The NFL Giants and Jets have "worked out an agreement to drop their litigation against the developers" of the American Dream Meadowlands project next to MetLife Stadium, according to Heather Haddon of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The settlement was filed yesterday in Superior Court and was "hashed out between the teams," Canada-based developer Triple Five and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/12). A clerk for Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne said that terms of the tentative deal "were not made available because the settlement was marked 'confidential' by all parties." But former NJSEA Chair Jon Hanson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's adviser on sports and entertainment projects in the state, said that he "now anticipates that Triple Five 'will commence construction almost immediately' -- finishing the existing structures at the long-dormant site and starting work on indoor water and amusement parks that the company wants to add to the complex." In New Jersey, John Brennan writes the agreement "could possibly spell out some degree of limitation on American Dream operations on days that either the Jets or Giants have home games as well as on the occasions when concerts or international soccer matches are held at MetLife Stadium." Financial compensation "could also be part of the deal," as it was in '06 when the developer of the project then called Xanadu agreed to pay $15M "in exchange for the teams' signoff on allowing that incarnation of the project to go forward." Both sides "had differed widely on the degree of game-day traffic likely to be generated by American Dream" (Bergen RECORD, 3/12).
