THE MEADOWLANDS STADIUM: THE LATEST NEWS - AN EARLIER BREAKING GROUND DATE!

[BaumerJet]

Jets and Giants close to breaking ground

Friday, March 23, 2007

By JOHN BRENNAN

STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK -- The New York Jets and Giants expect to break ground on their Meadowlands football stadium in just six weeks, Jets President Jay Cross said Thursday at a sports business conference in Manhattan.

The May 1 groundbreaking is about a month sooner than club executives previously estimated, and Cross said during a panel discussion at the World Congress of Sports that the teams still expect to begin play at the replacement for Giants Stadium in the fall of 2010.

The two National Football League teams are footing the lion's share of the $1.4 billion construction costs, with the NFL chipping in $300 million. But the teams may recoup a huge chunk of that investment from both a naming-rights deal and an innovative plan to have four "cornerstone partners" in addition to the overall naming rights winner, Cross told the audience.

Four 5,000-square-foot scoreboards, in the corners of the stadium, would promote a different cornerstone partner, with the each partner also likely to receive 60 to 100 season tickets in its corner as part of the deal.

Cross didn't discuss naming-rights prices, but he said the opportunities for corporations go well beyond the chance to put naming rights on the new stadium and on the Meadowlands Sports Complex.

"We're the NFL, so that's a premium, and we're in New York, so there's a premium for New York, and you're getting two teams instead of one -- and well, you may not have to pay twice, but you pay more than once," Cross said.

Cross wasn't the only one making geographically challenged comments. The panel discussion in which he participated was titled, "New York, New York," even though the other panelists all were executives of New Jersey-based teams: Jeff Vanderbeek of the Devils, Brett Yormark of the Nets and Nick Sakiewicz of the Red Bulls.

The Giants and Jets have yet to make architectural renderings of the new stadium public.

"We've been focused on trying to get the design complete enough to allow us to produce renderings that are worth showing," Cross said. "It's just a constant work in progress. There will be 82,000 or 83,000 seats, and we will mimic the seating bowl from Giants Stadium. But other than that, there won't be many similarities to the new place."

Sakiewicz said that Red Bull Park is scheduled to open in Harrison in July 2008, adding that preparation work for driving piles to build the 25,000-seat soccer stadium will begin in about two weeks. He said the stadium will be expandable to 40,000 or 50,000 seats, a concept he said is likely to become more prevalent in stadium designs.

E-mail: brennan@northjersey.com

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What's next

The Jets and Giants have a few logistical hurdles left before they begin work on their new football stadium. Their goals:

Next week -- Obtain approval from National Football League rivals during league meetings in Phoenix on their plan to borrow more than $1 billion to build the stadium.

Mid-April -- Get final environmental approvals from the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and other state agencies.

April 25 -- Receive final master-plan approval for the stadium design from the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority's board.

May 1 -- Break ground.

Copyright

[Maxman]

Four 5,000-square-foot scoreboards, in the corners of the stadium, would promote a different cornerstone partner, with the each partner also likely to receive 60 to 100 season tickets in its corner as part of the deal.

Let's buy two. The JetNation.com Endzone. Who's with me?????

You guys pay, I will deliver the check and supply the hamburgers before the game!

[faba]

We are at the mercy of the NFL owners and the NJ Sports Authority- selling our soul to get a new stadium.

[AfterBurner10]

Damn are they going to sell the naming rights to the bathrooms and toliet seat too?? Just think you are taking a dump and you go for the TP and all of a sudden you hear "Thank you for whiping your ass with Charmin"

It makes me wanna puke with these billionaires like WJ squeeze as much as they can out of the government and the little guy when they themselves could pay for most of the stadium out of their own pocket.

[Jetme23]

ID rather see this stadium project fail...so they can FINALLY put it in Long Island.....Jesus.

[joiseyjet]

Damn are they going to sell the naming rights to the bathrooms and toliet seat too?? Just think you are taking a dump and you go for the TP and all of a sudden you hear "Thank you for whiping your ass with Charmin"

It makes me wanna puke with these billionaires like WJ squeeze as much as they can out of the government and the little guy when they themselves could pay for most of the stadium out of their own pocket.

Why are U complaineing ,i`m thrilled WOODY & THE GIANTS are doing everything they can to raise revenue that will lower the fan PSL...Good job guys

[faba]

the more ancillary money they can get for naming rights the better for the final costs to the fans in a new stadium. Try to stretch out every dollar to be gained from it.

[AfterBurner10]

Why are U complaineing ,i`m thrilled WOODY & THE GIANTS are doing everything they can to raise revenue that will lower the fan PSL...Good job guys

Are you kidding me, since when do owners care about saving money for fans. Woddy knows he has a waiting list of people ready to buy season tickets so he can charge whatever he wants for PSL's. We are also talking about the guy who charged people 50 bucks just to STAY on the waiting list. So you might want to wake up from lal la land.

