Giants And State Remain Miles Apart On Land Lease Agreement

Giants’ Stadium Talks With New Jersey Hit Major Roadblocks

Plans for a new $700M Giants stadium has stalled with the team and New Jersey officials “deadlocked on several issues, including how much the team should pay in rent,” according to Matthew Futterman of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. The state delivered its first proposal in over a month, asking the Giants to pay over $6M per year to lease the land on which the stadium would be built. The team’s last formal offer was $1 annually. The state also indicated for the first time that it would give the Giants control of the management and operations of the stadium. Meanwhile, the Giants “remain concerned that increased traffic” from the planned $1.3B Xanadu retail and entertainment complex will worsen congestion on football Sundays, and therefore have not given their approval of the project. The NJSEA is counting on revenue from Xanadu to “pay off a substantial amount of debt on the existing stadium.” Giants Exec VP & COO John Mara: “I’m not sure we’re making progress. If anything we might be going backwards. I’m not sure where we go from here” (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 1/27). In New Jersey, John Brennan cites two sources as saying that Giants execs “also were angered by an attempt by [NJSEA Chair] Carl Goldberg to determine for the Giants where the team should build” the stadium within the Meadowlands Sports Complex (Bergen RECORD, 1/27).