NFL owners voted 29-0 yesterday to approve Robert Wood
Johnson IV's $635M purchase of the Jets, and afterwards,
Johnson talked about the team's future at Giants Stadium and
"insisted" that the Jets would leave the venue after their
lease expires in 2008, according to Richard Sandomir of the
N.Y. TIMES. Johnson: "The Jets have never had their own
stadium. Every game they played for the last 39-plus years
have been away games." The "immediate prospects" for
potential sites include the West Side rail yards in
Manhattan, which was proposed by N.Y. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
last year for a domed stadium, and Shea Stadium, which Mets
co-Owner Fred Wilpon "has proposed overhauling for football
when the Mets' new stadium is built." Wilpon, who noted
that the plan would add about 20,000 seats to the 55,575-
seat facility: "We have a design scheme to do a first-class
stadium with luxury suites and everything else you'd need.
The mayor is aware of the sketches and likes them." Last
season, the Jets, who have one of the "worst" leases in the
NFL, generated $39.3M in gross stadium revenues but paid
Giants Stadium landlord the NJ Sports & Exposition Authority
$4.8M in rent and $12.9M to visiting teams (N.Y. TIMES,
1/19). Johnson: "[In] eight years we will play somewhere
else. It's critical for the Jets to have a home. It's not
an option of choice to extend the (Meadowlands) lease."
Meanwhile, FoxSportsBiz.com's Evan Weiner noted that Johnson
is expected "to look" for a new stadium as part of a
convention center in Manhattan or NJ (Fox Sports Biz, 1/18).
GOOD MOVE? USA TODAY's Tom Pedulla writes that NFL
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue "endorsed" the team's possible
move from the Meadowlands (USA TODAY, 1/19). But in N.Y.,
Filip Bondy calls Johnson's intentions to leave Giants
Stadium a "bluff" and writes that he should "renegotiate"
the team's lease to "match" that of the Giants. Bondy:
"Take it or leave us. If Los Angeles can live with zero NFL
teams, New York can survive with one. Woody just got here,
and already he wants to be the Boss" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS,
1/19). Also in N.Y., Harvey Araton writes, "So here we go
again, with another case of a very rich guy buying something
terribly inflated and wasting precious little time before
asserting that somewhere down the road, he will need bailing
out" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/19).
GUT CHECK: On MSG's "SportsDesk," Marv Albert reported,
"It was also announced today that Steve Gutman, who handles
the business end, the day-to-day operations, will remain as
the President of the Jets" ("SportsDesk," MSG, 1/18).
