To say that the New York Jets lack their own identity would be an understatement. They have played their "home" games in another state and in a building that the team mistakenly calls the Meadowlands when it's actually Giants Stadium. They try to pull the wool over everyone's eyes with the name trick and covering the blue walls with green bunting.
The truth is they haven't had a legitimate home game since Terry Bradshaw picked them apart in the final game at Shea Stadium in 1983.
It was always stated by team officials that one day the Jets would return to New York. Where they belong. Where their fan base is located. As soon as the lease at Giants Stadium (excuse me, I mean the Meadowlands — I am paraphrasing Jets officials) ends, they would come home.
One of the obvious issues was where they going to play. Current Jets owner Woody Johnson had a grand idea to build a stadium in Manhattan that would have doubled as an Olympic stadium. And part of the deal would have included millions of dollars in public money. Not only did he choose the most expensive place he could find for this proposal, but was banking (no pun intended) on New York City winning an improbable 2012 Olympic bid. No backup plan was in place. Officials in Queens had offered the Jets a place where a football stadium could be built. They wanted to sit down and discuss the possibly.
With them in the event, the Manhattan stadium either was not passed or a less expensive location was needed. They were politely rebuffed and told that Queens was not an option.
Of course, the West Side Stadium as it was called, was voted down and was not even close to ever getting done. All of a sudden, the Jets were stuck. A big part of their campaign was they wanted their own stadium back home in New York.
Every Jet fan was relieved to see the Queens offer revisited. The only other plan was for the Jets to join the Giants on a brand new stadium in New Jersey that was already set. There was no way the Jets would make the same mistake twice, would they?
They appeased some by sitting down with the Queens officials, but by that point, it was already known that they favored the Jersey plan. The New York Jets then signed a 99-year agreement with the Giants and officially announced their commitment. To further alienate their real fans, they also announced that they will be moving their team headquarters and training camp from Long Island to Jersey.
They should do the obvious and rename both teams, or at least make it look good and call them the NY/NJ Jets and Giants, like the XFL Hitmen and WLAF Knights did. Until then, the possibility of New York being considered for an expansion or relocated team are nil.
It's actually unfair to the people of New Jersey. Why should the Nets and Devils be geographically correct? And they play in the same Meadowlands complex.
Many unanswered questions. Typical Jets.
January 26, 2006
Bernie:
Well said. You hit on all the right points. From the first day the Manhattan plan was unveiled, I think my first comment to a friend was, “Woody better have a Plan B because this will never happen…” Predictably it didn’t, and he didn’t, and now the Jets are right back where they started, however hard they try to convince people that they’ll finally have “their own home”. Sad.
August 9, 2007
Richard Finamore:
The first football game I ever saw was a NY Titans game where the final score was something like 45-38. The lead changed several times and the game went down to the wire. I don’t remember who won but I didn’t care. My Dad, an old time Giants fan asked me what I thought about football and I replied; “not bad, but there’s not enough scoring”.