BaumerJet Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Jets officials make play for Giants Stadium Surprising offer to N.J. heightens football's 2-team, 2-state drama Wednesday, March 16, 2005 BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN Star-Ledger Staff http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-20/111095613979140.xml The Jets have offered to buy Giants Stadium, acting Gov. Richard Codey said late yesterday, adding another bizarre twist to the high- stakes negotiations over the future of professional football in New Jersey. On a day when New York officials boasted they were on the verge of snaring a Super Bowl game for the Jets' proposed West Side stadium, New Jersey's governor said the team has offered at least $120 million for the state- owned facility in the Meadowlands. State officials consider a deal to sell the 28-year-old stadium to the Jets the longest of long shots. But if talks proceed, it sets up the possibility of the Giants becoming tenants in the stadium that bears their name. Jets President Jay Cross made the verbal offer Friday to George Zoffinger, chief executive of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the state agency that controls the Meadowlands Sports Complex, Codey said. "I'm aware of the dialogue that has occurred between Jay Cross and George Zoffinger," Codey said. New Jersey officials were taking it as a sign that the Jets' West Side plan, opposed by the owner of Madison Square Garden, is in peril -- which a Jets spokeswoman denied. "Last week we were supposedly buying the Garden; this week we are supposedly buying the Meadowlands," said Marissa Shorenstein, the team spokeswoman. "Nothing has changed. The New York Jets have made it unequivocally clear that we have no intention of building a new home anywhere but on the far West Side." Making a play for Giants Stadium, though, could give the Jets a fallback should opposition to building a domed stadium over Manhattan rail yards force their hand. The Jets have played in Giants Stadium for 24 years, and while their financial deal is similar to the Giants', they have long been considered secondary tenants. This latest move could be a way of sending a message: If the two teams have to share a new stadium in the Meadowlands, the seats won't all be the blue and red colors of the Giants. The Giants' current lease runs out in 2026, while the Jets' ends in 2009. Any negotiations over a Jets deal would have to work out the sticky issue of stadium improvements that the state promised the Giants. The price tag for that work could hit $300 million. It isn't clear if, during the initial talks, the Jets discussed how they would tackle any of the improvements. Giants officials could not be reached for comment last night. The Jets and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have spent the past five weeks waging a desperate battle to save the proposal for a $1.7 billion stadium, which would serve as a site of the 2012 Summer Olympics if the city is awarded the Games. An announcement is due this summer, but support for more than $600 million in public subsidies has been waning. Negotiations between the Giants and New Jersey over a new stadium on this side of the Hudson River broke down last week. After that, the Jets and city leaders began talking to the Giants about bringing the Giants back to New York, too. The Super Bowl adds another wrinkle, because attracting the 2010 game had been a major part of the rationale for a new Giants Stadium. New York officials said yesterday the message from the National Football League was clear: Build a domed stadium and the Super Bowl will come to Manhattan in 2010. "Unless we build the Sports and Convention Center, New York won't get the Super Bowl and will lose out on hundreds of jobs, more than $200 million in economic activity and nearly $30 million in tax revenue," Bloomberg said, using the formal name of the West Side project. NFL officials did not return phone calls seeking comment. New Jersey officials cried foul, however, claiming the NFL had promised the big game to the Meadowlands. Zoffinger accused the NFL of trying to extort money from taxpayers. "We've been operating under the assumption they would keep their word and work with us on a Super Bowl," he said. "For them to use it as a carrot for a stadium in New York that is one of the worst possible sites for a facility in this country is a little disingenuous." John Raskin, spokesperson for the Hell's Kitchen/Hudson Yards Alliance, a coalition of West Side elected officials and community leaders, said the possibility of the 2010 Super Bowl in Manhattan does not change his group's opinion. "Super Bowl or no Super Bowl, the proposed West Side stadium would be an outrageous misuse of more than $1 billion of taxpayer money," Raskin said. New Jersey officials tried yesterday to get talks with the Giants on track. The Giants have offered to spend $700 million on a new stadium and pay the state $6.3 million a year to rent the land. But the talks broke down over Codey's refusal to prohibit the state from taxing specific stadium-related items, such as luxury box leases and ticket sales. Carl Goldberg, chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, met yesterday with Steven Tisch, son of the team's co- owner, Robert Tisch, who has been representing his family's interests. Tisch and Goldberg did not return phone calls, but officials involved with the negotiations said it was unlikely any deal would be reached during the next two weeks because Giants chief executive John Mara is in Hawaii attending an NFL meeting. Mara, whose father, Wellington, owns 50 percent of the team, has been the driving force behind the team's stadium negotiations for several years. The Giants aren't expected to make any substantive moves without his direct involvement. "John Mara is in Hawaii for competition committee meetings this week and league meetings next week," team spokesman Pat Hanlon said earlier in the day. "The bottom line is, do I expect anything given the circumstances? The answer is no." The Hawaii meeting is where the NFL is scheduled to decide Monday on the location of 2010 Super Bowl. Under NFL rules, Super Bowl sites require approval by 24 of the league's 32 owners, who include Mara and Jets owner Robert "Woody" Johnson. A vote to hold the event in New York would be contingent on construction of the West Side stadium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joiseyjet Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 "EVERYONE" Knows this is going to get done in NYC so lets just get it started already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gun Of Bavaria Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 I heard somewhere around today that this rumor is nothing more than a ruse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetfan13 Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 I heard somewhere around today that this rumor is nothing more than a ruse. realy? wonder where you heard that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
124 Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 Boy would I love this. All these years of Giants fans saying "Get out of our house." I'd love to slap on Jets Stadium on the front of that sh*t hole and tell them to get the f out of our house and kick their a$$es to the curb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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