Citi Field is a stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens. Completed in, it is the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. Citi Field was built as a replacement for the formerly adjacent Shea Stadium, which opened in next to the site of the 1964–1965 World's Fair.
Citi Field was designed by Populous and is named after Citigroup, a New York financial services company which purchased the naming rights. The $850 million baseball park was funded with $615 million in public subsidies, including the sale of New York City municipal bonds which are to be repaid by the Mets plus interest. The payments will offset property taxes for the lifetime of the park. The Mets are receiving $20 million annually from Citibank in exchange for naming the stadium Citi Field. The entire public cost is being borne by city and state taxpayers in New York.
The first game at Citi Field was on March 29, 2009, with a college baseball game between St. John's and Georgetown. The Mets played their first two games at the ballpark on April 3 and April 4, against the Boston Red Sox as charity exhibition games. The first regular season home game was played on April 13,, against the San Diego Padres. Citi Field hosted the 2013 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, marking the second time the Mets have hosted the event (the first being in 1964, the inaugural season of Shea Stadium).