New York Jets Win Stadium Site, Boost to Olympic Bid

[AngryAmish]

"The New York Jets' proposed $1.9 billion Manhattan stadium, a centerpiece of the city's 2012 Olympics bid, moved closer to reality today when a state agency accepted the team's bid for development rights to a 13-acre parcel near the Hudson River.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board voted 14-0 in favor of the Jets after weighing the National Football League team's $720 million plan against a $760 million rival bid from Cablevision Systems Corp., which regards the stadium as a competitive threat to its Madison Square Garden arena three blocks away.

``I think it's an excellent deal,'' said authority chairman Peter Kalikow. Board members appointed by Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and suburban county executives said they concluded the Jets' package, while providing less cash up front, would be more lucrative in the long run.

The Bloomberg's administration is pushing to complete a stadium deal before the International Olympic Committee on July 6 chooses the host city for the 2012 games from a finalists' roster that also includes Paris and London. Political and legal hurdles remain before construction of the stadium can begin."


Looks bad, NY DUers. It looks more likely you might get stuck with the Olympics.

[marmar]

1. I doubt it...

It looks pretty certain that they're going to be in Paris.

[AngryAmish]

2. We can only hope

[Renew Deal]

7. Why?

[AngryAmish]

13. Many, many

1. Olympics an exclusionary elite institution. (Last chairman was an intimate of Franco). Lots of royalty involved w/ the Olympics.

2. I have been to the west side of Manhatten. There should not be a stadium there, its already too crowded.

3. Olympics themselves suck. Too many judged events. And undignified costumes.

[Renew Deal]

15. That's all you got?

1. The Olympics are the largest institution that spread the message of peace and are represented by almost every country in the world. The Athens games were the most representative ever.

2. The west side is not that crowded outside of the West Side Hgwy. It would also be a short walk from Penn Station and an even shorter walk from the new Penn Station.

3. That's your opinion and you're sticking to it.

[Princess Turandot]

24. I assume that Cablevision will litigate..

usually the highest bid on a purchase would get more serious consideration than it seems to have gotten.

As a life-long Manhattan resident who grew up in a working class neighborhood when they still existed, and now lives in a middle-class complex whose greedy fucking owners are trying to drive rent-stabilized people out by every which means, I believe that NYC needs middle-class housing, not a stadium for 70,000 lifelong season ticket holders of a football team. Queens could have used the economic boost as much as Manhattan. Jets fans traveled to Jersey to see them play, including ones from Long Island. I dare say that a Queens stadium would have been equally filled.

I do not know a single person in NYC who wants the Jets in Manhattan or the Olympics held here. I happen to love the Olympics, but believe it would be a logistical nightmare here in NYC. Let them eat croissants not bagels for breakfast.

The only positive thing about this is that it's another nail in Bloomberg's coffin.

[GalleryGod]

3. Will this (more like) $3 billion Boondoggle Kill the West Side?

:sarcasm: Oh, Jeeeez-us!:popcorn: It will single handedly kill Broadway's Sunday matinee:hide:

[StevieM]

4. I think it's great that the Jets are coming back to NY.....

but I don't think the Olympics belong in NY--and I don't think that they are going to be there. Paris seems like the most likely location.

Steve

[Renew Deal]

10. NY is the perfect, natural second home for the Olympic games.

Every culture in the world is represented in this city. NY is also one of the best sports towns in the world with support for everything. It would be a perfect fit.

[smirkymonkey]

5. Just another reason for me to leave New York.

This is such a joke. We don't need a stadium on this already over croweded island with thousands of needs more pressing than an f-ing sports arena.

Put it in the boroughs, but not in Manhattan. I guarantee this will be a nightmare for residents. Fuck Bloomberg - I can't wait to vote him out on his prissy little ass.

[maxsolomon]

6. retarded urban planning

8 games a year. football is ridiculous.

[Beetwasher]

8. Oy, What A Nightmare Game Days Are Gonna Be

for West Siders. Imagine, a football game AND something happening at the Garden too on the same day...Oy!

