American Dream to benefit Jets, Giants & Meadowlands

American Dream to Benefit Jets, Giants, & Meadowlands-By David Levy-Fan Experience Reporter-Football Reporters Online



(Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Standing in a building that has remained unchanged and likely to get over $200 million in tax incentives, Gov. Christie ushered in the arrival of the "American Dream" in North Jersey last week. The much-maligned and long-stagnant Xanadu development at the Meadowlands, which Christie called the "the ugliest damn building in New Jersey, and maybe America," along with everyone else who drives by it, will get a makeover by the Canadian developer who built Mall of America in Minnesota.

Next to the Jets and Giants stadium, with a dead-on view of the Manhattan skyline, the newly minted complex, called American Dream at Meadowlands, will feature high-end shopping, a 26-screen movie theater, nightclubs, a performing arts theater, restaurants, an indoor ice-skating rink, and an indoor ski slope (with moguls and a snowboard half-pipe), according to Triple Five, the developer.

And in a structural addition to the original Xanadu, there will be glass-domed amusement and water parks - with sand and palm trees. Triple Five has been know to do this in Mall of America and other malls across Canada. They design their malls to be places of destination for everything under one roof rather than finding entertainment is several locations.

Reuters reported that Triple Five will be developing the world's largest and most comprehensive retail, entertainment, amusement, recreation, and tourism project ever built. Not a bad way to help crate jobs and revenue for New Jersey. The economic impact for New Jersey would be $3.8 billion according to Triple Five.

Many might wonder how this will benefit the Jets and Giants. What this will do is add options to fans and families for weekend getaways. So instead of a Sunday of football, there is a weekend of activities. The Jets and Giants could run activities a few days before across the road to get people psyched up for Sunday's game. Not to mention tie ins and other pregame festivities run by the organizations.

Show up on a Friday night to a local hotel and have dinner at American Dream and do whatever fun activity there is to do. There is something there for every member of the family. On Saturday one can do so much in one location, why go anywhere else? Sunday is football. Those not attending the game will have restaurants to watch the game in, some will shop as other family members attend the game.

The project will get at least $200 million in tax incentives from the state, Christie said at a news conference last Tuesday inside the 2.4 million-square-foot, partially built structure. But he refused to provide more details about the deal his administration worked out with Triple Five. I am sure a lot of those breaks also include some incentives for certain NJ politicians.

The Sierra Club blasted the arrangement, releasing a statement even before the media tour of the facility was over. The environmental group said American Dream, sitting on the most valuable piece of real estate in New Jersey, would end up getting $350 million in tax subsidies once it expands, as it has planned. If NJ is in need of the business, jobs, and revenue, there should be not be given that much tax subsidies, but then again, NJ tax payers do not make those decisions.

Triple Five may want to call this the American Dream, but it is a nightmare to taxpayers that will pick the pockets of us regular New Jersey citizens. It is ludicrous that at a time when many are hurting financially, local governments are broke, and property taxes are rising, that we are subsidizing this monster mall.

According to the Christie administration, the complex will create more than 9,000 construction jobs and 30,000 permanent jobs once it opens. Officials expect between 50 million and 60 million annual visitors, with half of them tourists. Expect big numbers on football weekends as well. I am sure the teams will set up weekend packages with tickets.

Most of American Dream will open in the fall of 2013, in time for the Super Bowl scheduled to be played at the new Meadowlands stadium. One will wonder if American Dreams theater's will air the Super Bowl to keep patrons there. I am sure screens will air it all over the place to keep people shopping, riding rides, and doing what it takes to keep them there to spend money.

Triple Five plans to invest $1.5 billion atop the $2 billion already spent there, and expand by nearly a third, or one million square feet. The existing structure is well on its way to completion, with extensive aesthetic changes planned. Other essentials - such as escalators and the ski lift - also are in place.

One can only wonder if the expansion will take up more room in the non PSL parking. Will it create trouble for those parking by the Izod Center? Will this expansion do anything to disrupt the tailgating that goes on. No one can tailgate in the parking garage so that is out. Also, with the building through 2013, how will this affect fans parking for Jets and Giants games? We can only wait and see.

The theater at American Dream will have seating for 2,000 to 3,000 people. Screens in the center of the complex will change colors on football game day, depending on whether the Jets or Giants are playing next door. And there are plans to build either a bar or movie theater on an outdoor patio that has spectacular views of New York, about 10 miles to the east.





Most of all, Triple Five vowed to replace the massive multicolored exterior panels, so hated by Christie and most of us here in New Jersey. Driving by it it looks like a rust colored piece of trash. Triple Five plans to give it a more glowing feel so people will be amazed at it look from a distance.

The Jets and Giants have both been waiting for someone to pick it up across the road. With the American Dream coming in, it can only help their overall business from an off the field point of view. It provides more opportunities to hold events. The restaurants, stores, and other facilities might even have events or specials to help draw customers to spend more. Clothing stores will have sales on jets and Giants merchandise so fans can have it in time for the game on Sunday.

I am sure Triple Five has been in touch with the Jets and Giants. To see what opportunities it can provide each other. Not to mention what it can do to help each other make more revenue during the 2014 Super Bowl. Triple Five knew the opportunity and make a calculated decision. The NY teams will have a presence at American Dream. Might even see ESPN do some broadcasting from there at some point.

