Update: 2/16/2006: The Mets have released some information on their new ballpark. They will draw heavily on Ebbets Field for design ideas including incorporating a rotunda behind home plate for people to gather at. The park will not have a retractable roof. Left field will have a glass-enclosed restaurant for season ticket holders. There will be another eatery for all behind home plate. There will also be 60 suites and standing room for 1,600 people. Part of the upper deck will be covered with a canopy to create another design element and a sense on intimacy. The upper part of the ballpark will have a steel support exterior to remind the City of all of its bridges.

Update: Even though London won the bid to host the 2012 summer games, New York and the Mets will still go ahead with the construction of their new ballpark.

NYC2012 has released plans to build a new stadium for the Mets. The park would open in 2009 for baseball then be converted to hold 80,000 for the Olympics and then back to baseball. While this construction is being done, the Mets would play all of the 2012 season at Yankee Stadium. The extra seats would go to a new stadium being built on Randall's Island.

New York is looking to Atlanta to host the 2012 Olympic Games. What is that supposed to mean? Well, when Atlanta hosted the Olympics in 1996, they converted the Olympic Stadium into a baseball field for the 1997 season. New York is taking this idea and helping the Mets move along their plan for a new stadium next to Shea. Since the Olympics only uses a stadium for 17 days, they encourage cities to find a use for the stadiums post-games. Although Atlanta took $207 million from their $1.7 billion budget to built the park, it would cost significantly more in New York. The estimate is that it would cost $880 million to build a stadium and an addition $242 million to convert it to baseball. It cost the Braves only $40 million for their conversion, which the Braves paid for. The Mets would contribute $700 million for the park.

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