I'm glad they won't have to stay overnight for their home games anymore. As a Jersey guy I think it's great they will have HQ so close to my home, but if the truth be told I was really rooting for the West Side Stadium. Just like they're doing with Ground Zero--and as they did with cable TV for 20 years--NY's politicians let their own greed and egos prevail over the greater good of the city. I'd rather not share a stadium with the Giants but at least the new deal will be more of a neutral home like the Staples Center and not the Giants' place with us as 2nd class citizens.
I guess I think the Jets owe something to their fan base more than most people believe they do. Sure, football is a business, but when it comes to fans and stuff, it's much easier to hit some nerves. No one can convince me that the Jets are actually the New York Jets any longer; and I've heard all the arguements. Sad, just truly sad. I'm glad I'm not alone on this one. For the Jets to turn the other cheek on their NY market segment that actually GIVES A DAMN is completely disgraceful.
No offense, but it seems to me you just don't understand that it is NYC and Jet fans that oppposed the WSS that turned their backs on the Jets and not vice-versa. And the Jets have fans all over the metro area, not just in LI or Queens. Let me ask you something? If your company moved your job from Flushing to East Rutherford, would you commute 4 hours a day to NJ and back from Queens? Most people would not. In an area as large as NYC, if fans are going to root for a team based on the location of the stadium and the practice facility, 75% of them are going to be heartbroken. By your standards, all Giant fans in NJ should have abandoned the team because they no longer train at FDU but in Albany of all places!!!! And how many NFL teams have training camp nowhere near the city they play in??? Dozens. The Cowboys had camp for decades in Northern LA. The Redskins trained in Carlisle Pennsylvania. I could go on and on. Having lived in Connecticut for 10 years and NJ for 8 years, I have gone 18 years without being able to see a practice at Hofstra. I have survived and my devotion to the team has no wavered one bit. I suggest you get over this self indulgment-based entitlement to have your team practice and play in your back yard. Its still the Jets and they still play and practice in the NYC area. If you can't accept that the earth doesn't end at the Hudson River and Westshester County, I just don't know what to say. And if you were this passionate about Hofstra, you should have thrown your support around the WSS, because the hand writing was on the wall a year ago. It was 1) the WSS, 2) NJ or 3) LA or some other city. Queens was not even on the Jets radar.
The Jets confirmed Friday that they soon will leave their long-time training facility at Hofstra for a new headquarters in Florham Park, N.J. But the end of the Hofstra era might not come until 2008. Officially, the team's goal is to move next year into its new headquarters, which is to include a 110,000-square-foot building as well as three outdoor fields and one indoors. Realistically, though, the scope of the project might mean two more years at Hofstra for the team, which has been based there since 1974. New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine officially approved a slightly revised agreement for the $1 billion stadium the Jets and Giants plan to build together at the Meadowlands by 2010. Corzine initially favored a building with a retractable roof, but the Jets and Giants refused to pay for it, and the idea died. The major change from the deal brokered by Richard Codey, Corzine's predecessor, was that the state will not pay $30 million for infrastructure improvements but the teams can sell naming rights to the entire complex in addition to the stadium itself. "I think all parties agree it is time to put shovels in the ground and make this project," Codey said in a statement released by the state. TAKE THAT NEW JERSEY
Well said. As I mentioned, I wanted the WSS for the good of the city and the Jets, and I'm a Jersey guy. The Jets did try--and spent a lot of money trying--to move back to NY, NY has their politicians to blame. That's the way it goes. It's easy for me to say now, but if the chips fell the other way and I had to go into the city or to Long Island 8-10 times a year, so be it. I go further than that for shit that I care a lot less about.
That's not a fair comparison. A company's first objective is to please the shareholders. If they move me, it's probably going to make the shareholders happy because the company thinks that my moving will somehow contribute a benefit to them. Bad example, I know, but if the Jets have like half of their fans in a state, they owe it to the fans to have a presence there. I guess we're all nieve. Fans may not be shareholders, but they are stakeholders in this situation. I don't think the Jets front office is looking at this properly. There are probably some NY fans who don't care, but it's obvious that a large percentage of them do. That's true, but at least the Cowboys actually play in the state that Dallas is located in. The Jets (and even the Giants) have been in an awkward situation for years. There was a period a few years ago when the Jets were probably (or at least perceived to be) more popular amongst the NY residents than the Giants were due to their NY presense It's not so much about seeing training camp as it is maintaining come sort of presence in NY. And if the world doesn't end at the Hudson, maybe the Jets should move to Ohio and play under the name of "New York Jets" I pretty much maintained that if Queens was not an option for the Jets, the WSS would be my preferable home of the Jets. Unfortunately, self-indulgent politicians got in the way.