Once American Dream is completed, New jersey will have a another destination that many will flock to for vacations. We have Atlantic City, the Jersey shore, and now American Dream. Being close to NYC, it creates a good destination for those wanting to visit both. It also provide the Jets and Giants an opportunity to keep fans close for an entire weekend. But how will it benefit them financially? We can only wait and see. Right now, Triple Five & New jersey seem to be the only one set to profit.

Eds. Note: While we feel this is a great Idea to revamp the area and will provide additional jobs, it should NOT go on the backs of tax payers!

NFL Fans Should Pay For Their Tickets, Not Stadiums

By David Levy-Fan Experience Reporter-Football Reporters Online

The Georgia Dome in Atlanta remains a perfectly fine building for professional football. Still a teenager, it is nowhere near long in the tooth. Capacity is enough to accommodate nearly every Atlanta Falcons fan willing to buy tickets.
Arthur Blank, the team owner, craves a new stadium. That seems akin to trading in your car after it has logged only 20,000 miles, but he can well afford it.  Blank, the former owner of the ubiquitous American home improvement store chain called The Home Depot, has a net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes, and the franchise value has risen 52 per cent since he bought it in 2002 for $545 million.

But wait. Blank expects the quasi-public agency that operates the Dome and the proposed site of a new stadium to issue bonds that would pay some of the costs. That should be 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct, sticking it to taxpayers at the same time that funding for public schools in Georgia is being cut.


This sickness is spreading among NFL team owners. In Minnesota, the Vikings' Zygi Wilf has capitalized on the collapse of the Metrodome's inflatable roof amid a once-in-a-lifetime snowstorm and the fear of the franchise relocating to Los Angeles in his campaign for a replacement stadium. Of course, citizens would contribute to the project. Never mind that Blank might expect Wilf, worth $1.3bn, to pick up their lunch bill.

The shameless nonchalance of these folks who seem detached from reality has generated a shifting of the winds.  We have already experienced it here in New York and New Jersey.

The public, which normally sides with management during labor disputes in American sports, is sympathetic toward the players in a stand-off with owners that has pushed the league to the brink of a lockout.  In a poll conducted by Seton Hall University, 35 per cent who participated backed the players, compared to 22 per cent for their bosses. This, even though the same study found that most contend the players are overpaid.

Taxpayers are increasingly fed up with being forced to become stadium-erecting partners with Rolex-wearing, yacht-sailing jet-setters. Economists nowadays agree on little, but one belief they share is that public support of professional sports offers almost nothing financially in return.

The Giants and Jets grew tired of their shared arena and convinced the government to pitch in for a new-and-improved one. The old Giants Stadium was torn down despite carrying more than $100m in debt that must be paid off by the good people of New Jersey.  Plus, the season ticket holders are also helping flip the bill on the new one with PSL's.  Isn't that double dipping?  The nerve!

Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, stands complicit in this wasteful building boom. From his office comes a wink-nod promise of the ultimate in ego gratification for owners: host your own Super Bowl! Just throw up a stadium and you will get the big game. How you bankroll it, that's your business.

Which explains why the 2014 Super Bowl was awarded to New Meadowlands in a region where the average low temperature in February is -2°C.  Which also explains why 22 of 32 teams have moved into fresh digs or had their existing ones totally made over in the last two decades.
In that time, teams have been blessed with more than $7bn in taxpayer subsidies for construction and renovation, according to the NFL Players' Association.

The players union reports that, on average, taxpayers put up 65 per cent of the financing for those projects. Owners found a way to avoid putting in any money for 10 of them; for nine others, their contribution amounted to less than 25 per cent.
Further driving public sentiment toward the players are reports on the sport's inherent physical risk, particularly for victims of post-concussive syndrome that has ravaged retirees. Fans are looking beyond the average salary of $1.9m and discovering other statistics:

$770,000, the median yearly pay.  Three-and-a-half years, the average length of career.  Eleven, the average number of players per team on injured reserve this past season.

While many of us might trade places with the players, the figures show that most of them accumulate more aches and pains than enough wealth to last them a lifetime.

For team owners, it is a different story. Admittance into the club all but guarantees going from rich to richer, experienced from the comfort of a stadium luxury suite.

Fine. That is the American way. But those who knock on government doors seeking handouts to finance mostly unnecessary arenas should instead heed the marketing message aimed at customers of Blank's old home improvement stores.
Do it yourself.

Follow me Twitter @LevysBakeryProd or at LevysBakeryProductions.com

Ground Broken on "New Medaowlands"

Tuesday September 4th was a red letter day for the Jets, Giants, and the New Jersey Sports and Expsition Authority. The ground was broken on the site of the new stadium that will be shared by both NY teams. Currently the stadium is referred to as the "New Meadowlands, but the NJSEA and the Teams are working on a Naming Sponsorship that could Net close to 250 million dollars over the life of the agreement. For the average fan, the concern is weather or not they will be priced out by Personal Seat leases(PSL's). The new complex will feature a 100,000 square foot Tailgate plaza, improved access roads, a "Great Wall" of Colored panels that will be interchangeable for each team, and an additional 4,500 regular seats, plus 200 assorted luxury boxes.

The new Stadium will host at least 20 NFL games per season, more than any other stadium in the nation, as well as numerous other events ranging from college football to international soccer, concerts and more – as many as 80 a year, in addition to Giants and Jets games.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, State Senate President Richard Codey, New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority Chairman Carl Goldberg, former Authority Chairman and current Rutgers Athletic Director Bob Mulcahy, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, plus Giants President and CEO John Mara, Giants Chairman and Executive Vice President Steve Tisch, and Jets Chairman and CEO Woody Johnson.