Loading ...The New York Giants and New York Jets were adversaries on the football field last season. However, this offseason, the two New York football franchises have united against the construction of a mega-mall right across from the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
The mall developer, Triple Five, is the same company that owns the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Triple Five plans to build a three million square foot complex, complete with restaurants, nightclubs, a movie theater, and an amusement/ water park. Needless to say, the mall would become a relatively significant attraction, and it is estimated that it would bring in many as 55 million customers each year.
Although both the Giants and the Jets initially signed off on the proposal, the lawsuit claims that the scope of the project is far greater than originally advertised. Although the two sides have been negotiating a solution for quite some time now, no agreement has been reached. In a statement released to the press, New York Giants President and CEO John Mara stated the following:
"We are disappointed that this issue could not be resolved prior to filing suit. Yet, we cannot allow any actions to negatively impact our fans' commute, tailgating and game day experience."
Any fan who has gone to a football game at MetLife Stadium knows that the commute to the Meadowlands Sports Complex can be extremely time consuming (obviously, it depends where you are coming from) and at times, even aggravating. Having what may become the biggest mall in the United States built right next door would make for an extremely crowded gameday experience for New York football fans. It is fairly obvious why neither team would want such a big attraction right across the street from their $1.6 billion stadium.
However, there are two sides to every story. Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan recently gave her opinion on the situation.
“I think it’s two billionaires who want their own way and to stop the development in Bergen County,” Donovan said. “How dare they tell us how we’re going to help the people of this area and region. We’ve got 9,000 construction jobs and 12,000 permanent jobs dependent on the finishing of American Dream at Meadowlands.”
This is an interesting situation that has the ability to further complicate the already frustrating commute to MetLife Stadium. It's now up to the courts to decide whether there will be another major attraction at the Meadowlands Sports Complex for many years to come.
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Krow-
So i understand your lack of empathy with professional athletes and their other worldly salaries. As a Mets fan this always bothered me about Carlos Beltran. Yes the same Carlos Beltran who received 120,000 per game (yes per GAME), a game that involves standing around on the grass for 3 hours and taking a couple hacks at a baseball. Anyway Beltran would always complain about the schedule ie “We’re playing a night game in philly then a day game in chicago the very next day”, and stuff of that nature. Clearly I thought he had lost a great deal of perspective of what real life is like.
But, while athletes do not live in the same financial reality the average American does, we do not live in the same reality that they do. It’s easy to sit here and act like athletes should get down on their knees each day and thank their owners and fans for allowing them to make absurds amount of dough. That they should be grateful to make 7 Million a year even though they are technically under paid for their skill set.
The point is, athletes don’t compare salaries with the average american. Nor should they. They compare salaries with their peers and by that measure, Strahan is 100% correct when he says Osi is underpaid.
Anyway this is all comparative. While I’m sure your life hasn’t been a cake walk, I imagine it would seem like one when looked at through the eyes of about 1/3 of the worlds population living far below the poverty line.
In fact, I imagine many people living in slums would look at your or my life and think the same sarcastic thoughts you have about athletes “ohh poor Krow and Nosh, having to work 60 hours a week……’
So it’s unrealistic to think that an athlete should have perspective when most of us don’t have much perspective ether. It’s not like I wake up and think “Man, I’m so lucky that I have the opportunity to grind my @$$ off for 40k a year. At least I’m not in Haiti.”
Perspective is a wonderful idea, but one that is rarely executed.
Yeah, but……
Just about every one of us should wake up each morning and thank our lucky stars for the fact that we live in a nation that allows us the opportunities, the freedoms and the choices that we face each day. That goes for us, and for athletes, and rich and poor guys too. I can honestly say that there is NEVER a day when I do not recognize just how fortunate I am to have been born and raised in this place as opposed to many, many, others.
Each and every one of us should be thinking the same thing as we celebrate the 4th of July. That goes for Osi, and Strahan, too.
The mall will be developed. The state and locality need the tax revenues and the potential jobs.
Then the mall will probably fail (I give it, at best, a 50/50 shot at long-term success). It will take some time to do so, but Big Five’s successes have been where these mega-malls are just about the only game in town. With all the entertainment options in the Tri-State area I suspect their sales per square foot will fall far short of expectations and a lot of shops will not make it paying the rents that will be committed.
Meanwhile, the traffic around the place is going to really hurt fans driving to the games, but the state will probably work out some protocol that has fewer hours of operation of the mall on game days and segregates the traffic flows as well. It will still be a mess, but less so than otherwise.
Getting back to the previous thread, Markus Kuhn is NOT going to be on the 53-man roster. Maybe he’ll be on the practice team, but even if he had a chance to make the opening roster (which he didn’t) his failure to participate in OTAs doomed whatever chance he had. The competition for that 4th spot on the depth chart is strictly between Bernard, Rogers, Hendricks and Parker.
As long as it’s not as ugly as the Xanadu building.
They’ll probably incorporate that mess into their plan. What, you don’t like checkerboards and such?
Agreed Kuhn will not make the 53-man roster, but if there is room for him on the practice squad he might be useful there. I honestly think that the competition for that spot is just between Bernard and Rogers, unless one of the younger guys comes out of nowhere. I would give Bernard the upper hand mostly because he is more familiar with the defense; however, JR signed Rogers for a reason so I wouldn’t count him out either. Should be interesting to see how this develops.
I wonder if anybody realizes that malls in Bergen County are closed on Sundays due to long standing blue laws?
I thought most of those religious laws were rescinded? I know around here they finally fought them off. Most anyway.
To be honest it’s not the constant drum beat for more millions that bothers me about professional athletes … it’s their need to always portray themselves as society’s victim who overcame long odds.
Victor Cruz didn’t grow up in Somalia. His dad was a fireman. And for his entire life his ability to catch a football has made his path easy … EEE ZZZ.
It’s OK to admit that. I don’t begrudge him his good fortune. Just please stop pretending you were raised by wolves.
As for Strahan and his recent Osi suckfest … everyone wants to make as much money as they can. Not a problem. But using terms like robbery … and for that matter ‘union’ … just pi$$ me off. Only a very few spout that sort of crap. Strahan, Osi, Drew Brees, Shockey … most don’t. So it is possible to have perspective. Being a dik is a choice.