Jets New Stadium:

New Yorks Latest Olympic Bid and the history behind sport in Manhattan: It’s nice to know the FA aren’t the only ones who can make a mess of building a new stadium…

I’ve been thinking about writing this article for a while, mainly because Manhattan is a popular tourist destination, but also because Sunderland’s New York population has been growing steadily now for some time- and I thought that it might be nice to write about what sport is really like over here and about some of the history behind it… but recently something else compelled me to do it: The unfolding Drama of the Jets proposed new stadium on the upper west side of the island that I call home- let me explain….

Those of you who have been to New York City might be familiar with the fact that although Manhattan is one of the largest and richest metropolitan areas in the world, it is severely lacking in terms of sporting venues. This is basically because of lack of space. A long time ago the two baseball teams the New York Dodgers*1 and the New York Giants*2 called Manhattan home, but since their departure no single major league team of any sport has moved in to replace them.

Now this is kind of odd considering that almost every tourist who visits Manhattan never leaves the island except when its time to go back to the airport. The Yankees Play in the Bronx*3 in Yankee stadium and the Mets in Shae stadium in Flushing, Queens.

In fact the only regularly based team currently playing in Manhattan that gets attendances worth mentioning is the basketball team the New York Knicks

And they play at Madison square garden, somewhere you’ve undoubtedly heard of before.

But what about New York football*4 I hear you ask, surely they play in Manhattan? Well actually no, both of new Yorks American football teams, the new York giants*5 and the jets play across the river in New Jersey, a good hour in traffic or on the bus (or if you get their the day before the game to get a parking spot, half an hour) in Giants stadium*6; owned by the Giants but home to both teams.

Until the recent election this was the status quo, all sports were played outside of the city and nothing could be done about it. Until of course the Olympic bid came up around the same time as the election campaigns for president and that meant it was time to vote on the issue.

Now the two didn’t have that much in common at first, both cities in contention for hosting the Olympics are London and New York, and since New York doesn’t actually have any sporting venues it was fair play enough to say that London was going to win, but the Jets, fed up with being the butt of Giants jokes regarding them being homeless, had come up with a plan. If, like wembley, the local government could help them out with some money they could get a new stadium that would help (if not solely support) the USA’s Olympic bid. In return the jets would contribute financially to whatever area they decided to build the stadium in. Its no great surprise that Manhattan was chosen, after all no one wants to go to New Jersey*7 every time there’s a match on, at least not if they can help it.

The proposed stadium would be built on an old rail yard in the upper west side, the government would make it the centre piece for a new shopping area while Jets would pay 800 million and build a couple of pedestrian bridges. It would bring thousands of jobs to the area and possibly win NYC its much converted Olympic bid.

However the inhabitants of NYC were divided. Basically meaning that it was everyone (tourists included) versus the poor Shmoes who would actually have to live near it on a Sunday match day… so in general it seems like the project was going to go ahead and that everyone*8 was happy………. everyone that is apart from the owners of Madison square Garden.

This is where it gets interesting. You see apart from the fact that the new stadium would be dangerously close to one of the most secret and well hidden areas in the country*9 it would also tread on the toes of the owner of MSG (Madison square Garden) by ruining their monopoly on sport in the city. A monopoly MSG has enjoyed freely for some time and that has up until now safely guaranteed millions/billions for the garden.

For those of you who haven’t been MSG it isn’t actually that great, its built above Penn Station for a start which is the worst station ever and that every NYC/MSG show now has more soldiers in it then the entire US army. Its pretty good for basketball, and even ice hockey, but having been built out of a giant concrete donut in the sixties its not pretty to look at and is almost always a disappointment for the tourists who first go there (in much the same way as the statue of liberty “isn’t as big as they thought”) so obviously MSG had a lot to lose on the issue.

Cue one of the dirtiest campaigns in history… and bear in mind that MSG has better access to the media then the Jets do (because they own a few cable channels) so they definitely has the media advantage,

On the other side the mayor is currently in favor of the project, but as I’m writing this it’s Saturday morning and there have been at least four adverts on TV already accusing both sides of lying, being generally horrible people and that the stadium either does or does not make sense depending on what side you are on. Millions upon millions are being spent on Publicity for both causes just to tell me how appalling someone elses idea is and a single brick hasn’t even been laid yet, and you thought wembley was bad! I expect about fifteen appeals and several more court cases before this is finished. America it seems doesn’t want the olympic games.

I for one welcome the project, hey if it means I don’t have to hang out in New Jersey I’m in favor of it, who knows Sunderland might even be playing there in the future (and that means I don’t have to walk very far)!

-Yankee Mackem

*1 For those of you who know or care about baseball this team went to Los Angeles in 1958 and is the reason why the New York Mets have the blue in their vile bi-color scheme.