had won Super Bowl III, in Miami, and when they showed up in East Rutherford in 1984 the Giants were the only ones making history in the stadium. The two share the stadium because there is not enough room in New York City to build a football stadium. Both teams were making their own history, but there were a couple of games that would go down as some of the best games ever played at Giants Stadium.

            Some of these games would include the Monday night miracle when the New York Jets hosted the Miami Dolphins. The Jets came back from a 30 point deficit and won the game in over time. It was the first time in the history of the NFL that a team has come back after being down by 30 points in the 4th quarter. The Jets have had many memorable games in the stadium, but so have the Giants. One of their more memorable games came as a loss in 2007, but they gave the New England Patriots a run for their money. It was the final game of the 2007 season and the Patriots were coming in with an undefeated record and no one gave them a chance to win. They ended up losing by only 3 points, and then later that year they ended up beating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII (42). Another Notable moment in the Stadiums History was in 1977 Pelé played the final game of his career.

            The stadium has hosted more than just the National Football League teams. Back in the earlier years the stadium has hosted NCAA basketball games, Major League Soccer games, XFL games and the NY/NJ Hitmen, and the USFL team and games until the league folded over. The Stadium even hosted Lacrosse triple-header event from 2009 to when the new stadium opened in 2013. Throughout the years this Stadium has seen its share of different teams and leagues. The stadium hosted the Marlboro Cup from 1988 to 1990, and even hosted some World Cup matches in 1994. There has been a lot of history that has occurred in this stadium from the players that played for the teams such as, Lawrence Taylor, Vinny Testaverde, Chad Pennington, Curtis Martin, that’s just to name a few, that’s not including the players that played before them or the coaches of the those teams. Pope John Paul II even made an appearance, and it would go down as the largest event the stadium ever saw.  

            The Stadium was starting to fall apart and they knew it was time to build a new one. So after the Jets had played the final game of the 2009 season, the stadium started to be deconstructed. Throughout the years the stadium has seen many memorable moments and that history will never go away even though the stadium has been demolished.

-http://www.stadiumsofprofootball.com/past/GiantsStadium.html -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giants_Stadium (Needed for General Background)