It's still a suburb so what's the difference!?!? Some NFL teams (KC I believe) train in Wisconsin for training camp. Does that make them less of KCs team? Dallas' suburbs happen to be in Texas. Some of NYC's suburbs happen to be in NJ. You're too hung up on the state boundary. Now we're getting silly.
First, why do the Jets owe it to the fans in NY state to have a presence there? I know it is what YOU want, but what benefit do the Jet fans get from it. And what benefit do Jet fans in NY get from a NY presence if they don't attend games or training camp. As for the shareholder argument, this is where you completely miss the boat. The Jets are moving to NJ for financial reasons and good ones at that. The Jets currently have no home. The idiot politicians in NYC rejected the Jets' WSS proposal and Jet fans helped torpedo that attempt by not supporting it for stupid reasons - one of which is this "they belong in Queens" garbage. When the WSS went down, the Jets had three choices - jump in with the NYG on the NJ stadium, which they had to do quickly otherwise the Giants would have signed the deal and the Jets would have no shot at ownership of that stadium. They could have started from scratch and hoped something got approved somewhere in the NYC area, knowing that the WSS and NJ were no longer options. Remain tenants in the Giants' stadium or move to LA. The Jets are rank near the bottom of the league in revenues. The key to revenue growth is building a new stadium. The ONLY and best option the Jets had after the WSS was rejected was to join wit the Giants and build a stadium in NJ at half the cost of their own stadium, but one that will give them a revenue stream as an owner of a new stadium. The Jets will jump to the top of the league in revenues starting in 2010. That will make the "shareholders" happy. Once the decision is made to own in NJ, it makes no sense to stay in Hofstra. Why travel to home games? Why live two hours from your base? A new state-of-the-art training facility in NJ will also make the "shareholders" happy. NJ is building it and paying for it. You can't get a better deal than that. What is it that the Jet fron office is missing? Are fans in NY going to stop rooting for the team? Maybe they should have a presence in NJ, NY and Connecticut and rotate every three years? Don't be ridiculous. Your constant statement that the Jets must have a presence in NY displays a lack of understanding about the NYC area. I grew up in LI, lived 10 years in Connecticut, and lived 11 years in NJ. All three are in the NYC area. I got the same TV stations, the same news, the same newspapers, etc. It is all part of the NYC metro area. Plus there are dozens of NFL teams that do not play in the city of their name, but in a suburb. NYC just happens to have a metro area that is in three states. You bring up Dallas. Did you know the Cowboys have no presence in Dallas?? They play and practice in Irving. Irving is a suburb of Dallas about 10-15 miles from the center of the city (further than the Meadowlands is from Manhattan). The Bills play in Orchard Park, not Buffalo. The Patriots play closer to Rhode Island than Boston. The KC Chiefs play in Missouri and not Kansas - do the fans in Kansas complain? The Washington Redskins play and practice in Maryland. Do fans in DC and Northern Virginia complain about the team not having a presence in their state/district???? The 49ers play about 10 miles south of the city. AGain, who should baseball fans in NJ root for? I live in NJ. I am a Met fan. Should I demand a NJ presence for the Mets for the millions of Met fans in NJ. All you need to do to see your beloved Jets is do what many of us have done for decades. Get in your car and drive over a bridge. It's not that bad.
