Giants Stadium

[STT757]

Giants and NJSEA Reach Agreement

Deal paves way for renovations, possible Super Bowl for Giants Stadium.

By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

September 23, 2003

East Rutherford, N.J. - The Giants and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority today reached an agreement in principle that resolves a long standing disagreement relative to the extent of renovations to be done to Giants Stadium and who would pay for them. The renovations - which will not require any new taxpayer dollars - make it possible for Giants Stadium to remain in contention as a potential Super Bowl host.

"We think it's a good deal for the state, certainly for the Giants and certainly for Giants fans, because it gives us a mechanism for renovating Giants Stadium and bringing it up to a state-of-the-art condition, without any taxpayer dollars being spent,"
- Giants COO John Mara
A memorandum of understanding, that will become the basis for a new lease arrangement keeping the Giants at Giants Stadium until 2026, will require the Giants to renovate Giants Stadium at their own expense while leaving management of and scheduling for non-NFL events with the NJSEA.

"We think it's a good deal for the state, certainly for the Giants and certainly for Giants fans, because it gives us a mechanism for renovating Giants Stadium and bringing it up to a state-of-the-art condition, without any taxpayer dollars being spent," said Giants executive vice president and chief operating officer John Mara. "The end result of that is we will have a much better venue for our fans to be able to watch the games."

Mara said he in an "ideal world" the renovations would begin following the 2004 NFL season and take approximately two years to complete.

The renovations will include the widening of concourses, and the installation of club seats and additional suites.

"We have reached an agreement that resolves our concerns about protecting the interests of New Jersey taxpayers," said NJSEA President George Zoffinger. "Significant renovations will be made to Giants Stadium that will satisfy the Giants' interest in significant physical improvements to Giants Stadium without using a penny from taxpayers. The Authority will continue to be able to attract and schedule the spectacular kinds of non-NFL events that brought in nearly a million people in 2003 alone. In addition, the renovations will make Giants Stadium more attractive for a Super Bowl bid."

There are no guarantees that Giants Stadium will host a Super Bowl. That decision is made by the NFL's 32 owners. But they would not have considering putting the league's premier event in the stadium without the renovations agreed upon today.

For the Giants, the extra revenue they will derive as a result of the agreement will improve their chances of fielding a championship team.

"We think that this deal gives us the opportunity to remain competitive with the other teams in the league," Mara said. "The Super Bowl is a nice side benefit that we now have a chance to achieve."

The agreement shifts revenues to the Giants, along with the responsibility to maintain and pay all operating expenses for the stadium throughout the term of the lease. The Giants are required under the agreement to pay the NJSEA an annual fee for use of the stadium, with adjustments every three years in accordance with fluctuations in the Cost Price Index. In addition, the NJSEA will retain 50% of non-NFL revenues and will receive a percentage of any naming rights payments by the Giants during the term of the lease.

Zoffinger said the agreement was consistent with the mandate given him by New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey. He said the governor insisted that he make every effort to draw the 2008 Super Bowl to New Jersey without additional costs to the taxpayers and without ceding any control of the Meadowlands facility that would limit the quality or quantity of non-NFL events.

Gov. McGreevey said he was pleased with his understanding of the proposed agreement and applauded both the NJSEA and the Giants for their efforts in bringing the negotiations to a positive conclusion.

"I believe the agreement is not just a good deal, but is good public policy," McGreevey said. "I appreciate that the Giants not only found a way to meet their needs but also respected ours.

"I told George (Zoffinger) that I expected him to handle the negotiations in a fiscally-responsible, businesslike manner," McGreevey said. "I told him I wanted to get a deal done that would not bruise any taxpayer pocketbooks but that would make Giants Stadium the absolute best venue for the 2008 Super Bowl. Together, both sides seem to have accomplished just that.

"These new privately-funded stadium renovations, coupled with the scheduled opening of the Xanadu development and our new rail link access, should make the Meadowlands complex an ideal setting not just for the Super Bowl for an unlimited assortment of world class sports and entertainment options well into the 21st Century," he said.

http://www.giants.com

[NYatKNIGHT]

As a NY Giants season ticket holder I'm glad for the renovations, but this new agreement that "will require the Giants to renovate Giants Stadium at their own expense" means only one thing to me; that the fans will pay for a lot of it. Every renovation or stadium improvement so far has been preceded by higher ticket prices, higher concession prices and higher parking fees. :x

[Zoe]

While it is unfortunate that the owners of this team will most likely pass the expense on to the fans that visit the stadium, it is far better than having tax payers foot the bill. I do not watch sporting events and while I do recognize some of the positive economic impacts that a project like this can have on an area, the money could be far better spent on other infrastructure projects that effect the greater population.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Well I definitely agree with that. I'm only complaining that "their own expense" is passed on to the fans one way or another.

When I lived in Denver the citizens voted to foot the bill for a new Mile High Stadium. They continuously blocked efforts for other new projects despite the fact that the state ranks near the bottom on every list from test scores to poverty. Revamp health care? Expand rail service? Build new schools? No! But a stadium for the Broncos equipped with luxery boxes and louder sound system? Of course! I hear what you're saying Zoe.

[Kris]

July 9, 2004

Giants Consider Building New Meadowlands Stadium

By RICHARD LEZIN JONES

NEWARK, July 8 - The president of the agency that owns Giants Stadium confirmed on Thursday that it and the New York Giants were "taking a look" at building a new stadium.

George R. Zoffinger, president of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, said that the team was also looking into the option of making extensive renovations to add more premium seating and other amenities to the stadium, which is 28 years old.

According to current estimates, renovations to the stadium could cost about $300 million. Building a new stadium - the team and the authority are considering a site within a half-mile of Giants Stadium - could cost about $600 million.

"The thought was that this is one of the things we should look at, since we're spending a lot of money already," Mr. Zoffinger said in an interview. "That's all we're doing is taking a look."

Mr. Zoffinger said that by this fall the team and the authority should arrive at a decision.

Word that the move was being considered was reported Thursday in The Record of Hackensack.

If the authority proceeds with plans for a new stadium, it will join a collection of three other major sports construction projects being planned in the New York area.

The Jets, the team that has shared Giants Stadium with the Giants since 1984, is vying for its own 75,000-seat, $1.4 billion stadium on the West Side of Manhattan. Officials with the New Jersey Nets are planning a basketball arena in Brooklyn, and New Jersey Devils executives are eyeing a hockey arena in Newark.

Officials with the Giants said their decision on a Meadowlands stadium would not hinge on the fate of the Jets' West Side project, which is well along in planning but has been criticized for its location and cost to taxpayers.

"I don't really think it affects us one way or the other," said John K. Mara, the Giants' executive vice president. "This is a big enough market that it can support two stadiums."

Mr. Mara said the team's concerns went beyond the mere cost of building a new stadium.

"If we do a renovation, parts of the building are still going to be 28 years old," he said. Mr. Mara noted that other factors to consider are possible seat removal in a renovation or logistical issues raised by a new project.

"We want to do our due diligence," Mr. Mara said.

Paying for whatever changes take place at the Giants Stadium is also a consideration. Although the Jets' plan calls for $600 million of the new stadium's cost to be financed with state and city money, both Mr. Zoffinger and Gov. James E. McGreevey have repeatedly said that they would not use tax dollars to subsidize sports construction projects.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

November 11, 2004

Turnover in Trenton, and Hope for Stadium

By RONALD SMOTHERS

NEWARK, Nov. 10 - Calling it a "new vision" for the Meadowlands sports complex, State Senator Richard J. Codey, who will take over as New Jersey's acting governor next week, is exploring a plan that would allow the New York Giants to build a new stadium there.

Through a spokeswoman, Kelley Heck, Senator Codey, an avid sports fan, said on Wednesday that he was open to the idea of a new stadium to replace the current 28-year-old stadium. The team would pay the bulk of the estimated $850 million price tag, but the state would be willing to shoulder some of the cost, a state official involved with the discussions said.

The plan represents a sharp departure from outgoing Gov. James E. McGreevey's adamant opposition to using public funds for sports venues.

Senator Codey said through Ms. Heck that "this is a new vision for the Meadowlands. I say this recognizing that a deal will still need to be struck with the state and any of the teams involved."

The proposal for a new stadium, first reported Wednesday by The Star-Ledger of Newark, will represent a change in the team's plans for the site.

The team was close to finishing a plan for a $375 million renovation of the stadium with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which owns and operates the stadium. Under the plan, the team would finance the renovation, but the sports authority would retain its control of the stadium and a share of the revenues. But that plan was never the team's first choice. The team preferred to build a new stadium that the team would own, according to team officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The McGreevey administration took a hard line in talks with the Giants, seeking to guard the authority's control of the stadium and the revenue it generates. But with Mr. McGreevey's impending resignation, scheduled for Nov. 15, and Mr. Codey's assumption of the office for the 14 months remaining in Mr. McGreevey's term, the Giants have a more willing listener in Trenton.

George Zoffinger, president of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, said in recent weeks that officials with the Giants had told him that they wanted to re-examine the potential for a new stadium. He said Mr. McGreevey would have been open to the idea of a new stadium, but remained firmly opposed to using public funds.

"But Codey and I have been speaking with the Giants, who are our primary tenants, and we want to work together," he said.

John Mara, a member of the family that co-owns the Giants with Robert Tisch, said, "I hope to be meeting with the governor in the next few weeks, and we will share our ideas directly with him."

The Meadowlands is the site of a horse racing track, the Continental Airlines Arena and the stadium. The race track has been struggling financially. The New Jersey Nets and the Devils, who now call the arena home, plan to move elsewhere. The Nets' new owners plan to move the team to an arena planned for Brooklyn, and the new owners of the Devils hope the team will play in an arena planned for Newark.

The stadium has long been the jewel of the Meadowlands, and while the Giants claim the 76,000-seat stadium as their home field, it is also home to the New York Jets and the Metro Stars of Major League Soccer. The Jets' lease expires in 2007, and New York City is considering a plan to build a stadium for the team on Manhattan's West Side. The Metro Stars have been negotiating a move to a proposed stadium of their own in Harrison, N.J., but financing for such a project has not been assured.

The McGreevey administration recently approved plans to build a $1.3 billion sports and family entertainment complex at the Meadowlands called Meadowlands Xanadu, which would be adjacent to the stadium site on land around Continental Arena.

