Posted on 04/15/2005 5:27:44 AM PDT by Calpernia
New York Giants fans will watch their team play in a new $750 million stadium with a different name and added high-end seating under an agreement signed Thursday that officials say won't saddle taxpayers with extra debt.
The deal, reached by the team and the state after once-contentious negotiations, allows the team to build an 80,000-seat stadium in the Meadowlands. It is slated to open for the 2008 season.
The 40-year deal contains options that could extend it to 98 years.
"New Jersey is proud to make the Giants our home team today and for years to come," acting Gov. Richard J. Codey said during a news conference at the existing Giants Stadium, which will be razed once the new stadium opens.
The deal seemed dead a few weeks ago, with both sides far apart on finances and the scope of the project. But several days of talks this week between Codey and John K. Mara, the Giants' chief operating officer, paved the way for "an agreement that will keep the Giants here in New Jersey, where they belong," the governor said.
"We were the first team here," Mara said. "It was always our desire to stay."
Giants Stadium opened in 1976; the Jets joined the team there in 1984.
Codey repeatedly called the agreement the best in the National Football League for taxpayers. The team is to pay the entire cost of construction, manage the facility and keep all profits.
"Where other states are building stadiums on the backs of taxpayers, New Jersey has said no," Codey said. "The Giants -- not the taxpayers -- are putting up more than $750 million. It is truly a win for New Jersey, for New Jersey residents and for the future of sports in our state."
The Giants will pay $6.3 million a year to New Jersey in rent and taxes. The state is responsible for as much as $30 million in roadwork and still will be responsible for $124 million in debt that remains on the existing stadium.
He said the roadwork was already being planned.
"There's nothing on the backs of state residents that wasn't there before we sign this agreement," Codey said. "I want to make that very, very clear."
The new stadium won't be called Giants Stadium, however. The team plans to sell naming rights to the new building. If the Jets are still playing in the new building, New Jersey would get to keep a third of any naming-rights payments over $12 million, with a cap of $3 million on how much the state can receive, Codey said.
If the Jets leave, the state will not receive any money from the naming rights.
Mara said if the Jets, who are pushing hard for a new stadium in Manhattan, are unable to build it, they would be welcome at the Giants' new building either as partners or as tenants. He said he has met with Jets owner Woody Johnson and team president Jay Cross to talk about contingency plans in case either team's new stadium plan falls through.
"I've spoken to both Woody and Jay several times and said, 'We'd love to have you,"' Mara said. "They said, 'We'd love to have you across the river."'
Mara and Carl Goldberg, chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, said the priority now is to reach an agreement with the developers of the massive Xanadu entertainment-retail complex at the Meadowlands that will resolve the question of whether Xanadu will be closed on days of Giants home games. Mara said he believes added traffic from Xanadu would make transportation near the stadium a nightmare before and after games.
The new stadium is to include a Giants Hall of Fame, theme restaurants and more bathrooms than the current facility. Luxury suites -- one of the prime money-makers for teams -- will increase from the present 118 to 200, and premium club seating will drastically expand from the current 120 seats to between 8,000 and 10,000 seats, Mara said. The team has not decided on those seating prices yet, he said.
Mara said the Giants do not plan to ask current season-ticket holders to purchase personal seat licenses to help pay for the building. But he refused to rule out such a request down the road.
"We would like to have the ability to finance this without having to sell PSLs," he said. "It's not part of our financing plan. Whether it becomes a part in the future, I can't say."
Such licenses have become a common financial tool for professional sports teams looking to defray the cost of building new facilities, and can range as high as several thousand dollars. The licenses are sold for one-time payments that give ticket holders the right to purchase season tickets at a new facility.
Mara said he and other team officials plan to visit other new NFL stadiums including Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and FedEx Field in Washington for design ideas for the new Giants stadium.
Ping your NY/NJ lists. Thanks.
The money Giuliani had earmarked for a stadium, was it in anyway related to this Codey deal?
And what happened to the hockey stadium that Newark was trying to use homeland security funds for?
They had an easier time getting their stadium deal than the Jets.
I'm in NJ. I have already heard this morning that the taxpayer component of the stadium will be well over $100 million for "roads and infrastructure". I just hope they put a roof over this thing so that it can be used for conventions and other events all year long rather than when the weather cooperates or on the 8 Sundays that the Giants play their home games. Summer concerts could be held with or without the top if it isn't raining.
The Giants will pay $6.3 million a year to New Jersey in rent and taxes. The state is responsible for as much as $30 million in roadwork and still will be responsible for $124 million in debt that remains on the existing stadium.
Pro Sports: Welfare for Millioniares and Billioniares.
Go Pats! 8-)
I didn't even know that the Jints were trying to get a new stadium. As a Jet fan I find it typical that the Giants can get a new stadium deal without any trouble and the Jets are still fighting for a stadium deal of their own after 4 years. NYC obviously doesn't want them (thank you Charles Dolan) so they should just do what I have been saying since I was a little kid and build a stadium on Long Island. Forget Manhattan and their whining and crying.
Why in heaven's name would they sign a 40-year deal (let along potential options to extend it to 98 years) when they already know that this new stadium won't last that long?
Giants Stadium opened in 1976, and it is in perfectly good shape today. It is being replaced because it is considered "functionally obsolete" by current NFL standards. Based on this history, I'd say that 30 years is about the maximum life span of the new football stadium in the Meadowlands.
Dammit, you beat me to it.
I'd say that has a lot to do with the fact that you could build TWO new $750 million venues in the Meadowlands for the price of the stadium the Jets are proposing in Manhattan.
Which is why I say forget about Manhattan. They should try for a stadium on Long Island. They would be a perfect fit there. Most Jet fans are from LI anyway and there are plenty of places there where building a stadium would be possible. I mean, they practice on LI so why shouldn't they play there too.
I'm a season-ticket holding Jets fan, and I think the Manhattan Stadium idea sucks. I would love to see the Jets go in with the Giants on this new Meadowlands Stadium.
Can they finally change their names to the NJ Giants?
It is really sad that people are stupid enough to give tax money to pro sports teams.
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