New stadium implodes

Jersey blocks proposed replacement home in Meadowlands, so Big Blue might look toward NY

BY NEIL BEST
STAFF WRITER

March 10, 2005

Nearly three decades after they left New York, seemingly for good, might the Giants be eyeing a return trip across the Hudson? If the notion sounds farfetched, it is. For now.

But yesterday, the team's owners refused to rule out that or any other step after negotiations with the New Jersey governor's office for a new stadium in the Meadowlands collapsed.

John Mara, the team's executive vice president and son of co-owner Wellington Mara, said he had not begun to ponder joining the Jets in their proposed stadium on Manhattan's West Side and intended to stay put. But he added, "With these negotiations apparently at a halt, we're going to have to look at all of our options."

Asked whether he is concerned about losing the Giants to New York, acting governor Richard J. Codey said, "No, no, no, no, no."

The Giants believed they had a deal in place Feb. 16 to rent land from the state for $6.3 million per year on which they would build a privately financed $700-million to $750-million stadium to replace 29-year-old Giants Stadium. At that point, the Giants believed the only remaining obstacle was to negotiate a share of revenue for the state if the Jets moved into the building.

Having settled that matter, the Giants hoped to announce an agreement yesterday. But the team said the state threw up two roadblocks. First, Codey insisted on the right of future state governments to levy taxes directed at items such as luxury suites or tickets without the Giants receiving matching relief in their tax burden. "I can't stop any future legislature from imposing taxes," Codey said.

Mara said he did not want to be forced to pass the cost of future tax increases to fans.

Secondly, the state told the Giants they would have to immediately sign off on the new Xanadu project next door. The Giants said they needed first to negotiate with developers about matters such as game-day traffic.

Talks continued through the day, even during breaks in a two-hour, late-afternoon briefing for reporters at Giants Stadium attended by Mara, Steven Tisch, who represented his father, co-owner Robert Tisch, and the team's attorney.

Codey insisted the sides were close to an agreement, which shocked the Giants.

It appears there is no chance a stadium can be in place by 2008, which was the Giants' goal. If talks do not resume, the Giants' next step might be to invoke a clause in their lease requiring the state to maintain the stadium as a "state of the art" facility. Newer stadiums have far surpassed it in amenities.

Exasperated Giants officials said there had been 17 versions of the proposed agreement. "Seventeen times, the goal line moved," Tisch said.