Mr. Zoffinger said Xanadu, a project scheduled for completion in 2007 that he had personally championed, would not be affected by discussions over a new stadium. But Giants officials have long expressed concern about the impact of the new complex on parking on game days and are expected to press those concerns in any discussions with the Codey administration, said one team official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

December 22, 2004

Giants Offer to Pay for Stadium; Ask Full Control and No Rent

By RONALD SMOTHERS and RICHARD SANDOMIR

NEWARK, Dec. 21 - The owners of the New York Giants have offered to pay the entire cost, estimated at $700 million, to build a stadium for the football team on state land at the Meadowlands, in return for operating the stadium rent-free and controlling all events there year round, a team official said Tuesday.

"We are prepared to go the new stadium route, provided we reach the right agreement," said John Mara, confirming the latest development in weeks of negotiations between the team and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the state-created agency that owns the land and the sporting complexes at the Meadowlands.

The proposal, first reported in The Star-Ledger of Newark, comes as Acting Governor Richard J. Codey is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with the team owners and sports authority officials as part of the ongoing negotiations to make a stadium deal.

The plan represents a shift in the team's position. Earlier it had asked the state to contribute to the construction of a stadium. Under that proposal, the new stadium, like the one there now, would remain under state ownership and would be leased to the team for the football season.

A spokesman for Mr. Codey, Sean Darcy, would not comment on Mr. Mara's proposal, except to say that the negotiations were continuing. Carl Goldberg, the chairman of the Sports and Exposition Authority, who has been the lead state negotiator with the Giants, and George Zoffinger, the president of the authority, also declined to discuss details of the talks.

Asked about the effect of the reports on the talks scheduled for Wednesday, Mr. Goldberg said, "We have a meeting with an agenda of items to be discussed, and I contemplate going through those without any impact from these reports whatsoever."

Mr. Mara would not discuss details of the talks either, but some officials involved in the negotiations said state officials were balking at the Giants' insistence on control of all events in the stadium and their proposal to use it without paying rent.

The Giants, who have been insisting that their 28-year-old stadium is outdated, had been in negotiations with the sports authority over a proposal to invest $300 million in renovation of the existing stadium. With Gov. James E. McGreevey adamant about not putting state dollars into sports projects, team officials resigned themselves to a renovation deal, even though they really wanted a new stadium.

The McGreevey administration, instead, put its political clout - and tax dollars - behind a $1.3 billion plan to broaden the use of the Meadowlands from sports - football, basketball and horse racing - to a family entertainment and retail complex called Meadowlands Xanadu. With the resignation of Mr. McGreevey and the arrival of Acting Governor Codey in November, the talks shifted. Mr. Codey, who is also the president of the State Senate, is an avowed sports fan, and he immediately indicated that he favored the primary use of the Meadowlands as a sports complex.

In particular, Mr. Codey said he would support construction of a stadium for the Giants in the Meadowlands, provided the financial details could be worked out.

State and team officials said that the Giants' latest proposal is a significant development. It calls for the state to issue tax-exempt bonds to raise construction money, which the team would repay out of stadium revenues.

But among the many other details of the deal, there is much that must be worked out. For one thing, state officials would have to be persuaded to break precedent and allow a stadium that is completely privately financed to be built on state land, with all its revenue and expenses controlled by the team.

The deal would also have to consider past sports authority insistence on sharing revenues from luxury boxes and club seats and controlling naming rights and off-season bookings of events like concerts.

The deal would also have to consider repayment of $117 million in outstanding state-backed debt on the existing stadium; the Giants are silent on the issue in their new proposal, one official said.

Two state officials said that it would be difficult to grant the team sweeping control of the stadium if the state backed the construction bonds.

Other questions remain about development in the Meadowlands. The Giants and state officials have been concerned about parking for both the stadium and visitors to the planned Xanadu Meadowlands. Under current arrangements, state officials said, the Giants have a virtual veto over development in the stadium's vicinity that could affect or diminish parking space on game days.

Mr. Goldberg, when asked about the issues, said, "I would presume that if we are not able to come to a conclusion on construction of a new stadium, then we would revisit the renovation proposal as an alternative."

But, he added, "That is not on the table at this point."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

December 23, 2004

Governor and Giants Meet on Plan for a New Stadium

By LAURA MANSNERUS and RICHARD SANDOMIR

TRENTON, Dec. 22 - Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, in a continuing personal effort to revitalize the sports complex in the Meadowlands, met with officials of the New York Giants on Wednesday to discuss the team's proposal to build its own new stadium there.

Mr. Codey would not disclose any details of the meeting, his press secretary, Kelley Heck, said. But several participants, while also declining to discuss the negotiations, said they were productive and would resume soon after the New Year.

Carl J. Goldberg, the chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and the state's lead negotiator, said, "I feel very strongly that there's the highest likelihood of coming to a successful conclusion."

Mr. Codey supports the Giants' proposal to replace its 28-year-old stadium at its own expense, estimated at $700 million, rather than renovating it as previously planned. The new stadium would be built on a parcel next to the old one.

But the team and the state remain at odds over whether the Giants should continue to pay rent to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the owner of the property. The Giants also want greater control over revenues, naming rights and off-season bookings, and are seeking a guarantee of 30,000 surface parking spaces during games.

Participants in the discussions denied earlier reports that the team was asking the state to issue construction bonds for the project, which would have made it more difficult to cede control over the stadium to the team.

One participant in the discussions said that under the Giants' proposal the state would receive more in state taxes - which would increase considerably with new luxury suites, club seats, restaurants, concessions and retail sales - than it currently collects in rent from the team.

While the Giants' lease does not expire until 2026, the team and the Sports Authority are eager to reach an agreement, especially since construction is to begin as early as next month on Meadowlands Xanadu, a huge retail and entertainment complex adjacent to the stadium.

The Xanadu project includes a 4,000-space parking deck on property that the Giants currently use for surface parking on game days. The parking deck is scheduled for construction as soon as the developers, the Mills Corporation and the Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, receive their one outstanding environmental permit, from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

January 8, 2005

In Shift, New Jersey Offers to Pay Debt on Giants Stadium, to Pave Way for New One

By RONALD SMOTHERS

NEWARK, Jan. 7 - In a major policy shift, state officials are proposing to pay the $117 million in remaining debt on Giants Stadium to pave the way for a new one.

State officials had planned to use millions of dollars in lease payments from the developers of a planned Meadowlands shopping and entertainment complex, Meadowlands Xanadu, to pay off the state's debt on the neighboring Continental Arena and save taxpayers $90 million in interest.

But public and private officials involved in the talks between the state and the Giants over a new football stadium at the Meadowlands said yesterday that Carl Goldberg, chairman of New Jersey's Sports and Exposition Authority, told team officials that the state would be willing to use the Xanadu lease payments to pay off the debt on the 28-year-old stadium.

Though that debt is owed by the state, Mr. Goldberg had until now insisted that the team shoulder some or all of the debt in exchange for the state's backing of the team's plan to build a $700 million, 80,000-seat stadium on state land rent-free.

Mr. Goldberg did not return repeated calls to both his offices, and officials in the office of Acting Governor Richard J. Codey declined to confirm the proposal, which was first reported on Friday in The Star-Ledger.

Officials familiar with the negotiations said the proposal was put forward as an inducement to remove opposition to Xanadu among team officials who, under their current lease with the state, have a virtual veto over Xanadu because it could disrupt game-day traffic, attendance and parking.

The $1.3 billion Xanadu project would be situated adjacent to the sports complex and has been billed by its developers as the "ultimate sports, leisure, family entertainment and shopping complex in the United States."

John Mara, chief executive officer of the Giants, would not comment on the proposal, saying only that the negotiations were continuing. He said talks were also under way between traffic consultants hired by the team and the Meadowlands Xanadu developers on whether the two projects "can coexist at all." He called that the most significant issue.

Other team officials suggested that Mr. Goldberg's offer was not likely to be an inducement to them. One team official called it "no real concession," adding that the sports authority's insistence that they help with what was "a state debt and not a team debt" was merely "a nuisance" in the negotiations.

The shift by the state highlighted what can happen with a change in governors.

Under Gov. James E. McGreevey, the Xanadu project and paying off the Continental Arena debt was the priority. As recently as last October, Mr. McGreevey hailed the Xanadu project and held up a giant replica of a $160 million check from its developers, the advance on 15 years of lease payments he said would pay off the arena. But under Mr. Codey, an avid sports fan, keeping the Giants and their fans happy has become a priority.

A spokesman for the Mills Corporation and Mack-Cali, developers of the proposed Meadowlands Xanadu with its indoor ski slope, surfing pool, multiscreen movie theaters, mini-racing oval and related retail operations, conceded as much. Bob Sommer, the spokesman, said, "If the change in government, polices and priorities means a new focus on the stadium, it's fine with us. We don't oppose it."

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

February 10, 2005

New Jersey in Talks With Giants and Jets

By RONALD SMOTHERS

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/n.gifEWARK, Feb. 9 - New Jersey officials reported progress on Wednesday in talks with the New York Giants over a new stadium at the Meadowlands, while they also reached out to the New York Jets to persuade them to stay in New Jersey for at least 10 more years.

"A whole host of additional items were resolved" during a three-hour meeting over a new $700 million, 80,000-seat stadium to be financed by the Giants, said officials with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates the Meadowlands sports complex.

Carl Goldberg, the authority's chairman, refused to discuss details, but said that the parties were scheduled to talk more on Friday.

However, other officials said that the major movement had been on nonfinancial items, including the Giants' insistence that a $1.3 billion family entertainment and retail complex scheduled to be their neighbor be closed on game days to prevent traffic and parking problems.

According to those officials, the Giants accepted the authority's position that they could not require the huge Meadowlands Xanadu complex to close.

"We are landlords for both the Giants and Xanadu and have an obligation to both of these critical tenants to show that not only can they coexist together, but can flourish together," Mr. Goldberg said.

Meanwhile, authority officials and Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey met with the owners of the New York Jets. The Jets currently share Giants Stadium with the Giants, but the team is pursuing construction of a home stadium on the Far West Side of Manhattan. That effort has encountered legal and political challenges.

George Zoffinger, president and chief executive of the authority, said that the conversation with the Jets concerned a lawsuit over the issue of rent paid by the Jets to play at the Meadowlands. State officials sought resolution of the dispute to help persuade the team to continue to play in New Jersey for at least the next 10 years.

"We made the offer because we want to have good relations with them while they are here," Mr. Zoffinger said. "They will consider our offer, but they were very clear that although we would like for them to stay, they wanted to continue to pursue the West Side stadium."