[Renew Deal]

12. MSG had the Stanley cup finals and the NBA final in the same day.

One was played at night and the other during the day. We can handle it for 16 days during the summer.

[Beetwasher]

19. Well, I'm Glad I Don't Live or Work on the Westside, That's For Sure

Though I will say this, I'm much happier w/ the Jets there than moving the Yanks there, which is what was being considered at one point.

Wow, I just realized, the Nets might be coming to Brookly, so we'll have gotten the Jets out of NJ AND stolen the Nets away too!

Ha! Take that Jersey!

[Renew Deal]

9. This is great news.

The games would be historic and amazing for NY.

[AngryAmish]

14. Historically sucky

And I will be amazed if it does not cost the people of NY 1 billion dollars.

[Renew Deal]

16. That's an opinion and not fact.

I remember many great moments from the games. Also, name one organization larger that promotes the message of peace and means it.

[AngryAmish]

17. Amnesty International

And the IOC don't mean it.

[Renew Deal]

20. Amnesty International has 1 million members.

Move on has over 2 million.
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/aboutai-facts-eng

Over 56 million americans watched the opening cerimony. http://en.beijing-2008.org/72/95/article211629572.shtml

Olympic history of peace started way before the IOC. It is rooted in ancient times.

http://www.olympic.org/uk/organisation/missions/truce/truce_uk.asp

"Olympic ideals are also United Nations ideals: tolerance, equality, fair play and, most of all, peace. Together, the Olympics and the United Nations can be a winning team. But the contest will not be won easily. War, intolerance and deprivation continue to stalk the earth. We must fight back. Just as athletes strive for world records, so must we strive for world peace"
Kofi A. Annan, United Nations Secretary General, September 2000

http://www.olympic.org/uk/organisation/missions/truce/initiative_uk.asp

[AngryAmish]

21. If IOC is so into equality, why employ royalty?

Empty, self-important words from the self-hallowed "Olympic Movement"

In modern times, other than empty words, what have they done to contribute to peace? And platitudes don't count (see Mr Annon quoted above.)

And in ancient times, they did not stop wars, just put them on hold for a while. Then they just went back to killing.

[Renew Deal]

22. Here is what I get from a simple google search.

I didn't even have to look for what I was thinking about.

THE OLYMPIC TRUCE

"Olympism as the holder and distributor of social peace, this will be the final rung to climb." Coubertin (Selected Writings, II,p. 396,1919).

. . . . . . . . . . . "On behalf of the Australian Government , I am pleased to advise that we support wholeheartedly this initiative of the International Olympic Committee. Australia, as a participant in every modern Olympic Games, is proud to uphold the principles of Olympism and concurs with the aim of the Olympic Movement to contribute to friendship among people and international understanding and world peace at a time when it is so greatly needed." Paul J. Keating,Australian Prime Minister, 1993.

On 25th October 1993, following the IOC’s proposal, the 48th United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on the observance of the Truce during the 17th Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer. During the 17th Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, the IOC President visited Sarajevo to demonstrate his solidarity towards the city which had hosted the 14th Olympic Winter Games in 1984.

On 24th November 1999, the 180 members at the 54th Session of the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution entitled "Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic Ideal." This resolution calls on the Member States to observe the Olympic Truce during the Games of the 27th Olympiad in Sydney.

The draft resolution had been proposed by Australian Daniel Kowalski, world swimming champion, at a Session chaired by the Vice-President of the General Assembly and head of the Monaco delegation, His Serene Highness Prince Albert of Monaco, an IOC member and Olympic athlete.

THE HOPE OF PEACE

"I call upon all nations to observe the Olympic Truce. I am convinced that in this observance, and by working with the International Olympic Committee to promote the Olympic Ideal, we will draw the world’s attention to what humanity can achieve in the name of international understanding." Kofi A. Annan,United Nations Secretary General, February 1998.

http://www.peace.ca/peaceandtheolypmics.htm

You are right about what happened in ancient times (and today), but that doesn't disprove my point that they are the largest organization promoting the message of peace. It's not their fault wars were fought in the first place. Did you know that there is a large billboard for the Olympics that says "The message is peace."

