Associated Press September 16, 2005 The New York Giants on Thursday said they were close to deals for a new football stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex to be owned and operated jointly with the New York Jets.

Associated Press

By JEFFREY GOLD
Associated Press Writer

September 15, 2005, 7:45 PM EDT

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The New York Giants on Thursday said they were close to deals for a new football stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex to be owned and operated jointly with the New York Jets.

The announcement came as the Giants submitted a revised plan for a new stadium to the Jets and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which runs the Meadowlands. The Giants and Jets are now tenants at Giants Stadium.

The plan was delivered a day before the sports authority is to consider whether to recommend that New Jersey walk away from its agreement with the Giants on a new stadium.

That opinion could hinge on whether the Giants reach an accord with the Jets, who have proposed a design of their own for the Meadowlands.

On Thursday, they appeared to have a different view of the status of negotiations. "I think at this point we are far apart," Jets spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein said.

The 80,000-seat stadium and adjacent practice facility proposed by the Giants would cost $800 million and be paid for by the teams, said John K. Mara, the Giants chief operating officer. It is designed to accommodate a retractable roof, at a cost of about $200 million more, which Mara said he hoped the state and NFL would help pay for.

It could open in time for the 2009 season. "That's still our hope, but that's very ambitious at this point," Mara said.

In addition, the new plan attempts to make peace with the developers of Xanadu, a retail-entertainment center that is rising across Route 120 from the stadium around the Continental Airlines Arena. The Giants, who have tried to derail Xanadu, now envision a retail center of their own that would include a pedestrian walkway connecting it to Xanadu.

The agreement between the Giants and the state, reached in the spring, calls for a new, privately owned stadium to replace the state-owned Giants Stadium, one of the oldest in the NFL. The agreement allows the state to opt out if the Giants do not have a deal with the Jets by 5 p.m. Monday, said sports authority Chairman Carl J. Goldberg, although that step would not be taken lightly.

"The sports authority remains committed, as we were in April, to building a new stadium at the Meadowlands," Goldberg said.

He said the Giants have already missed the deadline for an agreement with Xanadu developers, but Mara said such an agreement appears close. The alternative would be renovating the existing stadium, which could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars, but provide little additional revenue, Mara said at a briefing for reporters.

The Jets had been trying for several years to build a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan, but after that effort failed in June, the Jets proposed building a 90,000-seat stadium with the Giants that would be integrated with Xanadu.

A spokesman for the Xanadu developers, Robert G. Sommer, said Thursday evening, "We're very close to concluding a deal" with the Giants. The $1.3 billion Xanadu project is being built by the Mills Corp. of Virginia and Mack-Cali Realty of Cranford.

Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, instrumental in forging the April deal with the Giants, has been following developments while vacationing this week in Italy and "we remain optimistic," spokeswoman Kelley Heck said.

The Giants created the revised stadium plan with the Hammes Co. of Brookfield, Wis., the developer that completed a $295 million renovation of Lambeau Field for the Green Bay Packers in 2002. It was also project manager for Ford Field in Detroit, home of the Lions.

Mara said a jointly owned stadium and practice facility would be "neutral" on team signage, but he would prefer that the Giants be the team to use the practice areas during the season, as they are now.

The new stadium would rise near the existing stadium, which would continue to operate. The 75-acre development would also include restaurants and shops, as well as a "gateway" connecting it to Xanadu.

Of the 80,000 seats, 10,000 are planned as club seats, and 4,000 would be in some 200 luxury suites. All the club seats and suites would be on one side of the field, which Mara said would allow regular ticket holders to have access to some prime seats.

The ongoing and shifting efforts at the Meadowlands come as the complex prepares to lose other longtime tenants. The MetroStars of Major League Soccer, who play at the stadium, are about to build a stadium of their own in Harrison. Both pro teams that play at the Continental Airlines Arena are planing to leave: the New Jersey Nets to a new basketball venue in Brooklyn, N.Y., and the New Jersey Devils to a hockey arena being built in downtown Newark.