Touchdown Theory
← Stadiums

MetLife Stadium

East Rutherford, NJ
Home of
New York GiantsNew York Jets

Playing conditions

Roof
Open air

Fully exposed to wind, cold, and rain.

Surface
Fieldturf

Artificial turf.

Elevation
3 ft

Low elevation, with no meaningful altitude effect.

The venue

Capacity82,500
Opened2010
Time zoneEastern
FormerlyNew Meadowlands Stadium

How this venue plays

This is an open-air venue, so the game is exposed to its environment and the forecast is part of the projection. Wind is the largest single effect, pulling down the passing and kicking games; cold suppresses offense more gradually; and rain shows up mostly in ball security and play calling.

Sitting this far north, the venue also swings hard by month. An early-season game here is a different environment from a December one, and the model reads the forecast for the specific date rather than applying a season-long average.

The field is artificial turf, which plays faster and more consistently than natural grass, particularly in wet conditions where a grass surface degrades through the game.

The measured effect of these conditions on a specific game appears alongside that game once the season is live.