[AngryAmish]

25. I said no platitudes.

The UN General Assembly is a virtual platitude factory. It was all empty words.

[Renew Deal]

30. Your dislike for the UN doesn't make their work invalid.

Asking nations to follow the Olympic truce and stop killing for 2 weeks is not a platitude. Neither is getting the North and South Koreans to come out under one flag for the 2004 games.

This is in that link I posted: "The IOC invested US$ 15,153,000 in the reconstruction of the Zetra ice rink in Sarajevo, destroyed during the war in 1992.The rebuilding project was completed on 30th March 1999."

That's not a platitude either.

Here's another article with great examples.
<snip>
During the 1994 Lillehammer, Norway winter games, the combatants in the Bosnian war accepted the International Olympic Committee's call for a one-day cease-fire. The United Nations Children's Fund used the occasion to vaccinate some 10,000 Croat, Muslim and Serb children. "I don't know how many of them would have died otherwise," Lambrinidis says.

During the 2000 Sydney summer games, both Koreas marched in the opening ceremony beneath the same flag. This further reduced tensions that eased a month earlier when 100 families from the North and South were reunited after 50 years apart.
<snip>

http://www.olympictruce.org/html/ready_steady.html

I guess you would have preferred that some of those 10,000 children died?

BTW, I was wrong on something before. The billboard in NYC says "Peace is the dream", not peace is the message. Sorry about the confusion.

[northzax]

23. just remember, the Athens games cost 15Billion dollars

and lost almost 4 billion. One Olympics in the past 30 years has made money, Sydney. what exactly will the Games bring to New York that it doesn't already get? tourists? full hotel rooms? an international crowd?

nada. For many cities, the Games are a good investment, New York doesn't need them, and their obscene price tag.

[Renew Deal]

31. They were the first games post 9/11.

They had a security bill that was never budgeted for in 1998. The British and Australian papers also did their best to scare people out of coming to the games.

The games ave been incredibly positive for Greece. I know, I was there. They have a new infrastructure and jobs that stayed. They have funds for tourism campaigns besides the tourists that were attracted because of the games themselves. Here is an old post of mine on the games. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=169&topic_id=2643&mesg_id=2943&page=

[northzax]

35. We shall see

even if Greece triples it's tourism revenue for the next decade, will that pay for the 4 billion euros they're in the hole? that's a lot of souvlaki.

I haven't been back to Athens since the Games, alas, but from my understanding from my Greek Aunt, the infrastructure is fairly meaningless to the normal person. Great, Athens has a fabulous olympic swimming pool. Super. The one decent thing that may come from it was the forcing through of the subway.

You argue that there were greater security costs post 9/11. I say that's absurd, there were greater security costs for the Americans, sure, but Greece has been dealing with internal terrorism for 40 years

Greece had, sadly, excess capacity for tourism. Does New York City? how many

[Renew Deal]

38. Security

Here's a good summary on it.

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/Olympic-Games-Security22aug04.htm



NY tourism has been great and there is room for more tourists. Not every hotel room is booked. Not every broadway show is booked.

[northzax]

39. right, there is more room

but is it going to make enough of a difference to justify the loss of several billion dollars ina two week period? Isn't there something better to spend 2,000 per citizen on?

[Renew Deal]

40. That's assuming that there will be a loss.

I am not assuming that. NY is much better equipped to handle the games. Ticket prices will be very high and events will be filled. There is also all of the other revenue (subway, hotel, food, tourist traps). That said, I feel the Olympics are worth it even at a loss. You just have to experience it to understand. There is nothing like that atmosphere. All kinds of people from all kinds of places in the parks and subways. The colors and the themes. It's really an unbelievable experience.