Privately, consultants for New Jersey say that the best deal for the state would involve a new Meadowlands stadium used by both the Jets and the Giants. According to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the consultant reports say that would prevent the state agency from being held hostage by one team or the other and would generate more revenue.

The Giants and the authority have inched closer in recent weeks to an agreement that would allow the construction of the new stadium. The state and team had agreed to renovate the existing stadium, but when Mr. Codey took office last November, he signaled his desire to see sporting events remain the dominant focus of the Meadowlands, and the push for a new 80,000-seat stadium began.

His predecessor, James E. McGreevey, had pushed in another direction, introducing Meadowlands Xanadu, a retail, family entertainment and sporting complex that would include indoor ski jumps, surfing pools, Formula racing and other activities, to the area.

John Mara, the Giants' executive vice president, and other Giants executives dusted off plans for a new stadium, as well as a Giants Hall of Fame building, on a larger piece of property. Mr. Codey assigned Mr. Goldberg to lead the negotiations, in place of Mr. Zoffinger, who had been one of the main forces behind the Meadowlands Xanadu project.

The team soon went from calling for state financing of the stadium to offering to build it with its own money in exchange for a token rent to the state. When Mr. Goldberg balked at the token rent, the talks seemed to be at an impasse.

But last week Mr. Mara returned to the negotiations and offered to build the stadium at team expense and to pay the authority a rent of $6.3 million a year. Currently the agency receives $18 million in rent and percentages from concessions and nonsporting events at the stadium.

"It is a far cry from the zero that they were offering for rent some weeks ago," Mr. Goldberg said, adding that "an enormous amount of progress had been made" in the talks.

For his part, Mr. Goldberg had begun to accept Mr. Mara's contention that the Giants and the new stadium deal should not be burdened with the authority's concern about paying off $117 million in debt on the existing 28-year-old stadium. Mr. Mara had insisted that the stadium was owned by the authority and the debt associated with it should be paid off by the authority.

By last week, Mr. Goldberg said he had come around to the view that any deal with the Giants should be based on the value of the real estate on which they wanted to build and not on the broader financial situation and obligations of the agency.

"At the very onset of the negotiations I incorrectly made a connection between the new stadium and retiring the debt on the old stadium," Mr. Goldberg said. "But now I see that no outstanding obligations of the authority should be included as part of any ground lease for the new stadium. I'm not sure you will see any other team in the country making a 100 percent private investment in construction of a stadium and it is appropriate for us to recognize that in negotiating the lease terms."

Earlier this week, the Giants said that in an effort to help raise money, they were willing to sell the naming rights to the new stadium they are hoping to build for as much as $100 million.

Copyright 2005 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[Kris]

February 15, 2005

New Jersey to Offer Plan for Jets-Giants Stadium

By RONALD SMOTHERS

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/n.gifEWARK, Feb. 14 - With the prospect of a new Manhattan stadium for the New York Jets still uncertain, New Jersey officials are increasingly extolling the virtues of building a new stadium in the Meadowlands that could house both the Jets and the New York Giants.

Officials are expected to present a proposal on Wednesday to board members of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority portraying the financial benefits of a shared stadium to both teams, as well as to the state, according to one official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The idea of a shared stadium is emerging as the state authority continues to negotiate with the Giants over a replacement for the team's 28-year-old stadium in the Meadowlands. The existing stadium, which is owned by the state, is shared by the Giants and Jets. But the Jets have been seeking a new stadium on the West Side of Manhattan, while the Giants have said they would stay in New Jersey in a new $700-million stadium they want to build on a larger plot of land near the current site.

John Mara, president of the Giants, would not comment on his possible endorsement of a plan to build a new stadium that would be jointly owned and used by the two football teams. But he said that the Jets would be welcome as a tenant at the envisioned new Giants-owned stadium.

For their part, officials of the Jets insist that they are still aggressively pursuing construction of a West Side stadium. But in recent days, key legislative leaders have said that New York City should not build a $1.7 billion stadium unless it is awarded the 2012 Olympics - something which will not be determined until a July meeting of the International Olympics Committee.

Carl Goldberg, chairman of the New Jersey sports authority, said that one of the challenges of his talks with the Giants has been to come up with a stadium plan that accommodates Mr. Mara while maintaining "a flexibility" to accommodate the Jets should they decide to stay in the Meadowlands longer than they had planned.

One state official said that the ideal arrangment would be a new stadium on authority land, financed equally by the teams. As owners, each team would be able to keep all of the range of revenues from their games, including luxury boxes, advertising and concessions, while the state would gain the rights and revenues from leasing the stadium during the off season for nonsporting events.

Copyright 2005 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[ZippyTheChimp]

March 10, 2005

Stadium Deal Falls Apart for New Jersey and the Giants

By RICHARD SANDOMIR (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=RICHARD SANDOMIR&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=RICHARD SANDOMIR&inline=nyt-per)
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/t.gifhe New York Giants said that their deal to build a privately financed $700 million Meadowlands stadium collapsed yesterday when New Jersey officials added two last-minute conditions that the team insisted were unacceptable.

"I thought we'd be here to announce a deal, but it blew apart today," Joe Shenker, an outside lawyer for the team, said during a meeting with reporters.

The team thought until early in the day that a final issue raised by Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey - a $3 million payment the state would get if the Jets did not build a stadium on the Far West Side of Manhattan and were co-tenants in a new Giants facility - had been settled and that it would announce a final agreement with the state.

But the talks fell apart over the state's refusal to guarantee that there would be no special taxes imposed in the future on stadium revenues and its insistence on a separate agreement clearing the way for Meadowlands Xanadu, an entertainment and retail park that is to be built near the stadium.

The team's executive vice president and chief operating officer, John Mara, and Steve Tisch, whose father, Robert, is the Giants' co-owner, said they were frustrated by a turn of events that blindsided them. They said they had agreed to all of the state's economic demands, primarily its request for $6.3 million in annual rent, rather than the nominal $1 the team had proposed.

Mr. Tisch said that there were 17 drafts of the agreement with the state.

"Seventeen times the goal line has moved, and each time we reluctantly moved," he said, then added, "We've gone as far as we can or will go."

Mr. Codey played down the Giants' anger with the late twists in the talks and said in a news conference at the Meadowlands Race Track that he believed a deal was "close" but was not confident that it could be completed.

Mr. Mara said that he would reluctantly listen to any pitch that might come from the ownership of the Jets, who are fighting to preserve their plan to build a $1.7 billion stadium that would require $600 million in public financing.

"If that overture is made in the future, we'd have to listen," Mr. Mara said. He added that the team's intention was to stay in New Jersey.

Mr. Codey said he doubted that the Giants would ever move to Manhattan.

The first issue added to yesterday's negotiations was Mr. Codey's refusal to rule out letting any of his successors try to tax revenue-generating activities at the new stadium. In his current budget proposal, a tax is suggested on luxury suites. He told team officials that he would drop it from the budget, but they nonetheless fear that such a tax could be enacted on suites, club seats or tickets, and would jeopardize the Giants' ability to pay its debt service.

In addition, the team said that its memorandum of understanding with the state on the stadium required that any additional taxes levied on stadium revenues would be offset against the rent the team will pay. In the late afternoon, Mr. Codey called team officials to say that even if $5 million or more in taxes were levied, the most the team could reduce its rent by would be $1.9 million a year.

After his appearance at the track, Mr. Codey said by telephone, "If a future legislature approved a tax, don't you think the team would pass it on to its customers?" He said that team executives "had gotten into a lather" when they learned of the proposed luxury tax in the budget.

The second issue that angered the Giants was the state's insistence that it immediately sign off on a separate agreement with the developers of Meadowlands Xanadu. The team said that it would not surrender a provision in the memorandum of understanding calling for a 30-day period, after a final stadium agreement with the state, to negotiate how the new stadium would coexist with Xanadu on Giants game days, largely in terms of parking and traffic.

"We want to work out an agreement where we can operate and they can operate, without gridlock," Mr. Mara said. The team said the deal with the Mills Corporation and Mack-Cali was contingent on a signed stadium agreement.

But the Giants can reduce their lease, which expires in 2026, by 10 years if Xanadu construction starts without their consent.

A member of the board of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the new conditions added by Mr. Codey reflected criticism by board members that the Giants agreement was a giveaway that the state could not afford.

The team also has a clause in its current lease, which was extended in 1995, that Mr. Mara and Mr. Tisch said would cost the sports authority, which owns Giants Stadium, hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade the facility to be "competitive with newly constructed or renovated" stadiums around the National Football League. Those improvements would include modern luxury suites, new scoreboards, sound and lighting systems, locker rooms and concession stands.

The authority has said it could make the "reasonable periodic alterations" required by the lease for much less than the team's estimate.

Mr. Mara said that the team's hopes of having a new stadium for the 2008 season were over. "Only a miracle can save it," he said. "This really reduces my appetite for doing a deal."

Any delays, he said, would raise the cost of the stadium because of annual increases in construction costs. He and Mr. Tisch also said that it has always been crucial for the Giants to be able to start selling luxury suites and club seats before any other new sports facilities, such as the new arena that has been proposed for Brooklyn, or the Jets' stadium, are in a position to compete.


Copyright 2005 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[Ninjahedge]

Both sides are bieing intractable in this.

Seriously, if the Giants were worried about this, they could simply put in a clause that the "rent" was actually just a minimum tax base.


I think agreeing to a fixed payment for all perpetuity is not reasonable, and I don't think "sneaking" in a megalith like Xanadu (what a stupid name) into the deal is fair either.

The developers that are helping the Giants and their owners are trying to get some awfully big extras in in the same package with something they know the state is favorable towards.


I hate the fact that nothing can just be simply agreed apon these days. If one side seems to agree too quick, the other keeps pushing to see how much more they can get out of them, and vice versa.

[ZippyTheChimp]

What's wrong with Xanadu. It worked for Orson Welles. :)

[STT757]

Im a Jersey guy (although born in NYC) and Im a fan of both the Giants and Jets (probably lean towards the Jets though) however I hate the Meadowlands.

Im thinking with this latest development and the difficulties the Jets are having with their West Side Stadium that perhaps it would be in boths team's interests to work together and get a stadium deal done privately with no public money.

The Jets have proposed to spend $800 Million towards the construction of the West Side stadium, the $800 Million would go towards the construction of the actual structure but would not include the platform or the roof.

The City was/is going to pay $300 Million and the State were/are going to pay $300 Million to cover the costs of the roof and platform above the rail yard over which the stadium will be built.

The Giant's meanwhile have been proposing spending between $600-800 Million of privately financed money they will secure to build a new Giant's stadium.