These are all good points, Joe Willie, but you've never going to convince some New Yorkers no matter how many valid points you make. MisterMoss is passionate about the Jets and a lot of this is driven by frustration. But we had this "New York" argument on this board ad nauseum at the time the WSS was under consideration. "But if not Manhatten, the stadium should at least be in New York state!" Okay, how about Niagra Falls then? I suppose that qualifies. It's in the state, isn't it? I grew up in Linden, NJ. I could take the train into the city (and often did) and be there in 20 minutes. I know the city like the back of my hand and I'm probably more of a "New Yorker" than most from Hempstead, NY. My daughter-in-law takes the PATH train into the city every day to work at Solomon, Smith, Barney. She took the early train in on 9/11 and arrived at 8:30am and walked up the block to go to work... and you all know what took place 15 minutes later. Out of sheer luck, she survived, but that kid is a Jersey girl who's as much a New Yorker as any New York resident I know. Tough as nails. "New York" is greater than city or state boundaries, damn it! But look, as I said, some people are hung up on the Jets either being in the "The City" or being in the state of New York, and any other location is not the NY metropolitan area to them. Myopic, yes. In fact, it's almost scary, but this is the mentality you're up against when you try to explain how the Jets arrived at their current decision. And this didn't just happen. This all started over 20 years ago when the NY politicians gambled on the Jets remaining in that shithole, Shea Stadium. They let the Jets get away then and they did it again, but good this time. So, I say to MisterMoss and any other angry "New Yorker" who feels the pain now: Quit blaming New Jersey. In fact, quit blaming Jersey fans who are understandably welcoming the Jets with open arms. And you can't even blame the New Jersey politicians for pulling this off either, because it never should have happened and gone this far and it never would have had YOUR politicians been on the ball and "respected" the wishes of their beloved Jets fans constituents. Want to blame someone? Blame yourselves. Why, you ask? Because you're the ones WHO VOTED IN your cockamamie politicians who made these f*cked up decisions. Especially blame yourself if you live in a district where Bruno and Silva were elected (you probably directly voted for them). And if you don't live in that district and didn't vote for them, blame your fellow New Yorkers who did vote for them. You're all directing your anger across the river to us. This belongs in New York just like the Jets do, using your cockamamie, convoluted logic! Remember what the illustrious Herman Edwards once said, "What happens in New York stays in New York."
The 14th Amendment to the US constitution was ratified on July 28 1868 This amendment allows me as a NY to live and work anywhere in the US and be egocentric enough to believe that I’m still in NYC. NYC is the hub and NJ is a spoke in the wheel of that hub (In my mind so is LA because the Brooklyn Dodgers reside in LA for now and I have to go to 79th street and Broadway to get a decent Bagel even if I’m hanging in Malibu) We have a Constitutional right to call the Jets the NY Jets even though they reside in a NYC Suburb in NJ. All of you who choose to get bent out of shape over this you have that right as well. I suggest before going to your first game, stop over at H & H Bagels and Zabars and have a real NYC brunch in the parking lot in NJ. I guarantee a great football experience in a wonderful new stadium. My parents moved out of Brooklyn to LI because the public schools gave their kids a chance for a better education and a more secure future. I moved out of LI to CT to get a little peice of land and get away from all of the congestion. Life moves on and it usually moves on to secure a better future, this is no different. The Jets for the first time in their history will by full partners in their own home.
Make another stop at the Stage Door Deli in midtown before entering the tunnel and get yourself a hot pastrami on Jewish rye to go. Make sure it's got mustard on it and don't forget the kosher pickle, maybe a little potato knish on the side. Grab yourself a Dr. Brown's Celery Tonic to wash it all down and now you've got yourself a real NYC halftime sandwich!
Try to do that going to Queens and that sandwich doesn't make it out of the mid town tunnell. You would be belching pastrami by the end of the National anthem.
If you had to go to the game in Queens from the Stage Door, you'd never make the National Anthem. In fact, you'd be lucky to make the 4th quarter, with all the traffic you'd hit. Once there, good luck finding a parking spot, since the Queens politicians planned on building an 80,000-seat stadium with parking for about 8,000 vehicles. I suppose you could always pull over to the shoulder though, enjoy the sandwich and listen to the rest of the game on the radio. No, come on. After the WSS fell through, there was no way the Queens or any location other than the Meadowlands was going to work. So, it can be said that this is what set the stage for the entire move for the team. Had the WSS deal gone through, the Jets probably would have remained in Hempstead. If I were a New Yorker, I'd put the blame squarely where it belongs... with the NY poiticians who all collectively squandered the opportunity to keep the Jets in NY.
