BY NEIL BEST
STAFF WRITER
September 17, 2005
The Giants and Jets are not scheduled to meet on the field in a game that counts until 2007, but in the next 12 days, they face a showdown potentially as important and contentious as any game.
On Friday, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority gave the teams a 10-day extension - from Monday to Sept. 29 - to agree on terms for joint ownership of a new stadium in the Meadowlands before terminating the Giants' April 14 memorandum of understanding with the state.
If the teams do not work out a partnership agreement by then, Sports Authority chairman Carl Goldberg will have the power to terminate the MOU, throwing the project's future into limbo.
Goldberg said he will monitor the teams' negotiations "very, very carefully" and likely will extend the deadline further if he senses there has been significant progress by the 29th.
It won't be easy. The Jets said in a statement Friday that the master plan offered by the Giants on Thursday "does not address such fundamental areas of concern as stadium configuration and business terms."
The Jets added: "It is unreasonable to expect such a complex agreement could be concluded in just 10 days. Meanwhile, we continue to seriously explore all of our options for a permanent home for the New York Jets, including a joint stadium in the Meadowlands or building a new football and soccer stadium in Queens."
Goldberg was skeptical about Queens remaining a serious option. "In my conversations with the Jets, their commitment to New Jersey is complete," he said. "They are focused on having a permanent home in the state of New Jersey, being full partners with the Giants in ownership and operation of a new facility to be built here in the Meadowlands."
Even if the Giants and Jets work out a way to own and manage the stadium by the 29th, they then must iron out differences in their design concerns, including the location of suites and the Giants' training facility.
The X-factor is whether recent tension between the teams' executives will impact talks. Giants executive vice president John Mara said he is confident the sides can be amicable and that a partnership exclusive of stadium design within 10 days is possible.
The Sports Authority board extended the MOU deadline minutes after the Giants came to terms with developers of the Xanadu retail complex on a game-day plan for traffic, parking and opening hours.