If the Giants and Jets combine their resources they would be able to build the West Side stadium with absolutely no public funds, which makes getting the project built easier but it also makes it more lucrative for both teams.

Owning the Stadium outright would mean being able to rent out the stadiums space for Javit's Center events, as well as being able to pocket all sales from the stadium.

[Kris]

March 11, 2005

With the Giants Mentioning Manhattan, New Jersey Takes Stadium Dispute to Court

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI


TRENTON, March 10 - With the New York Giants dangling the possibility of leaving New Jersey for the proposed West Side stadium in Manhattan, state officials went to court on Thursday to show that they will not allow the team to break its lease in the Meadowlands, which runs through 2026.


New Jersey officials and the Giants have negotiated for five months over a plan that would release team owners from the current lease and allow them to build and operate a $700 million stadium on the Meadowlands site. The two sides appeared to be near an agreement on Wednesday, but a team owner, Wellington Mara, said that two last-minute concessions sought by the state had undermined the deal and persuaded the Giants to consider leaving New Jersey altogether.


Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey tried to ratchet down the rhetoric Thursday morning, saying he hoped the two sides could still strike an agreement that would enable the team to build its stadium and remain in New Jersey. By midday, however, lawyers for the state filed papers in Bergen County Superior Court, saying the Giants' proposal for the new stadium was "onerous and unfair" to taxpayers and asking a judge to clarify the extent of improvements necessary to make the Giants' current stadium state of the art, as the lease requires.


Giants officials have said that to meet that standard, the state must make $300 million in improvements to build luxury boxes, club seats and other amenities. State officials say less than $100 million in renovations will be required. In its filing, the state asked the judge to clarify the meaning of "state of the art" and asserted that the team and the National Football League should pick up part of the cost of any renovations.


Coming at a time when the Jets are discussing a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan, it was unclear whether the breakdown in the talks was a sign of insurmountable differences or negotiating brinkmanship. Asked about the prospect of the Giants making their home at the proposed stadium in Manhattan, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said Thursday that he considered the team's interest another sign of the project's merit. But he stopped short of saying he considered the move likely.


"The public's interest, all of the sudden since the story was floated, shows you just how sports fans react - they would like to see lots of teams here," Mr. Bloomberg said. "But let's see how that plays out."


Joe Shenker, a lawyer for the Giants, said the team's owners would rather remain in New Jersey. But Mr. Shenker said the owners were shocked when, during the final hours of the negotiations, state officials refused to guarantee that there would be no special taxes imposed on stadium revenues in the future. The state also insisted that the team give its immediate approval to the Xanadu entertainment and retail complex to be built near the stadium. Giants officials worry that traffic from the complex might interfere with stadium traffic on game days, and in previous negotiations with the state had been promised a 30-day window during which to reach a separate agreement with the Xanadu owners.


Mr. Shenker said the team would now weigh all options.


Mr. Shenker declined to discuss the state's court action, saying he had not had time to study the legal papers.


The negotiations come at an important time for Mr. Codey, who has had to propose a harsh series of program cuts and tax increases to cope with a projected budget deficit.


In the State Legislature, some lawmakers are leery about the state cutting deals that will benefit wealthy sports team owners at a time when Mr. Codey has proposed eliminating popular property tax rebates.


Even at the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, some board members said they believed that the current proposal benefits the Giants at the expense of taxpayers. The Giants would cover the cost of demolishing the existing Giants Stadium and building the new one, and the new stadium would relieve the state of the expense of renovating the existing stadium. But the state would agree to spend $30 million to extend sewer lines and make other infrastructure improvements.


And state records show that the $6.3 million rent the Giants would pay for the land beneath the new facility is $10 million less than New Jersey now receives annually from the operation of Giants Stadium.


Copyright 2005*The New York Times Company

[JCMAN320]

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

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

[JCMAN320]

Giants and state closer to a deal on stadium
Codey leads while Zoffinger accedes

Wednesday, April 13, 2005
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

State officials yesterday closed in on a deal with the Giants for a $750 million stadium in the Meadowlands Sports Complex.

While no face-to-face meetings took place, negotiators on both sides spent the day exchanging proposals via telephone and fax machine. By nightfall, officials involved in the discussions said only a few minor details remained.

"I would say that is a very appropriate description," said acting Gov. Richard Codey, who was directly involved in yesterday's talks.

At the same time, a main opponent of the deal, New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority Chief Executive George Zoffinger, said he now supports a new stadium.

The progress marks a major turning point in negotiations that have been stalled for more than a month. It comes after the Giants launched a withering attack on the state in the past week. Part of that effort included suing the Sports Authority for not renovating the current stadium in accordance with their lease and demanding as much as $300 million in renovations.

Talks broke down March 9 after the state refused to rule out taxes on stadium-related items, such as luxury suites. The Giants, meanwhile, refused to approve the $1.3 billion Xanadu retail and entertainment center now under construction at the sports complex.

Codey said the Giants are close to relenting on the tax issue. The two sides have nearly worked out a formula for dividing additional money from a naming rights deal if the Jets end up playing in the new stadium. Industry experts said those rights could sell for as much as $10 million a year if the Giants are alone. Add the Jets and the number could reach $15 million, they said.

Under the proposed formula, the state will get a cut of any naming rights deal beyond a certain threshold, Codey said. The Giants declined to comment on the specifics of the talks.

The naming rights issue could be moot. The Jets want to move to a proposed $2 billion stadium on Manhattan's West Side after their lease at the Meadowlands expires in 2009. They took a major step toward that goal yesterday, winning approval for the project from the Empire State Development Corp., New York state's economic development agency.

Just one more state board must approve the West Side stadium, though Madison Square Garden has sued to stop the project. That case could take years, making it likely that the Jets will remain in New Jersey beyond the end of their lease.

Codey achieved one major victory yesterday by finally winning the support of Zoffinger, who had argued it could cost taxpayers as much as $150 million and jeopardize Xanadu. He called Codey's chief counsel, Paul Fader, yesterday morning to tell him he was giving up his fight under pressure from the administration.

"At the governor's urging, I have agreed to go along with a transaction and bring any deal the governor reaches to the board of the sports authority for a vote," Zoffinger said. "My intention right now is to concentrate on completion of Xanadu, bringing rail service to the sports complex and building concert and racing business."

Under previously agreed-upon terms, the Giants will pay to build the $750 million stadium and give the state $6.3 million in annual rent and taxes for 75 acres at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The state will pay up to $30 million to bring utilities to the site, and be responsible for $124 million in debt that remains on the existing stadium.

Codey has argued that renovating the current stadium would be far more expensive, though he has not yet said how he plans to pay off the debt.

Giants Chief Executive John Mara said that winning Zoffinger's support was a major victory.

"If it's true, it's welcome," said Mara. "Unity from the state certainly can't hurt."

Any agreement between the Giants and the state will be contingent on the team reaching a deal with Xanadu's developers, the Mills Corp. and Mack-Cali Realty, which want their complex open on football Sundays. The Giants fear that Xanadu will worsen what is already a traffic nightmare.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Deal Is Struck for a New Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands

By LAURA MANSNERUS (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=LAURA MANSNERUS&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=LAURA MANSNERUS&inline=nyt-per)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif
Published: April 14, 2005



http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/t.gifhe New York Giants say they are staying put in the Meadowlands.

Team executives and state officials said last night that they had reached an agreement for the construction of a new 80,000-seat stadium next to their existing one at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.

The deal, which was completed at a closed meeting yesterday between representatives of the team and the state, ends a months-long dispute between the two sides and calls for the Giants to build a $750 million stadium and pay the state $6.3 million a year.

The team and Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey issued statements last night saying that Mr. Codey and the Sports Authority chairman, Carl Goldberg, would join Giants executives John Mara and Steve Tisch at the stadium to announce details of the plan.

Mr. Codey had expressed optimism earlier yesterday that he would be able to announce a deal today. He did not attend the meeting but said he spent the hours between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. yesterday on the phone and at the fax machine with team officials in the effort to reach a deal.

Talks between the team and the state broke off last month when state officials refused to include a provision in the agreement that no taxes on stadium revenue would be imposed in the future and demanded that the Giants approve the construction of an entertainment and retail complex at the Meadowlands.

As the three other teams in the Meadowlands Sports Complex prepare to decamp for Newark and New York, the Giants have been at odds with the state over the terms of its lease, which runs until 2026, and the future of its 29-year-old stadium, which the team had argued was outdated and in need of hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations.

The dispute was aggravated by the decision of the Sports and Exposition Authority several years ago to stake the future of the sports complex on the privately financed development called Xanadu, now under construction, which will rise around the Continental Airlines Arena. The arena and the football stadium are separated by a road, but the Giants worried that the increased traffic and parking would be a crushing burden on game days.

In the meantime, the New Jersey Devils hockey team announced a move to Newark, where construction on a new stadium is to begin this summer, and the New Jersey Nets agreed to move to a new arena in Brooklyn. The New York Jets, who now share Giants Stadium, would be the prime tenants in the stadium that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is pushing for the West Side of Manhattan.

When Mr. Codey took office in mid-November, he sought to shift the emphasis at the Meadowlands complex back to its sports team tenants and to accommodate the Giants, the state's first professional sports franchise. He clashed with the Sports Authority president, George Zoffinger, who had opposed the Giants' stadium proposal.

This week, Mr. Zoffinger relented, clearing the way for renewed talks. Mr. Goldberg has taken the lead in the negotiations and emerged as a kind of referee. "I do not think George has mishandled anything," Mr. Goldberg said yesterday, commenting on reports that the governor had blamed Mr. Zoffinger for alienating the Giants.

Mr. Zoffinger had argued that the state would be sacrificing revenue from the stadium, including money from concerts. But the Giants say, and Mr. Goldberg agreed that the stadium does not bring in a profit.

Mr. Zoffinger said yesterday that he had nothing to do with the deal, adding: "You fight for what you think is right. But at the end of the day, I don't think it helps if I say much more about it."

Mr. Codey contended that the Giants' proposal to build their own stadium would save taxpayers money by relieving the state of its obligation under the lease to make improvements to maintain a "state of the art" stadium, as required by the lease.

After the talks broke down, the state sought a declaratory judgment from Superior Court in Bergen County to clarify the term "state of the art." On April 5, the Giants countersued to force the state to make improvements and to block the Xanadu construction.