[northzax]

42. of course it will be a loss

the only olympics in the past 40 years that wasn't a loss was sydney. New York would build about ten billion dollars in one off infrastructure, add another 10 for the operations of the games (and loss of revenue as the city shuts down for two weeks to everything else)

Can you imnagine the transportation nightmare? are you going to make the next Marion Jones take the subway to her events? no, and since the athlete's village is going to be over the river, you'd need to make it possible for them to get from their housing to manhattan easily and quickly (and back) the bridge traffic can't handle it.

Look, the olympics are great, the most polyglot thing around, but New York already is that, every day.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

11. uh... great...

another overpriced playground with overpriced apartments around it... I hope it will get stuck in litigation for many years. Bloomberg and Pataki must go. The whole MTA (the subway/bus people) board must go.

:rant: <----- new smilie!
:nuke:

[HamdenRice]

18. Almost no one who actually lives in NY wants this!

For those of you who think it's a great idea, you must not have a clue about what NYC is like. The traffic through the West side across the Husdon to New Jersey comes to a complete gridlocked standstill almost every evening. How on earth could that neighborhood stand another 10,000 cars on game day?

Even if some or even all attendees took public transit, the west side lines are already overburdened, and the E, A, C, 1, 2, and 3 lines would come to a screeching halt, making it impossible to get through Manhattan to Queens, Brooklyn and upper Manhattan.

Most important, a stadium is just a waste of space and value. Building housing on that site would create many times more value in dollar terms and infinitely more value in usefulness, utility and aesthetics.

[Wolfetone]

36. I'll just take the ferry

in from Jersey. 

But what really sucks is no tail gaiting. 

[Catchawave]

41. That's why they should build in one of the Burroughs....

Half the fun of football is tailgating! Probably could set up little folding chairs around the vendors' hot dog carts that will be lined up and down the streets!

[RedEarth]

26. A $1.9 billion dollar stadium.....how on earth do you spend that much on

a stadium....what in the world are they building....unbelievable..

[jerryman814]

28. the stadium has to be domed apparently...

If they really want the Super Bowl bid...

[jerryman814]

27. Summer/Fall Sundays would be absolute hell...

NFL Exhibition Games/Season, Yankee baseball games, Mets baseball games.... talk about strangleholding the roadway...

Not to mention the added traffic during the weekday... sheesh... what a stupid idea.

Next they'll put a Six Flags in Central Park.

[Renew Deal]

32. That doesn't make sense.

The Yankees play in the Bronx and the Mets play in Queens. All three are highly accesible by mass transit, especially Jets stadium. The car traffic in Manhattan would be negligible. You would have to be an idiot to drive there.

[cire4]

29. My money is still on Paris, London, or Madrid

New York's chances died when Bush used the Olympics in his campaign ad last August. That pissed alot of IOC members off.

No way does the International Community award America an Olympic games with * as President.

[Renew Deal]

33. I think that's a strong possibility.

Do we really deserve them? NY does for many reasons, but Bush might be a major obstacle.

[cire4]

34. New York's time will come in 2016 IMO

New York is up against some really really tough competition this time around. Paris, Madrid, and London have put up some very impressive bids. All three cities ranked higher than New York in the IOC's initial evaluation. NYC's bid also faces some tough financial obstacles and the largest local resistance of all five cities. Combine this with the international disdain for Bush and the American government and it is clear that the stars are not aligned for New York in 2012.

However, there will be no western european cities competing in 2016, which means that if New York chooses to bid again (which I believe they will), then they will likely only face competition from Toronto, which would make their chances of hosting much better.

Plus the 2016 games will be chosen in 2009. The reign of Bush will have ended and hopefully a Democrat with a better worldview will be occupying the White House.

[Lauri16]

37. If they even think that they're

going to get away with using state funds for this farce, they're nuts. Upstate NY can't afford anymore of the pet projects that some of those city officials come up with. I'm sick and tired of watching farmers lose everything because all the state's money has to be funnelled downstate for stuff like this.

There's a group up here that already has a petition for the Governor to stay away from state funds.