The New York Jets hired Bill Senn as a vice president of design construction, the latest sign that the team fully expects to realize its dreams of a Manhattan stadium.
Sources say the team anticipates by the end of next month a memorandum of understanding between New York City and the state, which owns the property the club covets on the West Side. That document would establish funding commitments for the project, which is expected to top $1.5 billion.
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| Cross |
Senn's hire "means in the time lines we are starting to get involved on design details and construction pricing," said Jets President Jay Cross. "We can see a construction start date looming, and we want to be ready for it."
The Jets hope to break ground before July 2005.
The Jets' hire of Senn should surprise no one who has tracked Cross' career. Cross worked with Senn in Toronto with the Raptors on Air Canada Centre, and in Miami in building AmericanAirlines Arena for the NBA's Heat. Now the duo looks to pull off a trifecta.
Since arriving in New York two years ago to shepherd the effort to build a new stadium in Manhattan, Cross also has busied himself with shaping the Jets brand in New York, which often has taken a back seat to the New York Giants. The Jets introduced a Saturday morning animated kids show, "Generation Jets," and ramped up the team's charitable work in the city.
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| A jacket in the Jets’ Joe Namath line |
The Jets also recently launched the Joe Namath line, apparel centered on their most famous alumnus.
Licensee Moonlight Graham put out a limited first run, but the team has Reebok onboard now to share the duties for a fuller effort in 2004.
Cross said that to his knowledge the Namath line marked the first such effort by an NFL team to create an apparel product around an ex-player.
Lee Stacey, the Jets' directory of marketing, said the team wasn't concerned about Namath's controversial interview with ESPN reporter Suzy Kolber last month having any negative effect on the Namath line.
"We don't anticipate any effect on it at all," Stacey said. "We are proceeding according to our business plan."