Although the Giants are paying all construction costs, the state must still pay $120 million of outstanding debt on the old stadium and $30 million to $40 million in infrastructure improvements - a politically touchy proposition at a time when Mr. Codey is proposing to eliminate property tax rebates and cut social programs because of the state's dire fiscal condition.

The Sports Authority board, which is scheduled to meet April 27, must approve the agreement.



Josh Benson and John Holl contributed reporting for this article.

Copyright 2005 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html)The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[TonyO]

NYTimes
April 15, 2005

New Jersey Reveals the Details of a New Stadium for the Giants

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/04/15/nyregion/giants.span.jpg
Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, seated, on Thursday with, from left, the Giants' co-owners, Robert Tisch and Wellington Mara; Carl Goldberg, chairman of New Jersey's Sports and Exposition Authority; Steve Tisch; and John Mara, announcing plans for a new Giants Stadium.


By LAURA MANSNERUS

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., April 14 - The New York Giants will replace their aging stadium with an expanded $750 million complex in the New Jersey Meadowlands under an agreement that Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey said Thursday was "the best deal for the taxpayers of any stadium deal in the N.F.L."

The new stadium will have 200 luxury suites - the current stadium now has 118 - a major expansion in club seating, new stores, restaurants and practice facilities, which altogether will nearly triple the size of the Giants' site at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, to 75 acres.

The Giants will own and manage the stadium, while paying the state $5 million a year in rent for the land and giving it $1.3 million annually in payments in lieu of taxes. The state will pay the $125 million in existing debt on the current stadium, and the infrastructure costs for the new stadium, estimated at $30 million.

The agreement, struck Wednesday night between team executives and state officials, ends a dispute that had landed both parties in court and cast doubt on the future of the sports complex, which even now is being transformed by the construction of a huge entertainment and retail development.

Mr. Codey described the deal, a critical victory in his campaign to rescue professional sports in the state, in glowing terms at a news conference with executives of the team.

The agreement still must be evaluated by the board of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which has called a meeting on Tuesday to vote on it.

And the deal has detractors, including the sports authority's executive director, George Zoffinger. Mr. Zoffinger agreed just in the last week, under pressure from Mr. Codey, not to block the proposal. But he and some others at the sports authority have maintained that it effectively gave the team a taxpayer subsidy.

Mr. Codey and Carl Goldberg, the chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, stressed that the Giants would pay all construction costs, while relieving the state of its obligation under the old lease to make improvements necessary to maintain a "state of the art" stadium - an uncertain but potentially huge obligation that the Giants put at $300 million and had threatened to enforce in court.

"When other states are building stadiums on the backs of taxpayers, Jersey has said no," Mr. Codey said.

But Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College who has written extensively on public spending on sports franchises, said Mr. Codey was "blatantly incorrect" in calling the stadium deal the best in the league for taxpayers.

Mr. Zimbalist noted that the New England Patriots and Washington Redskins play in stadiums built entirely with their owners' money, and he said that the Patriots are reimbursing the state for its $71 million in infrastructure costs.

Still, Mr. Zimbalist said the New Jersey deal was, among N.F.L. stadiums, "very close to the top end of taxpayer advantage, or lack of disadvantage," since the average public subsidy for an N.F.L. stadium is 60 percent.

A better deal for the state, Mr. Zimbalist said, would be losing the team altogether. But Mr. Codey made it clear from the day he took office in November that that was not an option. And after negotiations collapsed last month, Mr. Codey worked to revive them.

In the meantime, the Giants used the "state of the art" provision in their lease as a potential trump, suing the sports authority to force it to pay for renovations.

John Mara, the Giants' executive vice president, whose family owns 50 percent of the team, said that "there was a period of time when I was not sure we were going to make it" but that "that really changed over the past few days when the governor took charge of negotiations."

While the Giants are no longer pursuing the renovation issue in court, Mr. Mara said, the team is not dropping its request for an injunction to stop the construction of the Meadowlands Xanadu project at the sports complex.

The project, part of former Gov. James E. McGreevey's plan to ease the state out of the professional sports business, has angered the team, which claims that Xanadu patrons will interfere with game traffic and parking.

The Giants and the Xanadu developers, the Mills Corporation and the Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, must still reach a separate accord on those traffic and parking issues. While it is not clear what recourse the team would have if its concerns are not satisfied, Mr. Mara said the team was "cautiously optimistic," and Robert G. Sommer, a spokesman for the Xanadu partnership, said, "we believe, and I'm sure it's their belief, that we'll work it out."

The team's new agreement with New Jersey leaves open the possibility that the New York Jets, who now share the stadium with the Giants but are planning a move to the proposed West Side stadium in Manhattan, will stay.

The other teams at the sports complex are planning to leave, the New Jersey Devils hockey team for a new arena in Newark, the New Jersey Nets for a new arena in Brooklyn and the MetroStars soccer team to a planned stadium in Harrison, N.J.

The Giants do not yet have a site plan or design for their expanded new quarters, scheduled for completion in 2008. The stadium will seat 80,000, an increase of 4,000 seats, and in addition to the luxury suites will include club seating for 8,000 to 10,000 people. The current stadium has 142 club seats. The plan also calls for wider concourses and improved concession stands and bathrooms.

The team's lease is for 40 years with options that could extend it to 98 years. Mr. Zimbalist said that while the stadium would not be the most expensive ever built, "it will be in the top five."

Mr. Mara said, "We are currently well down in the third quartile of the N.F.L. in terms of our revenues, and we believe a new stadium will bring us into the first quartile." He said he had no projections on ticket costs but expected that luxury suites would cost about $200,000 a year each.

In addition, the state has agreed to sell naming rights to the stadium, and to give the first $12 million to the team. The state would keep up to $3 million of any excess.

While Mr. Codey and Mr. Goldberg congratulated the team owners - including the Maras and the Tisch family, the Giants' co-owners - at the news conference, Mr. Zoffinger was conspicuously absent. When asked whether Mr. Zoffinger's job was safe, Mr. Codey shrugged. But Mr. Goldberg said, "I'm sure he will be the head of the sports authority for as long as he wishes." Mr. Zoffinger was out of state Thursday and not available for comment.


Richard Sandomir contributed reporting for this article.

[JCMAN320]

N.J. offers to add a stadium roof to keep Jets in state
State ups ante for stranded football team

Wednesday, June 08, 2005
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

When Jets owner Woody Johnson gets New Jersey's pitch to make the Meadowlands the permanent home for his football team, state officials said yesterday, he will hear these two important words: "retractable roof."

George Zoffinger, chief executive of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, said yesterday that, with the demise of plans for a Manhattan home for the Jets, New Jersey will try to nail down a deal for a stadium that not only would serve the Jets and the Giants but could host such events as the Super Bowl and NCAA basketball's Final Four.

"If both teams decide to stay, there is a tremendous opportunity for the state to build a dome on the new stadium, and make its money back on the investment," Zoffinger said. "This can work."

The pronouncement came the day after one of the most tumultuous days in the recent political history in New York. The Jets' five-year quest for a stadium on Manhattan's West Side and the city's campaign to land the 2012 Summer Olympic Games both came crashing down in a classic, New York-style political brawl. Despite backing from New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. George Pataki, the stadium efforts failed in the face of opposition from the state's top two legislators, leaving the Jets with few alternatives once their Giants Stadium lease expires in 2008.

However, Giants officials have said they would welcome the Jets as a partner in the $750 million stadium the team plans to build near the site of their current one. And both teams' owners and acting Gov. Richard Codey plan to make an intense push in the coming weeks to keep the Jets in New Jersey.

"The time for us to act is now, to bring two franchises together; it's an influx of cash and we could build the premier stadium in the entire country," said state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), whose district includes the Meadowlands.

Sarlo said he is opposed to taxpayers paying for the retractable roof, which could cost as much as $200 million, or almost twice the cost of a fixed dome.

Codey said he wasn't ready to commit public money to it but that the idea of a retractable roof is definitely on the table.

"The Giants were not originally enamored of the idea of a roof, but now that the Jets may be involved and the cost would be significantly less, they may be more inclined," Codey said.

John Mara, the Giants chief executive, said his organization wants to play outdoors.

"We would consider a retractable roof, but it doesn't pay for us to incur the additional cost," Mara said. "If the state is willing to pay for it, though, it's something we're willing to talk about."

Jets officials didn't return phone calls seeking comment. Team officials were said to be seething about the collapse of their dream for a stadium in Manhattan, which ended Monday while many of the team's top executives were taking part in a golf outing organized by head coach Herman Edwards.

Industry experts said a stadium with a retractable roof in the Meadowlands would be a gold mine for the two teams: They would cut their expenses and still bring in nearly as much money in ticket and luxury suite sales and advertising.

The teams could jointly sell the luxury suites and high-priced club seats, and the stadium could be built with electronic billboards so the teams could each sell individual sponsorships to rival companies. McDonald's, for example, would be able to sponsor the Giants and buy a sign that, when the Jets played, could turn into a Burger King sign.

"Economically, this is what makes sense," said Robert Tillis, a leading financial consultant to the sports industry. "The only problem is everyone these days wants to own and manage their own building, and the question is: Can these two organizations live with each other? The challenges are more psychological than financial."

The teams' owners -- Johnson and the Giants' Mara and Tisch families -- have a cordial relationship, but the two sides aren't as close as when Leon Hess owned the Jets.

Johnson has rejected the idea of bringing his team back to Queens, and he has lost his Manhattan bid, but he has little appetite for continuing to play in a building that bears another team's name and where the seats are Giants blue and red.

John Mara said he expects a corporation to buy the naming rights to the new Meadowlands stadium and that other issues also could be resolved if Johnson is willing to work with a "crosstown rival."

Experts said Johnson will have to determine the price of a complicated trade-off.

"A team gives up a considerable amount of its identity when it shares a stadium," said David Carter, who teaches at the University of Southern California about the business of sports. "But that can be offset by the major influx of corporate dollars that kind of building is going to attract."

[JCMAN320]

Meadowlands gaining ground as the Jets' future

Tuesday, June 14, 2005
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

With New York City reaching a deal with the Mets for a new ballpark in Queens that will morph into an Olympic Stadium if the city lands the 2012 Olympics, the Jets now appear even more likely to call the Meadowlands home for decades to come.

Jets owner Woody Johnson never wanted to move his team back to Queens and had his heart set on the West Side of Manhattan. But losing NYC2012, the Olympic organizers, as a partner makes it that much harder to build a controversial West Side stadium, which struggled to gain overwhelming support even when it was coupled with the allure of those five multicolored rings.

Yesterday, Jets officials maintained their public stance that all hope is not lost for the West Side.

