The New York Jets have hired IMG to determine how much the club can charge for suites, premium seating and sponsorships in the team’s planned Manhattan stadium.
The move comes as momentum is building behind the venue, a concept once considered unlikely. This Thursday, the team plans a rally with hundreds of supporters in front of New York City Hall.
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| Jay Cross wants this study for the Jets' new stadium done by the fall. |
“We need the study by the end of the summer, by next fall, to be able to lock down a [commercial] product,” said Jets President Jay Cross, who will testify before the New York City Council after the rally. “We need them to look at the premium-seats options, the types, big suites, little suites, a study of club seats.”
The team hopes to break ground by next spring and open in 2009.
The Jets already know they likely will have at least 8,000 club seats with perhaps the top price in the NFL, Cross said. Those seats will be on the sidelines. The team is struggling with whether to put 3,000 club seats in the stadium corners, he said.
The IMG division running the study is headed by Max Muhleman. IMG did a similar report for Wembley Stadium in London, a stadium under construction that Cross said has affected the Jets’ strategy because it is in a major city and has encountered political difficulties. IMG/Muhleman Marketing has done about 25 such studies since 1992.
The Jets’ Giants Stadium lease expires after the 2008 season.
