Anything north of Yonkers is "Upstate" and Upstate already has a team. "Citi Field is accessible via the New York City Subway via the IRT Flushing Line () at the Mets–Willets Point station, and the Long Island Rail Road station on the Port Washington Branch also called Mets–Willets Point. New York Water Taxi operates a free ferry to the stadium from Pier 11/Wall Street and the East 34th Street Ferry Landing before every game.[62] For selected games, SeaStreak provides ferry service between Highlands, New Jersey and the stadium. Both ferry services use the slips at the World's Fair Marina, located approximately 0.25 miles (0.40 km) north of Citi Field. The park is also close to several major thoroughfares, including the Grand Central Parkway, the Whitestone and Van Wyck Expressways, the Long Island Expressway, Roosevelt Avenue, Northern Boulevard and Astoria Boulevard." - Wikipedia
Ahh … the Empire State Building. Symbol of NYC, of ingenuity, of giant monkey’s who capture young girls and swat airplanes. Once the tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building has a storied past and an exciting construction history especially when measured against the tenure of the current New York Jets GM.
Don't get your hopes up just yet. Johnson does have opt out clause in 2025 (and after that every 5 years), serving a notice in 2024, so it is prudent to explore options and do due diligence. However, to actually move, to build a new stadium, is simply not a financial viable option, unless public funds nearly the entire thing. Also to move after 2025 for 26 season, they are going to have start building new stadium pretty much now. Right now to build a stadium in NY, you are looking at 4 bil. They are not getting much from the Giants - there is simply no point for them to pay the Jets for stadium they already use whenever they need. Wood would need to drop 4 bil for this. Or keep paying the rent to essentially himself (the Meadowlands company that runs the stadium is joint venture between Jets and Giants) and save 4 bil. He may not be the brightest guy, but he is not a total imbecile. The whole reason why they rebuilt Giants stadium was because it was one of the older ones at 35 years old, and more importantly didn't have a lot of corporate boxes that generate most revenues. This stadium is relatively new (12 years old, will be 15 when the Jets can opt out), has shit load of boxes, and had amenities. Some folks here don't like the esthetics, but this is subjective. The reality is that this considered to be a premier stadium around world. It hosted Copa America final in soccer, it has been selected as one of 11 US locations for 2026 soccer world cup, and is a favorite to host final. This is the biggest sporting event in the world we are talking about, and Metlife is at the top of the list. All I can tell you is, if you are in NY, leave for the stadium early, because you are going to watch live Jets football in NJ for at least next 10-15 years, and probably more. And for these of us who live nearby - Hallelujah!
Not north of Yonkers. In Yonkers. You want to be close to 87, 95 and an easy Metro North ride from the city. You want to be shuttle bus close to the Bronx subways. You want to be the right distance from the casino and the racetrack. Not sure exactly what that distance is because you want to offer packages to the CT and AC casinos to get them to bus in high rollers and they're not going to do that if it's just going to be a shuttle bus to a competing casino. However the Empire City Casino is also going to be a place to sell packages of suites so you have to balance it well. I believe that the major opportunity however would be in redevelopment of the area around the stadium complex. A first-class hotel with several prime restaurants. An entertainment complex for concerts and shows that would also have resident entertainers to draw the dinner crowd. You could do some upper class housing with a bunch of affordable units tacked on to draw fed, state and local funding. Basically the Jets could become the center of the universe for a significant part of Yonkers and draw in very high spending clientele all around them. This would be a windfall for Yonkers and the state and I suspect the Jets experiences would be 180 degree different than the clusterfuck the West Side Stadium attempt turned into.
Should be right where the Belmont Stakes takes place. Horse racing is a dead sport (and I'm a huge fan)...but does anyone go to the track anymore other than on Belmont Day? That is the perfect spot. They're upgrading everything for the Isles. Add in a killer stadium right where the grandstand/track is, and you're good to go. That place accommodated 120,000 on big years for the race. They could certainly do 80,000 / 10 times a year...plus a few shows..
I heard rumor about a year ago that there was land in Long Island sold to a sports team looking to move there, the sports team being a Jets. There's been a decent amount of smoke around the Jets moving -- Hopefully there's a fire and it's MetLife burning.
If this is in the works the Johnsons are sure to have their eyes on a different prize than the Jets having their own stadium with the benefits that could bring in identity and financial opps to support the franchise. I always had a suspicion that the Johnsons bought the Jets with the wider intention of controlling the then underused land on the west side with the hoopla of the failed 2012 NYC Olympic bid. Build the WSS with wider money and move the team there. They couldn't get it so bought in to MetLife and 1 Florham Park
Woody was only willing to offer 800 mil for WSS. 600 mil were going to be given by City and State, public funding. And he couldn't get that funding, resulting the project being shut down. Granted there was lobbying from MSG owners, but all they did was highlight the point of taxpayers paying so much. Woody then turned around and spent the same 800K for Metlife, his second choice. Now Woody would need to spend 4-5 bil for another NY stadium, almost entirely funded by public. These 600K in funding were refused in a different political climate than is there today in NYC. Now there is a lot less appetite than there was then. Heck, even companies like Amazon are being turned down to build HQs in NY when they request some tax breaks they get in other states. The point is, there is basically no chance of any significant public funding for a stadium used a few days a year. Woody would need to pay 4 bil himself, while already owning a stadium that is only 15 years old. Last time he was willing to give 800 mil to move from 35 year old stadium. It is asinine to think 15 years later he is paying 4 bil to move from 15 year old stadium. Give it another 20 years, perhaps then there is a chance. Or they team up with the Giants to build another stadium right next to the old one like they did last time. Right now all these rumors are not worth the paper they are printed on.
You expanded excellently on my point. Johnson will definitely not put dollars without other funders putting up the bulk with him expecting to get an advantage on the backend
Why look back to a time more than fifteen years ago to a discussion of the West Side Stadium/Convention Center which was encumbered with Olympic aspirations when a much more recent and same purpose building is financed and in development upstate today? Payments of $1.7 billion have been secured for the new home of the Buffalo Bills, $400,000,000 of which will come directly from newly legalized gambling revenue. It seems to me that a proportionate share of gambling income from the metropolitan area would yield substantially more for an NFL stadium within ten miles of Times Square. I like Buffalo but must think that a state of the art facility in New York City would generate a significantly larger pull to the area for annual tourist dollars without even counting that from at least a couple of Super Bowls over its lifespan.
They should have never left. Sharing a stadium with the Giants has been a disaster. Hope we can do it and hope another weasel doesn't kill the deal like that last guy killed the Manhattan stadium.
