"I told Woody Johnson, the time for dating is over."
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

Sunday, September 25, 2005

A little more than a week ago, the Giants and Jets were dickering over the location of luxury suites and a practice field for a new $800 million stadium they would share in the Meadowlands.

By Tuesday, after a morning meeting with NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, the argument deteriorated into a deeper dispute between the teams' owners.

And by Thursday afternoon, after again being summoned to Tagliabue's office in New York, Giants chief executive John Mara and Jets owner Woody Johnson found themselves at an impasse.

Today, the project that forever would transform some of the most valuable real estate in New Jersey is in limbo and the two sides actually are further apart than on Sept. 16, when state officials gave them until the end of the month to strike a deal.

And so with four days to go before the state-imposed deadline, the Jets now say they won't decide on a partnership with the Giants until they take a long look at a potential stadium deal in Queens, N.Y., an option the team had downplayed for more than a year. Meanwhile, the Giants must now consider whether they want to build the stadium on their own.

"I am disappointed," said Carl Goldberg, chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the state agency that operates the sports complex. "I've acted from the onset under the assumption that the Jets want to be in New Jersey ... and their only hesitancy is a genuine partnership with the Giants and input into the design.

"If that's not accurate, then I have to revisit my business approach."

Acting Gov. Richard Codey, the biggest booster of a new football stadium in the Meadowlands, has grown especially frustrated after spending significant time Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on the phone with Tagliabue, Mara and Johnson. Codey pleaded with the two teams to figure out a partnership after months of flirtation.

"I told Woody Johnson, the time for dating is over," Codey said.

Despite Codey's attempt at humor, members of his administration said he and his chief counsel, Paul Fader, were fuming. They felt Johnson and Jets chief executive Jay Cross had betrayed them after saying for months New Jersey was their top choice once an earlier plan to move the team to Manhattan had collapsed.

Jets spokesman Matt Higgins said the Jets have "said all along, until we reach an agreement for a permanent home for the Jets, we will continue to explore all of our options."

Jets officials confirmed Johnson told Tagliabue and Codey he would not act under the pressure of an artificial deadline. Instead, he said he would choose between New Jersey and Queens only after he knew exactly what the alternatives would look like -- even if it took months. Johnson is currently negotiating with New York officials for $300 million in subsidies for a proposed $1 billion stadium in Queens.

Mara said Friday, "We will continue to work hard towards reaching an agreement. We still believe the best scenario for all concerned is a 50/50 partnership."

Giants officials confirmed the team and Tagliabue pleaded with Johnson not to hold up the Giants' plans, even if it means the Jets build elsewhere.

"I'm surprised how difficult it's been to get to closure because these two franchises once had a great history of working together," said Marc Ganis, a leading consultant to the sports industry. "Somewhere, that got off the track."

WIDE DIFFERENCES

Building a project that costs nearly $1 billion never is easy, and internal documents and interviews with team executives show the Giants and Jets disagree on everything from how they would finance the stadium to selling luxury and premium seats and sign space.

"This stadium should be jointly owned, with the economics for NFL games divided as if they each owned their own stadiums, then you split all the other events 50-50," said Rob Tillis, a leading sports financier. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple."

At the heart of the conflict are deep-seated differences between the franchises that industry experts and state officials say present major obstacles -- even if the teams could agree on a design for the stadium and surrounding development.

The Giants are one of the NFL's conservative, establishment franchises; the Maras have owned all or part of the team since 1925. John Mara has said he relishes a deal to build a stadium with the Jets because it would cut his costs in half and eliminate virtually all financial risks, even if his profits are cut.

Meanwhile, Johnson, who bought the Jets in 2000 for $635 million, is part of the new breed of NFL owners. His stadium pursuits in New York cost him upwards of $75 million, industry sources have said, and would have cost him nearly $2 billion to build.

Then there is the Jets' long-running complaint they are second-class citizens in the Meadowlands.

The Giants, who moved to New Jersey in 1976, were the first, and so far only, team to commit to New Jersey for the next 40 years. Team officials feel that until Johnson makes a similar commitment, they should have a greater say about the design of the stadium and the surrounding development.

The Jets are tired of dressing up the existing Giants Stadium with green and white banners to make it feel like a home field when they play in the Meadowlands. Each time the state tries to push ahead with the deal with the Giants, the Jets interpret it as a slight.

Codey's decision in April to sign a stadium deal with the Giants didn't help make the Jets feel any more comfortable. At the time, critics said Codey should have waited to see if the Jets' plans in Manhattan would collapse, after which he could have started negotiations with both teams simultaneously.

On Friday, Codey said he had no regrets about the April agreement with the Giants, even if the Jets now feel they are being strong-armed to accept a deal they had no role in negotiating.

"With all due respect, at the time we did that deal, the Jets didn't have any interest in staying in New Jersey," Codey said.

Whether they do now is anyone's guess.