Giants, Jets still at odds
Biggest hurdle in completing complex are the two teams

BY NEIL BEST

STAFF WRITER

September 16, 2005

The complex, contentious saga of the proposed new Meadowlands football stadium lurched in a positive direction yesterday as the Giants submitted revised plans and neared agreement on game-day logistics with developers of the adjacent Xanadu retail and entertainment complex.

The Giants sent their "Master Plan," a detailed document that weighs six pounds, to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and the Jets on the eve of a board meeting at which the Sports Authority could vote to terminate the memorandum of understanding the state and Giants signed in April.

The plan addressed several concerns the Sports Authority had with an earlier version last month, and at first glance Carl Goldberg, the authority's chairman, said he was encouraged.

"It does appear to be a substantive submission," said Goldberg, who said he had been "frustrated" by the Giants' progress until yesterday. "My initial reaction was that it clearly attempts to be compliant with the checklist provided to the Giants in my letter of Aug. 23."

That list included a physical link over Route 120 to Xanadu and provisions to make it possible to add a roof to the building at some point.

While Goldberg would not predict the board's actions, he said it likely would be influenced positively if it had both revised plans from the Giants and a signed agreement with Xanadu by this morning.

If the board does vote to terminate the MOU, it would expire at midnight Monday, throwing the near future of the project into limbo.

The biggest remaining hurdle to making the stadium a reality appears to be getting the Giants and Jets to agree on the details. Each has offered different visions for the retail component of the complex and for the seating arrangement in the stadium.

The Jets have offered a symmetrical seating area while the Giants' plan calls for the premium seating to be restricted to one side of the field. But the thorniest area of contention could be the site of the Giants' in-season training facility.

The Giants want it adjacent to the stadium; the Jets proposed putting it farther away, part of their concern over the facility being associated primarily with the Giants. (The Jets eventually would depart Hofstra and move their headquarters to somewhere in New Jersey.)

The Giants' plan includes an 80,000-seat stadium that would cost $750-800 million, a training facility to the west, a retail area to the southwest and a "gateway" area to the south that would link to a train station and to Xanadu.

The teams hope to move into the building by 2009.

The Jets have left open the possibility of moving to Queens, but they clearly are further along in plans to move to New Jersey. Coming to terms with the Giants could be tricky, because the stadium process has raised tensions between the organizations.

"We remain far apart on several issues," the Jets said in a statement, "but are willing to listen to proposals for a full and equal partnership."

John Mara, the Giants' executive vice president, said: "I'm not going to lie, it's been a very difficult process, much more difficult than I ever anticipated. But at the end of the day, it's still our hope that everybody will sit down and look at how much sense it makes for us to come together and reach an agreement.

"The alternatives are not great alternatives for anybody."