Giants, Jets face double rent Officials are re-evaluating agreement on a new Meadowlands stadium Thursday, March 09, 2006 BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN / Star-Ledger Staff State officials say they want to double the amount of money the Jets and Giants will pay New Jersey each year to build a stadium in the Meadowlands and may try to eliminate the state's planned $30million contribution to the project.Those positions represent a substantial departure from an agreement former Gov. Richard Codey reached with the football teams last year and could ultimately jeopardize the project.Carl Goldberg, chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, and George Zoffinger, the agency's chief executive, outlined the new stance during a meeting with The Star-Ledger's editorial board Tuesday.Goldberg and Zoffinger said that given the state's $5billion budget shortfall, Gov. Jon Corzine is right to re-evaluate last year's "memorandum of understanding," or MOU, with the Jets and Giants as the two sides attempt to reach a final development agreement on the project. Under the MOU, the state is to receive $5million a year in rent. On Tuesday, Zoffinger said state officials now believe the teams should pay twice that amount."It doesn't make sense that the teams are going to make, according to their own calculations, $185million on this stadium and the state gets $5million," he said.Zoffinger later said a combined payment of $8million might be acceptable.Goldberg, meanwhile, said he was considering trying to negotiate away the state's $30million obligation to improve the infrastructure of the sports complex."It would take me five minutes to renegotiate and remove the $30million," Goldberg said. "They are spending nearly $1billion. At that level, $30million becomes a rounding error."Until now, the football teams have said they were open to minor adjustments in the MOU, but believe the state should stick by the deal Codey made last year. If the two sides can't finalize a deal, the Giants can force the state to spend an estimated $350million to renovate the current stadium.Yesterday, Alice McGillion, a spokesman for the Jets and Giants stadium venture, made it clear that without a deal for a new stadium, the state would be on the hook for a very expensive renovation of the teams' current home. "Not only is the new stadium agreement a win for taxpayers, it also places the NJSEA in a much better position than the status quo," McGillion said. "The agreement relieves the NJSEA of an obligation to spend as much as $500million for its state-of-the-art obligation, provides for $1billion of private investment and generates $35million in annual tax revenue."Last year's deal, reached initially with the Giants in April and then extended to the Jets in September, called for the tenants of the new stadium to pay $5million each year to lease 75 acres at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. In addition, the teams would make a $1.3million tax payment to East Rutherford and cover the costs of building the $900million stadium. In return, the state agreed to spend $30million to fix roads and utilities to accommodate the new stadium.Zoffinger has insisted for months that the teams were not spending enough money. The argument fell on deaf ears with Codey, for whom a new football stadium was a top priority, but has gained a more sympathetic audience with Corzine.Anthony Coley, a spokesman for Corzine, said the governor wants the teams in New Jersey, but he is evaluating last year's deal and considering changes. "The governor wants to make sure that the interests of the public are served," Coley said. "He has directed our new treasurer, Bradley Abelow, to review the deal to make sure the state is getting the full economic value from the deal."For their part, the teams want to wrap up a deal as soon as possible, break ground early next year, and open the new stadium for the 2010 season.Corzine wants the project to happen, but has been insistent that it include a roof so the stadium could be used for the Super Bowl, the NCAA Final Four, conventions and other major events. A roof would cost an extra $180million, and the teams have expressed little interest in paying for it. Also, they say an open-air stadium gives them a distinct home-field advantage during the second half of their season. > http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey...l=1&thispage=1
If i heard someone bragging to a third party/ the press about being able to negotiate me out of anything in five minutes I would take that as a major slur and do everything possible to stuff those words down his throat. I wonder if the Jets and Giants have seen those quotes?
This is bullshit. Just let them build the friggin stadium. The longer they wait the more its going to cost.
