I think the City of New York and the Jets should use a public design process, where the people get to develop a design for the stadium, and suggest other kinds of uses to go in it as well. The problem is that the New York people seem to feel -- to read the pulse -- as if they are left out of the matter of a large, life changing development project.

As for the MTA land issue, Doctoroff and his people should work a deal using Tax Increment Financing and pass part of the revenues to the MTA over a 50-year period. That will settle the land price matter. They could offer $180 million and spread the cost over 50 years.

Visit the Sports Business Simulations site for our coverage of the stadium issue. There's more info there, at www.sbs-world.com

It looks like someone took a huge, ugly building and put it in a hamster cage.

I hope the new and uglier design is part of a clever plot to sabotage the NYC2012 bid from the inside.

Hosting the Olympics is always a fiscal nightmare and NYC isn't going to reap much psychic reward like Athens or Salt Lake City. The last thing this city needs is more bills to pay and we're not exactly lacking in international recognition or civic pride, are we?

At the end of the day, no matter what gets built over the railyard, someone will complain about how the development is out of proportion with the existing community fabric. I agree with Alesia, progress is better than existing conditions.

T.A.'s point regarding a desing competition is also well taken. A team assembled by the Newman Real Estate Institute offers an interesting alternative.

http://www.newmaninstitute.org/flip/home.html

Check it out these guys are into monorails!

Crap is crap and this proves crap can get crappier.

I agree with Moe. I hope that the associated towers that would go up as part of the West Side development wouldn't compete against the Empire State Building's visual dominance of the blocks adjacent to 34th Street. Mucking up Manhattan's longitudinal skyline would be unfortunate.

i don't like it either, but it's not because it's po-mo... it's just not interesting (probably not masterbatory enough).

as always, people are scared of the new. then, when the new thing they hate gets built, it eventually becomes the icon they brag about. they adopt it as their point of difference and a symbol of their originality. we live in contemporary times and contemporary architecture reflects the current state of our culture and technology. i think building a "classic style" is lying about who we are. it's faux finish on a massive scale. it's that vinyl woodgrain sticker over particle board.

I hope the renderer is not insinuating that there will be vertical towers that dwarf the Empire State Building.

Bring Back Ebbets Field!!

;)

The only thing that would look more horrifying than a postmodern-style stadium is a classical-style stadium. Do we really want to rebuild Soldier Field on the West Side? Maybe above the entrance they could carve "Woe to All Ye Who Enter Here Without a Ditka-Style CookieDuster" in Latin. A big block of stone with columns and marble busts of George Pataki ought to look great from Hoboken.

If they're going to be building this stadium with even a penny of public funds, why don't they just open things up for a design competition?

Craptastic! You notice the little windmills ("It will be a very Green building") have disapeared? This thing is a freakin joke and Bloomie should dump it. I have said it before- put it in Queens or someplace where fans can tailgate, traffic wont get so screwed, etc. We are all getting fleeced.

Re: architects being unable to design nice buildings. A lame excuse, but they are probably taking orders. And frankly, trying to fit all that stuff on small boxy site gives you a pretty boxy building without a whole lot of blending at the edges. But damn- it is a beast.

While I don't think the stadium is a beatiful structure, I hope it's built and we get the olympics in. I think it's only good for the city to make these kind of investments. They're long term and difficult to get done, but they make the city a better place. Every day for the last 10 years I've walked by that railyard to get home and I don't think anything will ever become of it. There has never been any interest and I'm always nervous walking through my own neighborhood. I think this may not be the best design possible, but it's an improvement that I hope will reinvigorate my part of town.

Caveman - So progress occurs in a straight line? All architectural styles are equally valid? So it's not the case that some forms of architecture are bad for human psychology, and degrade a healthy urban form?

Just because houses with wood frames and plumbing might be better than lean-tos does not entail that po-mo, International Style boxes, etc. are better than more classical designs.

Well, the Arizona stadium is certainly different. Looks like a big tent over a fairly standard stadium.

Does anyone know if Arizona gets hit with Tornados?

I'm hardly a caveman, but I'm not fond of modern designs either

Why do architects insist on building these houses with wood frames and doors and plumbing? My thatched lean-to and dung-hole work just fine, thanks.

for what it's worth, i like the arizona cardinal's new stadium design. they also have a retractable roof and field.

I'm opposed to the stadium either way, but I have to wonder -- why can't architects build anything graceful and classical anymore? Why is everything they design gimmicky, masturbatory, post-post-modern schlock?

Reading the newsday article, what the Jets want to pay is about $5.85 cents per square foot and thats prime waterfront property in Manhattan. I don't even think public housing goes for that little. I say if your going to build it, the MTA should ask for the going rate of 1000square foot apartment on the water .

I'm not sure what's worse - the stadium itself or the rendering of the skyline, which looks like something out of a bad 80's sci fi movie. And this is actually worse than the last design.

Can we just get rejected from the Olympics and lock the Jets back in Jersey already? This is ridiculous. I hate the Jets and their smarmy-looking businessmen. Their civic planning is like Hackett's play calling. Screw em.

And it's a shame to see Bloomberg stand behind this monstrosity of a project. He's using his political capital to back a slow-moving disaster. Otherwise, he hasn't been that bad of a mayor - and if he straightens up with this plan and tells the Jets to hit the road, maybe he won't be remembered in the future as a bad mayor.

Too Funny!

My first thought was that this was a Giant cover for a Golf Driving Range...

IMO, It's still Fugly.