Mets Break Ground For Citi Field

Quoting the Mets first manager, Casey Stengel, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff told the crowd gathered for the groundbreaking of the new $800 million Mets stadium that, &#8220Ability is the art of getting credit for all the home runs someone else hits.”
&#8220We all know in the case of this new ball park,” Doctoroff continued, &#8220that someone else is the Wilpons - Jeff and Fred,” Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Mets, respectively.
For the Wilpon family - Fred, son Jeff, and wife, Judy - the groundbreaking on Monday, November 13, marked the second occasion that all three family members attended a groundbreaking for a Mets stadium. At the groundbreaking of Shea Stadium in 1961, Fred was invited to attend along with his wife, one of the longest-tenured Mets employees. At the time, Judy was pregnant with Jeff Wilpon.
Forty-five years later, the Wilpons broke ground on the new stadium - Citi Field - which will be sponsored by Citigroup to the tune of $20 million per year for the next 20 years.
&#8220Citigroup has just won the World Series of sports sponsorships,” said Lewis Kaden, Chief Administrative Officer for Citigroup. &#8220We are very excited about all the different aspects of our joining together with Sterling Equities and the Mets. We’re delighted to have our name on this wonderful stadium.”  
The new stadium, in part modeled after Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, will be built in what is now the parking lot for Shea Stadium. The main entrance will named the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, after the baseball legend who broke the color barrier when he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
In addition to a statue of Robinson placed in the center of the Rotunda, his story will be inscribed into the walls of the Rotunda as an honor to Robinson's accomplishments &#8220not only as a great baseball player, but as one of the great Americans,” said Fred Wilpon.
&#8220The more the world knows and adopts Jackie’s ideals, the better we all will be,” Fred Wilpon continued.
Robinson's widow, Rachel Robinson, who was on hand for the groundbreaking, praised the plans to honor her husband and thanked the Wilpons.
&#8220The statue of Jack and the experience of passing through the Rotunda will serve as a source of inspiration for future generations, and as a powerful reminder of Jack's commitment to excellence and social progress,” she said.
As part of the deal for the new stadium, Citigroup and the Mets will provide funding to the Jackie Robinson Foundation - founded in 1973 by Rachel to give four-year college scholarships to minority students - for the Jackie Robinson Foundation Museum and Education Center to be built in lower Manhattan.
Citigroup will also buy airtime on SportsNet New York (SNY), the Mets TV station launched in March 2006. In addition, the banking giant pledged to play an active part in the local community.
State, city and local politicians - Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn - praised the agreement for the new stadium as one that will have a great economic impact on the local economy and provide 6,000 jobs, with a portion of jobs and contracts dedicated to women- and minority-owned businesses and workers.
&#8220This new place will give us an awful lot of jobs in the city. It will give us a new venue for other kinds of events,” Bloomberg said. &#8220It's going to benefit Queens. It is going to benefit the City. It's going to benefit Willets Point.”
Jeff Wilpon said that construction plans for the new stadium are currently on schedule to open in 2009.