"We have always maintained that this project, for us at least, was not about hosting the Olympics, but creating the best sports and convention center in the world, and that hasn't changed," said Matt Higgins, a team spokesman.

However, the Jets' top executives have already begun talks with the Giants about a shared stadium. Also, officials in New Jersey say New York's decision to partner with the Mets on an Olympic stadium in Queens shows that the Jets were sincere when they said repeatedly the Meadowlands remained their top alternative if plans in Manhattan fell through.

"The Jets are now conspicuously absent from the Olympic plan, and I think that speaks volumes about their interest in negotiating an understanding with New Jersey and the Giants," said Carl Goldberg, chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates the Meadowlands.

Acting Gov. Richard Codey said yesterday that the Jets were "absolutely, positively" going to remain in New Jersey. "No question about it. They're dealing with the Giants."

If the Jets end up with their "Plan B," the team will have plenty of company. With most taxpayers against public subsidies for sports franchises, nearly every top sports team in the region has been forced during the past decade to abandon its dream home and settle for one they can afford and the public can stomach.

The same can be said for New York's Olympic bid.

The NYC2012 bid committee worked yesterday to finalize its proposal for the 2012 Games with a stadium in Queens -- not the West Side of Manhattan -- as the centerpiece.

We have no question that this plan technically will be outstanding, will demonstrate the Games will be an outstanding Games," Jay Kriegel, the NYC2012 bid committee executive director, said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.

The New York committee hopes to send its new plan to the International Olympic Committee next week. The IOC will choose a host city for the 2012 Games on July 6.

When the plans for the West Side stadium did not receive the state funding needed to build it, NYC2012 was left to scramble to find a new site for its bid.

The IOC's bid evaluation committee gave the city until today to respond to a report where the lack of a stadium was noted as a concern. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Mets owner Fred Wilpon announced the plans for the stadium in Queens on Sunday.

"Faced with adversity, New York has gotten back up off the mat very quickly and has demonstrated the capacity to put something big, bold and incredibly complicated together in just a few days," Kriegel said.

BUILDING BLOCKS

The Jets -- and NYC2012 -- are the latest to revert to Plan B with their stadium plans. Here is a rundown of those teams, their dreams and the current state of their plans:

Yankees

Plan A: In 1995 George Steinbrenner, with former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's support, pursues a stadium at the Hudson rail yards on Manhattan's West Side, but the community rejects the idea of 50,000 fans descending on their neighborhood 81 days each year and hundreds of millions in public subsidies spent on the project.

Plan B: The Yankees claim they are weeks away from announcing a deal with New York City to build a $700 million stadium in a South Bronx park near their current home. The team will pay for the stadium, with the city and state fixing nearby roads and building a train station.

Mets

Plan A: In 1998 owner Fred Wilpon proposes an $800 million replica of Ebbets Field with a retractable roof in Queens, but he fails to draw some $400 million in financial support from city officials.

Plan B: On Sunday Wilpon agrees to a build a $600 million stadium on his own that will be converted to an Olympic stadium if the city lands the 2012 Summer Olympics. There will be no roof.

Jets

Plan A: In 2000 the Jets partner with NYC2012, the group behind New York's Olympic bid, and propose what becomes a $2.2 billion Olympic and football stadium for Manhattan's West Side. It requires a $1 billion public subsidy.

Plan B: After the West Side plan collapsed last week, the Jets and Giants start discussing a shared stadium in the Meadowlands.

Giants

Plan A: In 2001 the Giants reached an agreement with former acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco to take over Giants Stadium for $1, but incoming Gov. James E. McGreevey kills the deal.

Plan B: The Giants, and likely the Jets, will spend $800 million to build a stadium in the Meadowlands.

Nets

Plan A: In 1998 Nets owners Raymond Chambers and Lewis Katz propose an arena in Newark, which fails three times in the state legislature.

Plan B: In 2004, Chambers, Katz and their partners double their purchase price of $150 million by selling the team to Bruce Ratner for $300 million. Ratner is planning an arena in Brooklyn.

Devils

Plan A: In 1998, former owner John McMullen proposes an arena on the Hoboken waterfront above the rail terminal, but he fails to gain public support.

Plan B: Owner Jeff Vanderbeek is building an arena in Newark, where the city has pledged $210 million for the project.

Knicks/Rangers

Plan A: From 1998-2004, the teams' parent company, Cablevision Systems, scout out sites in midtown Manhattan for a new Madison Square Garden but come up empty-handed.

Plan B: Last year the team announces a $300 million renovation of their current home.

[JCMAN320]

Giants Stadium rail link seen by 2007

Wednesday, June 15, 2005
By JOE MALINCONICO
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

Giants Stadium could finally get a train station, but not for another two and a half years.

NJ Transit expects to begin construction this fall on a $150 million, 2.3-mile rail spur that would link the sports complex to just about every train station in the state by December 2007.

But the project already faces second-guessing from transportation and environmental groups who question whether the plan is the best way to provide train service to the Meadowlands and the proposed Xanadu retail and entertainment center.

Passengers on the Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line, Midtown Direct and Bergen-Main lines would be able to take trains to Secaucus Junction and make the transfer for the five-mile, eight-minute ride to the Meadowlands from there. On the Raritan Valley line, folks would have to make two transfers - one at Newark and a second at Secaucus.

Diesel shuttle trains would make a 23-minute run between Hoboken Terminal and the sports complex, including the stop at Secaucus to pick up passengers transferring from other lines.

Even including time for transfers at Secaucus, the new link would put more than 80 stations around the state within a one-hour trip of the Meadowlands, transit officials said.

On football Sundays or during event events like basketball games or concerts, the shuttle trains to the Meadowlands would run every five or 10 minutes, under NJ Transit's plans. Otherwise, the trains would operate at half-hour intervals, seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to midnight.

Transit officials estimate that between 10,000 and 12,000 people would take trains to events at Giants Stadium. They have not come up with numbers for other times, saying that will depend on exactly what gets built at Xanadu.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is putting up all the money for the project, while NJ Transit is handling the construction and operation of the trains.

In addition to the $150 million spur, which would connect to the Meadowlands from NJ Transit's Pascack Valley line, officials also are considering building a $1 billion extension of the light rail line in Hudson County to the sports complex. Meanwhile, the state Department of Transportation is moving ahead on $71 million worth of road work at the complex, including new connections with the New Jersey Turnpike and improvement to routes 3, 17 and 120.

"You're going to have many, many more options there," Transportation Commissioner Jack Lettiere said. "But.all of the dots haven't been connected yet. We're working with NJ Transit, the Turnpike, the county, the Meadowlands and all the other agencies involved to do that. This all has to fit together and it can."

[ZippyTheChimp]

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/


The Jets go long by asking Giants to share stadium

'NFL showplace' to seat 90,000

Thursday, August 11, 2005 BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

In the strongest signal yet that they are serious about making New Jersey their permanent home, the Jets are proposing the "ultimate NFL showplace" in the Meadowlands, including a 90,000-seat stadium that they would share with the Giants.

The proposal, which the Jets submitted yesterday to the Giants, calls for a massive football complex in East Rutherford that would be integrated with the Xanadu retail and entertainment center now under construction.

Plans call for the two teams to privately finance the stadium, a price for which was not included. In addition, a hotel and conference center, a tailgating park and an interactive center that would combine the two teams' Halls of Fame with the NFL Experience would be built.

The project should "create the ultimate NFL showplace in the nation's largest market through an unprecedented partnership between two teams in the same league...," according to the plan, a copy of which was obtained by The Star-Ledger.

By submitting such a plan, the Jets are indicating they are serious about staying in New Jersey. Their proposal also launches a new chapter in the Giants' agreement with acting Gov. Richard Codey to build an $800 million, 80,000-seat stadium in the Meadowlands.

Giants Stadium opened in 1976 and the two teams have played there since 1984.

Since that agreement between the Giants and the state was reached last spring, the Jets' plans to move to a new stadium on Manhattan's West Side have collapsed. In addition, the Giants have said they would like to form a partnership with the Jets for a shared stadium in the Meadowlands to reduce their risk in the privately financed venture.

Despite sputtering talks over the past two months, officials said yesterday the two sides now appear to be moving toward a partnership.

"We have said all along a shared stadium ... makes the most sense, and this shows that the Jets are serious about working with the Giants and working with Xanadu to make this happen," said George Zoffinger, chief executive of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates the Meadowlands Sports Complex.

John Mara, chief executive for the Giants, could not be reached for comment yesterday and Jets officials declined to comment directly on the plan.

In a related development, the Jets received an invitation this week from New York City officials to discuss a move to Queens, where a new stadium would be built for them. In a statement, Matt Higgins, a team spokesman, said the Jets have accepted the invitation to meet later this month and are leaving all their options open.

At the same time, however, Higgins indicated a new intensity in the talks with the Giants.

"Negotiations with the state of New Jersey and the Giants over a proposed joint stadium have intensified," Higgins' statement said. "If negotiations proceed accordingly, all parties expect an agreement could be reached by Fall 2005."

Under the Jets' proposal, the team would become a part of the Giants' deal with the state. That deal calls for the Giants to pay for construction of a new stadium and for the state to supply 75 acres of land and $30 million in infrastructure improvements.

The Jets' plan calls for the two teams to operate the stadium without involvement from the sports authority and to keep all revenues from the building. The proposed 90,000-seat stadium, which would be the largest in the National Football League, would be built between the current facility and the Meadowlands Racetrack, as the Giants have proposed.

However, that's where similarities with the Giants' plan end.

The stadium the Jets are proposing is 10,000 seats larger. Instead of putting the Giants training facility next to the new stadium on property that would be more desirable for commercial activity, the Jets propose constructing it on the northern side of the racetrack on Paterson Plank Road.

The Jets also want to divide the parking and fan gathering areas into an "urban zone" centered around a new rail station that would be built near the stadium, and a "suburban zone" where much of the outdoor parking and tailgating would occur.

The urban zone would include retail stores, restaurants and bars; the suburban zone would include food and beverage stands, according to the proposal.

While a shared stadium now appears to be the goal of both teams, the two sides have a long way to go before they can begin construction. They need to form a joint corporation to manage the facility and agree on the design of the stadium itself.

The Giants also remain skeptical of the Xanadu project, fearing that the massive retail and entertainment center will worsen traffic problems on game days. For their part, the Jets favor the new energy Xanadu is expected to bring to the sports complex.