[joiseyjet]

Are you kidding me, since when do owners care about saving money for fans. Woddy knows he has a waiting list of people ready to buy season tickets so he can charge whatever he wants for PSL's. We are also talking about the guy who charged people 50 bucks just to STAY on the waiting list. So you might want to wake up from lal la land.

I do believe that Woody is doing everthing he can to keep the PSL down & keep the real fans I base this on conversations with him at road games over the last few years talks with him as he walks through the parkinglot at the meadows and a phone call to the public realations office last week . Now the $50 fee for the waiting list makes sure real fans are on the list & not `people who sign up just cauuse the jets have a good season or 2 or when somebody like parcells became coach ,plus the $50 is applied to your season tickets when you get picked & if you kinda forget where you are on that list & all of a sudden get that letter that tells you you`ve been picked & got a few weeks to come up with $1,500 -$3,000, you may be thankfull you had the few bucks put aside to lower that cost ......

[4HCrew]

Joisey have you learned nothing? What is Woody going to tell you in the parking lot, "Yes Chris I am going to charge you out of your a$$ for PSLs" It is all lip service. The one thing Woody has successfully done is continously raise ticket prices. It will ALWAYS come down to the money with Mr Johnson

[Maxman]

I do believe that Woody is doing everthing he can to keep the PSL down & keep the real fans I base this on conversations with him at road games over the last few years talks with him as he walks through the parkinglot at the meadows and a phone call to the public realations office last week . Now the $50 fee for the waiting list makes sure real fans are on the list & not `people who sign up just cauuse the jets have a good season or 2 or when somebody like parcells became coach ,plus the $50 is applied to your season tickets when you get picked & if you kinda forget where you are on that list & all of a sudden get that letter that tells you you`ve been picked & got a few weeks to come up with $1,500 -$3,000, you may be thankfull you had the few bucks put aside to lower that cost ......

Woody charged the $50 so he can see if real fans are on the waiting list. This way when they insert the PSL fees they have a better feel for how many people they really have waiting. You know because of all the people that canceled.

[BaumerJet]

Woody charged the $50 so he can see if real fans are on the waiting list. This way when they insert the PSL fees they have a better feel for how many people they really have waiting. You know because of all the people that canceled.

I agree - especially if he cared so much for the fans - we all would have not had our gameday tickets increased an additional $5.00 per game this year!

[Maxman]

I agree - especially if he cared so much for the fans - we all would have not had our gameday tickets increased an additional $5.00 per game this year!

I think mine went up $10 actually. I thought so anyhow.

Unreal.

Randy Lange -- there is a lot riding on your new job on NYJets.com -- make us want to pay. Convince us Randy, lol.

[4HCrew]

it will always come down to the money with the Jets...that is it

[joiseyjet]

Joisey have you learned nothing? What is Woody going to tell you in the parking lot, "Yes Chris I am going to charge you out of your a$$ for PSLs" It is all lip service. The one thing Woody has successfully done is continously raise ticket prices. It will ALWAYS come down to the money with Mr Johnson

They usually go up when we make the playoffs & Tyson you know as well as I do our prices are pretty much in line with the larger market teams ticklets & i`m trying to keep the faith hoping he won`t price me out of my tickets with a enourmous PSL ,these score boards tell me he`s trying to raise the revenue..PS.tyson I`m going to that taste of the NFL dinner in NY ,hopefully I`ll hear something there to give me some more insite on this...

[faba]

The Giants have raised ticket prices like 5 out of 6 years I remmber reading in the jersey paper so do not single out Woody for the rise in prices- it is across the board.

[flgreen]

it will always come down to the money with the Jets...that is it

It will always come down to money with ANYBODY who spends 600 million $ on a business investment.

[4HCrew]

So I guess Leon Hess was just stupid for never raising prices while the Giants did? Hey Joisey what are the chances of you getting me Drick's auto????

[joiseyjet]

So I guess Leon Hess was just stupid for never raising prices while the Giants did? Hey Joisey what are the chances of you getting me Drick's auto????

If he`s there pretty good I`d imagine cause I went for the VIP ticket that gives me access an hour earlier then the $250 ticket people...But I`ll probably get a few helmets signed & have the Elks give them to the Handicapp kids at their summer camp...

[4HCrew]

ok well if I can get you a helmet please let me know....

[Gainzo]

The Giants have raised ticket prices like 5 out of 6 years I remmber reading in the jersey paper so do not single out Woody for the rise in prices- it is across the board.

Then why have the Pats not raised prices in 4 years?

When Gillette opened in 2002 my tix cost $99. They have been at $125 since 2004 (I sit 9 rows from the field on the 10 yard line).

No PSL's either!

I'm thinking that the Jets and Giants will continue to raise prices until the new place opens in order to condition the fans for the inevitable sticker shock that is going to come with the new Stadium.