1. Tailgaters, beware.
There’s plenty of room to accommodate your Rex Ryan–size BBQ, but know this: You must have a prepaid permit to park on-site. Season-ticket holders pay $25 per game for the honor, but the general public has to fork over a whopping $50 at Ticketmaster.com.
2. A club among clubs.
Like every new stadium on Earth, there’s no shortage of premium seats here, but the Coach’s Club takes the luxury box to another level. Club “members” can opt to watch the game from an on-field deck five yards behind the home team’s bench.
3. No need to carpool.
An on-site New Jersey Transit station opened last year, providing access to games and concerts from Penn Station, via a transfer in Secaucus ($10.50 round trip; njtransit.com).
4. A taste of Jersey.
The football stadium doesn’t take its food quite as seriously as its baseball rivals across the Hudson. But the options on the upper deck include reliably appetizing pepper-and-egg, below, and Taylor-ham sandwiches.
5. Half-time option No. 1.
Especially in the colder second half of the season, defrost inside one of two slick-looking David Rockwell–designed lounges spanning the sidelines of the 200 level. They’re accessible to anyone with tickets between the goal lines on this deck.
6. A bipolar ballpark.
The Jets and the Giants are equal partners in the stadium, hence the changing team colors on the exterior’s aluminum louvers, and the flip-over racks in the Flagship Store. The shop can go from all things Manning to wall-to-wall Sanchez in minutes.
7. Aim for the blind side.
Starting three hours before kickoff, kids can lay a hit on a tackling dummy or test their passing skills on a mini-field inside the West Gate. For the less contact-minded child, there are Ping-Pong and chess games on the plaza between the gates and the stadium.
8. Half-time option No. 2.
The climate-controlled Captain Morgan Club on the concourse behind section 143 is one of the few full bars open to all fans. It’s nothing fancy, but stomach-warming Captain-and-Cokes flow freely here.
9. The Jumbotron equation.
There’s no screen as big as the one in Dallas, but even the nosebleed seats have unobstructed views of the replay boards. The stadium contains more LED-video space than any gridiron in the country, most notably four 118-by-30-foot scoreboards—one in each corner.