Zoffinger has said the state would like to put a retractable roof on a new stadium so it could accommodate a Super Bowl and perhaps the NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament. While the state might be willing to pay for a roof, it would likely want to share in the profits or have the right to schedule other events, such as concerts and international soccer games, in the building.

The football teams, however, remain intent on managing the building privately and would likely want to live without the roof instead of allowing the state to take a share of the profits.

Under the proposal, the Jets also would move their training facilities and headquarters from Hofstra University on Long Island to New Jersey to a site the state would provide. That would allow the state to collect significantly more income taxes from the organization's $100 million payroll.

Both plans call for the Giants to relocate their training facilities from Albany, N.Y., to the Meadowlands.

© 2005 The Star Ledger© 2005 NJ.com All Rights Reserved. if

[ZippyTheChimp]

Jets submit plan for shared stadium with Giants

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

August 11, 2005, 4:47 PM EDT

NEWARK, N.J. -- With the dream of a Manhattan stadium fading, the Jets are putting most of their efforts into a proposal that would keep them at the Meadowlands sports complex, again sharing a stadium with the New York Giants, a Jets executive said Thursday.

"Negotiations with the Giants are ongoing, and that's not the case elsewhere," Jets vice president Matthew Higgins said.

The most recent move came Wednesday, when the Jets submitted a plan for a new, 90,000-seat stadium that would be integrated with the Xanadu shopping and entertainment center being built at the Meadowlands, he said. It would hold more people than any other in the NFL.

The plan first was reported by The Star-Ledger of Newark in Thursday's newspapers.

Meanwhile, the Jets plan to meet later this month with officials from Queens, N.Y, who would like the Jets to build near their original home at Shea Stadium. "We're happy to listen," Higgins said.

The Giants have already agreed with New Jersey, which operates the Meadowlands, to build an 80,000-seat stadium that would open for the 2009 season. The Giants plan on paying for the $750 million venue themselves, but reiterated Thursday they would be happy to share ownership with the Jets.

"It remains our preference to have them stay in the Meadowlands as our partners in a new stadium," John K. Mara, the team's chief operating officer, said in an e-mail exchange.

"If they choose to go in a different direction, then we would wish them the best of luck. In the meantime, we are proceeding with our plans to build a new stadium," Mara said.

He declined to comment on the plan submitted by the Jets, and Higgins had no immediate detail on how Xanadu would fit with the stadium.

The Giants have tried, without success, to halt Xanadu construction, maintaining that their lease for the stadium requires no other activity at the Meadowlands begin until three hours after football games end. The team, asserting Xanadu would cause traffic jams for its fans, has been unable to reach an agreement with Xanadu's developers on when the complex would operate on game days.

The Jets plan includes a rail line for the complex, said George R. Zoffinger, president and CEO of the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, which operates the Meadowlands.

"Paramount in our mind is the progress that has been made between the two teams," Zoffinger said in a statement.

"I would hope that both teams would strongly consider a retractable dome for the stadium," he said. "It would allow the stadium to host the Super Bowl, Final Four, even the Olympics, as well as other events."

The Jets had hoped to build a new stadium in Manhattan, but suffered a major setback in June when New York state leaders refused to approve $300 million for the $2.2 billion structure, which was also envisioned as the stadium for the 2012 Olympics. The games were later awarded to London.

Higgins said the Jets have until Aug. 31 to tell the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which awarded rights to the Manhattan site to the Jets, whether the team is still interested in the site.

Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc. (http://www.nynewsday.com/)

[JCMAN320]

State calls for Giants, Jets to huddle on stadium

Wednesday, August 17, 2005
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

The Giants' latest plan for a new stadium complex in the Meadowlands contrasts starkly with the Jets' proposal for the site.

Just a week ago, state officials were heralding the Jets' plans for a joint stadium and retail complex at the Meadowlands as a major step toward building the NFL's premier destination. But the two sides remain far apart on their proposals both for a stadium and how to develop commercial property around it.

In fact, according to drawings the Giants submitted this week to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the team doesn't yet acknowledge the project may become a joint venture, nor does the Giants' latest plan incorporate any of the Jets' design suggestions. The new drawings label the proposed stadium "Giants Stadium" and the surrounding plaza "Giants Plaza."

"Clearly, the plan the Giants gave is dramatically different than the one given to the authority by Jets," said Carl Goldberg, chairman of the sports authority, the state agency that operates the Meadowlands Sports Complex. "They have different visions."

Goldberg said yesterday the sports authority would return the Giants' plans because they lacked details about parking, traffic management and engineering, which the authority needs to continue its evaluation.

But by sending back the plans, state officials said, the sports authority also was telling the Giants to work more closely with the Jets before making another submission.

"When you start a partnership, there will be disagreements," acting Gov. Richard Codey said. "But these two teams need to work harder, meet more often and spend more time in those meetings to get this done."

According to both teams' plans, the new stadium would go in between the current stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack, but they disagree on key elements:


Location of the Giants' practice facility: The Jets proposed moving the Giants training center and practice fields behind the Meadowlands Racetrack so as not to take up valuable land adjacent to the stadium with a use that would not generate revenue. The Giants prefer to keep the practice fields next to the stadium so there is a seamless flow between training facility and playing field.


Design of the commercial development around the stadium: The Jets want to concentrate the development in two structures -- a hotel and conference center and another building that would house everything from the interactive NFL Experience to football-themed restaurants and shops and the teams' halls of fame. The Giants want to spread the retail facilities around the stadium in a series of buildings of various sizes.


Connections to the adjacent Xanadu retail and entertainment complex: The Jets would integrate the stadium's commercial and retail space with Xanadu, connecting the two projects using a complex built above the planned rail station at the Meadowlands. The Giants propose a simple 400-foot walkway across Route 120.


The size of the stadium: The Jets propose a 90,000-seat stadium, while the Giants remain committed to an 80,000-seat structure.


Giants Chief Executive John Mara declined to comment specifically on his team's plans.

"I'm not going to confirm what we have and have not submitted," he said, "other than to say we've been working closely with the sports authority for some time, submitting various plans to them on a regular basis, and we will continue to do so."

Jets Chief Executive Jay Cross is on vacation this week and has not seen the Giants' latest proposal. Matt Higgins, a Jets spokesman, declined to comment on the Giants' plans.

The two teams have shared Giants Stadium since 1984. Until last week, the Jets were officially committed to moving to New York. But plans to move to the West Side of Manhattan collapsed in June and the team has said it would prefer to stay in New Jersey in a shared stadium, rather than build its own home at an alternative New York site in Queens.

The Giants remain a step ahead of the Jets because the team has already signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, with the state to build an $800 million stadium in the Meadowlands.

However, that agreement carries certain obligations that are becoming increasingly burdensome to the team.

For example, unless the Giants receive the Jets' approval for a new stadium and reach an agreement with the developers of Xanadu on a traffic plan by Sept. 15, the state has the right to tear up the MOU.

Also, since the Giants have signed an MOU and have begun a formal approval process, the sports authority expects the team's plans to be more detailed than the conceptual proposal the Jets submitted last week.

"I was looking for a much higher level and complete submission from the Giants," Goldberg said. "The Jets wanted to demonstrate their commitment to the state in a conceptual plan. The Giants were moving forward in a process that would lead to a master plan approval, and a lot higher level of detail was anticipated."

[JCMAN320]

State calls for Giants, Jets to huddle on stadium

Wednesday, August 17, 2005
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

The Giants' latest plan for a new stadium complex in the Meadowlands contrasts starkly with the Jets' proposal for the site.

Just a week ago, state officials were heralding the Jets' plans for a joint stadium and retail complex at the Meadowlands as a major step toward building the NFL's premier destination. But the two sides remain far apart on their proposals both for a stadium and how to develop commercial property around it.

In fact, according to drawings the Giants submitted this week to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the team doesn't yet acknowledge the project may become a joint venture, nor does the Giants' latest plan incorporate any of the Jets' design suggestions. The new drawings label the proposed stadium "Giants Stadium" and the surrounding plaza "Giants Plaza."

"Clearly, the plan the Giants gave is dramatically different than the one given to the authority by Jets," said Carl Goldberg, chairman of the sports authority, the state agency that operates the Meadowlands Sports Complex. "They have different visions."

Goldberg said yesterday the sports authority would return the Giants' plans because they lacked details about parking, traffic management and engineering, which the authority needs to continue its evaluation.

But by sending back the plans, state officials said, the sports authority also was telling the Giants to work more closely with the Jets before making another submission.

"When you start a partnership, there will be disagreements," acting Gov. Richard Codey said. "But these two teams need to work harder, meet more often and spend more time in those meetings to get this done."

According to both teams' plans, the new stadium would go in between the current stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack, but they disagree on key elements:


Location of the Giants' practice facility: The Jets proposed moving the Giants training center and practice fields behind the Meadowlands Racetrack so as not to take up valuable land adjacent to the stadium with a use that would not generate revenue. The Giants prefer to keep the practice fields next to the stadium so there is a seamless flow between training facility and playing field.


Design of the commercial development around the stadium: The Jets want to concentrate the development in two structures -- a hotel and conference center and another building that would house everything from the interactive NFL Experience to football-themed restaurants and shops and the teams' halls of fame. The Giants want to spread the retail facilities around the stadium in a series of buildings of various sizes.


Connections to the adjacent Xanadu retail and entertainment complex: The Jets would integrate the stadium's commercial and retail space with Xanadu, connecting the two projects using a complex built above the planned rail station at the Meadowlands. The Giants propose a simple 400-foot walkway across Route 120.


The size of the stadium: The Jets propose a 90,000-seat stadium, while the Giants remain committed to an 80,000-seat structure.


Giants Chief Executive John Mara declined to comment specifically on his team's plans.

"I'm not going to confirm what we have and have not submitted," he said, "other than to say we've been working closely with the sports authority for some time, submitting various plans to them on a regular basis, and we will continue to do so."

Jets Chief Executive Jay Cross is on vacation this week and has not seen the Giants' latest proposal. Matt Higgins, a Jets spokesman, declined to comment on the Giants' plans.

The two teams have shared Giants Stadium since 1984. Until last week, the Jets were officially committed to moving to New York. But plans to move to the West Side of Manhattan collapsed in June and the team has said it would prefer to stay in New Jersey in a shared stadium, rather than build its own home at an alternative New York site in Queens.

The Giants remain a step ahead of the Jets because the team has already signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, with the state to build an $800 million stadium in the Meadowlands.

However, that agreement carries certain obligations that are becoming increasingly burdensome to the team.

For example, unless the Giants receive the Jets' approval for a new stadium and reach an agreement with the developers of Xanadu on a traffic plan by Sept. 15, the state has the right to tear up the MOU.

Also, since the Giants have signed an MOU and have begun a formal approval process, the sports authority expects the team's plans to be more detailed than the conceptual proposal the Jets submitted last week.

"I was looking for a much higher level and complete submission from the Giants," Goldberg said. "The Jets wanted to demonstrate their commitment to the state in a conceptual plan. The Giants were moving forward in a process that would lead to a master plan approval, and a lot higher level of detail was anticipated."

[ZippyTheChimp]

Giants face 3 obstacles to getting stadium done

Friday, August 26, 2005

By JOHN BRENNAN
STAFF WRITER

The New York Giants are supposed to work out agreements for their $800 million stadium plan by Sept. 15 with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, with the New York Jets, and with the developers of the nearby Xanadu project.
Only three weeks shy of that deadline, the Giants are a resounding 0-for-3.

That sobering reality induced acting Governor Codey and Giants executives to meet at the National Football League team's offices Tuesday night. Although both sides said Wednesday the discussions were cordial, numerous obstacles remain as the clock ticks toward the end of Codey's tenure.

"It was a friendly meeting, but we still have disagreements on how to get this thing resolved," said Giants Vice President John Mara, who was joined at the meeting by colleague Steve Tisch. "I'm not sure where we go from here."

The Giants have run into difficulty on each of three fronts:

New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority officials have been critical of what they term insufficient progress being made by the Giants' stadium design team.

Though the Jets' dream of moving to Manhattan's West Side was extinguished two months ago, the team still has yet to commit to joining the Giants in a new Meadowlands facility. Jets executives were in Queens, their previous home, on Tuesday afternoon to listen to a new pitch from elected officials there.

Talks between the Giants and Xanadu developers Mills Corp. and Mack-Cali have broken down over whether Xanadu would be allowed to open on Giants game days. The club went to court Tuesday in an effort to get a judge to enforce such a ban.

No one wants to speculate on what will happen if the team doesn't meet the mid-September target date, part of a memorandum of understanding signed on April 14 during a triumphant news conference at 29-year-old Giants Stadium.

Either the Giants or the state could walk away from the deal next month if the three agreements are not in place. That could lead to a revival of a long-running dispute over how much renovation would be necessary on the current stadium to make it "state of the art," as required by the Giants' lease.

Codey is intent on making a stadium deal part of his legacy, and Giants officials seem reluctant to find out whether gubernatorial candidates Jon Corzine or Doug Forrester would be as eager to cooperate with the Giants on a new stadium.

"I want to have something done by [Sept. 15]," Codey said. "I want everybody to work things out and compromise. I'd say I'm still optimistic."

Codey was joined at Tuesday's meeting by New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority Chairman Carl Goldberg.

"I would say that the Giants understand, without any ambiguity, what the expectation of the governor is as far as the content of the documents we need to move into the master planning process," said Goldberg, a prominent real estate developer.

Goldberg and sports authority President George Zoffinger expressed disappointment early this month with the quality of the Giants' design work. The Jets, meanwhile, recently submitted a preliminary plan for 90,000-seat stadium that wowed state officials with its retail and entertainment concepts throughout the 75-acre site.

But Mara said the Giants' plans remain on schedule.

"Our developers and architects will have a submission next month that is fully compliant with what the state wants," Mara said.

That submission, however, is unlikely to include much input from the Jets as long as they continue flirting with Queens.

Does that mean if the Jets decide to stay in New Jersey, that the design work has to start all over again?

"I don't see why we would have to do that," Mara said. "We've been working on this for close to a year, and we've spent millions of dollars for a seating bowl and other concepts. We can't start over now."

Talks with Mills/Mack-Cali have floundered over the Giants' assertion that traffic on game days would be nightmarish if Xanadu patrons mingled with the 80,000 Giants fans.

"It's obvious that we are at an impasse with them," Mara said. "It's equally obvious that there are a lot of balls up in the air right now."

E-mail: brennan@northjersey.com



Copyright (http://www.northjersey.com/copyright.php) © 2005 North Jersey Media Group Inc. (http://www.njmg.com/)

[Ninjahedge]

Traffic WOULD be hellish on those days, but asking a huge mall to shut down all day for a 3 hour game? They must be joking.

This looks like an initial request that they will scale back to some agreement on parking/traffic control.


It is not like traffic is great along route 3 any busy day, let alone after a game lets out... :p

[STT757]

Traffic WOULD be hellish on those days, but asking a huge mall to shut down all day for a 3 hour game? They must be joking.

This looks like an initial request that they will scale back to some agreement on parking/traffic control.


It is not like traffic is great along route 3 any busy day, let alone after a game lets out... :p

The Meadowlands is in Bergen County, Bergen County enforces Blue laws. All the malls in Bergen County are closed on Sundays. That would leave the place open for Football fan parking.

[Ninjahedge]

The Meadowlands is in Bergen County, Bergen County enforces Blue laws. All the malls in Bergen County are closed on Sundays. That would leave the place open for Football fan parking.

I live in Bergen County.

What about Friday night games?

What about grocery or food stores?

Why would the Giants be asking for the mall to be completely shut down if there was going to be no concern about it in the first place? What if the Blue Laws were waived for this particular development?


(PS, I grew up in BC.. ;) You went to Wayne on Sunday if you wanted a mall....)

[JD]

Here's the question I would like answered about Giants Stadium: what does it say when a THIRTY YEAR OLD arena is considered obsolete? Eight hundred million dollars--no small amount of which comes from the public trough--for a football stadium when the one used now is in perfectly fine shape?

Why is no one discussing this matter?

If the Giants/Jets get this pleasuredome, can they at least sign something that says they'll use this thing for at least fifty years? Or can the public look forward to this "we need a new stadium" argument in 2025?

[TLOZ Link5]

They just don't make 'em like they used to, JD :)

Even in an era of renewed architectural sensitivity, are we still, like Ada Louise Huxtable once said, a tinhorn culture that wants and gets tincan architecture?

[ZippyTheChimp]

I couldn't resist. They're all obsolete now., :p

New football arenas push bounds of stadium engineering

Monday, August 29, 2005

By Alex Frangos, The Wall Street Journal


At the Arizona Cardinals new stadium in Glendale, Ariz., a half-dozen of the team's 300-pound linemen will jump up and down in unison next month, hammering a 30-foot patch of turf under their cleats.

Training for a new quarterback blitz? Nope. Testing the limits of the playing surface the Cardinals plan to use as the centerpiece of their $450 million stadium when it opens in 2006: a retractable field. Imagine a gigantic rectangular planter 18 inches deep with dirt and grass, and mounted on rails.

"We've got marching bands marching, and big gorillas tackling each other -- we've got to make sure the floor doesn't move beneath them," says Larry Griffis, president of the structures division of Walter P. Moore, one of the leading stadium engineering firms in the U.S. Mr. Griffis is currently working on three National Football League projects and is a leading expert on retractable stadium roofs.

Now he has to deal with a retractable floor -- the first of its kind for a stadium in the U.S. Mr. Griffis is worried not so much that the field will collapse under the weight of the titans, but that the vibrations will make the players feel uneasy. "It's not a structural issue, but a perception issue," he says.

The next generation of NFL arenas is pushing the bounds of stadium engineering way beyond the old bowl-like, exposed-to-the-elements structures of the past, and even beyond more recent indoor venues. Football stadiums these days must serve as team icons, with bold, distinctive designs that render them easily recognizable for brand identity. They also have to be functionally and environmentally versatile, to tap other kinds of event revenue than just football.

The Cardinals, for their part, hired New York architect Peter Eisenman, something of a maverick in design circles as well as a football fanatic. The architect responded by conjuring a vision inspired by the team's Southwest desert setting: a barrel cactus. Curved metallic panels will alternate with glass strips around the exterior of the building, scheduled for completion before the 2006 season. A retractable roof will let air in on temperate winter Sundays. And in a bid to have both natural turf and a building that makes money year-round, the Cardinals are betting on their grass field on wheels. Even during football season, the field will be able to roll outside next to the parking lot during the week so it can soak up the warm Arizona sun while conferences and meetings take place indoors.

This is relatively new territory for engineers. Only a handful of stadiums in Japan and Europe have experimented with retractable fields. Mr. Griffis tried to learn about the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, near Munich. But the tight-lipped builders didn't want to compare notes, Mr. Griffis says. "We're sort of inventing the wheels ourselves," he says, referring not only to the field but the rollers underneath.

The NFL's two other teams with funds to move forward with new stadium blueprints are Indianapolis and Dallas. The Indianapolis Colts unveiled their design this year, by Dallas architects HKS Inc. The shape is inspired by the classic Indiana field house, a square building with sloped roof, which in this case will be retractable.

The sloping roof, in fact, poses a challenge to the engineers since it also has to move. "It's basically a combination of crane and railroad technology being utilized on a moving roof rather than, say, unloading containers on a ship," says Brian Trubey, the architect on the Indianapolis and Dallas stadiums. Every retractable roof is a challenge, Mr. Trubey says, because each stadium's shape is different. Mr. Trubey says he lets his buddy Mr. Griffis worry about the particulars. "There's some good engineers who know how to do that," he kids.

Mr. Griffis responds, only half-kiddingly, with a complaint often heard from engineers: that architects come up with designs that are difficult to build while staying within the budget. "A lot of these architects are great at getting them to look good," Mr. Griffis says of modern stadiums, "but not so good at the price tag. It can get pretty tense. We're going through that with Mr. Trubey right now."

Before Arizona, Mr. Griffis's biggest football-stadium challenge was for the Houston Texans' Reliant Stadium -- the first NFL venue with a retractable roof. As in Arizona, financial pressures forced the stadium owners to seek additional revenue from other kinds of events. The solution: the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, an annual 2 1/2-week run of lassos and bucking bulls that sells out every night. The show actually brings in more money than football, so it demanded some design changes.

Having multiple uses "adds a level of complexity to the design," says Mr. Griffis. For the rodeo, for instance, "we had to design for all the speakers and lights and banners they wanted to hang." That meant the retractable roof needed to support an additional 180,000 pounds. The solution: more steel supports.

Other recent proposals pushing at the edge of stadium design include the New York Jets' ambitious plan for a multipurpose stadium on the west side of Manhattan, an idea that was scuttled earlier this year. Designed by New York architects Kohn, Pedersen, Fox and by engineers Thornton-Tomasetti Group, also of New York, the retractable-roof stadium would