I usually buy my ticket at the winter ESC meeting at Nathan Hale's. I see no reson to do any different this year -- unless it's to skip the seaon ticket, period. Well, at least an sss is still being considered, while NE and KC don't even have that going for them -- just better teams.
This is exactly the way i am gonna handle it. Will i still got to games? Ofcourse I will. I will just not make the commitment of buying season tickets. It sends a strong message without hurting yourself. As said above, there are plenty of seats to go around. Let METRO wonder if we are gonna show up. All they care about is ticket sales, so it's the only real way to stand up and be heard.
I asked this on the other board, didnt get a reply: One thing I dont understand. If the Meadowlands option, as Cody says, would not be paid for by NJ, but by AEG, why wouldn't we just spend that money to build in Harrison?
I think not renewing your tickets does send a good message, but just make sure they know WHY you're not renewing. I'd send them a print-out of the Nick Petition along with the invoice of your season ticket renewal form. This way they know you're not happy, and hopefully(not-likely though) they'll reassess their relationship with the fans.
If the money was equal, I think they would build it in Harrison. But, if the money is $ 50 mil at the Meadowlands and $ 90 million in Harrison...? Who knows. The real question is, even if they wanted to pay their own way in Harrison, could they? The twon seems to want the development, but that's not to say that someone else won't put up a better offer, and that's not to say that even if they tried it wouldn't be blocked by powerful friends with an agenda. Talking to a guy in the area who supposedly knows a thing or two about it, he is skeptical that Metro will ever really get approval to build there. I think they can, but until they build it, we are all skeptical. And with good reason.
I wouldn't even go that far with New England - just that since Kraft controls the revenue streams, he's not leaving the Razor, so there isn't the same sense of urgency. However, Revs fans are almost as pissed off at their FO as we are. It's hard to say what is worse - an incompetent FO or a non-existant FO. And we have a better team than New England. We would have went through againsts COlumbus.
Because what we'd need to spend in Harrison if we went it alone is a lot more than what we'd spend at the Swamp. If you've been to the Harrison site, or if you've seen it from the PATH to Newark, you know that it's completely barren. It's also a bitch to get to under current driving conditions. So the bond money would go not just to the stadium but to a huge amount of infrastructure improvements, including a new I-280 offramp and the parking decks. You don't need any of those things at the Swamp. You can pretty much throw bleachers down over a piece of the parking lot and be done with it if you want.
Isn't there supposed to be a housing development near the proposed venue? I always felt that the would be the sticking point on the deal. For some having a sports/concert venue in their backyard probably seems attractive, but judging by the residents of the "affordable" housing development that was just completed in the town where I live, I highly doubt they are the type that would welcome such a venue. Maybe the developers wheren't planning on going as upscale as here in town, but it still sounds like a tough sell to me. Truth be told Harrison always seemed like a compromise to me, not a solution.
Also, this was posted on the Metrostars website. http://metrostars.mlsnet.com/MLS/ne...ent_id=19528&vkey=news_met&fext=.jsp&team=met
I just want to clear up any uncertainty by refusing to comment on everything that anyone is uncertain about.
This makes me sick to my stomach - my take is that Nick was sitting there watching this Harrison deal crumble (or it was never as big as he said). He's getting nervous b/c every MLS release and public mention inlcudes the Metrostars stadium and then all of a sudden this lameduck gov. spills the beans on the Harrison Deal. Nick grabs onto anything he can to make it look like their are more options and that is a good thing. The reality was that Harrison was never going to happen and now he is scrambling to salvage something.....I think we should start the clock on how many days Nick has left before he is fired by AEG.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/sports/soccer/23soccer.html The MetroStars, one of the five M.L.S. clubs operated by the Anschutz Entertainment Group, have been trying for the past several years to build a stadium on the banks of the Passaic River as part of a larger redevelopment project in Harrison, N.J. The club and officials in Hudson County announced a deal last summer that was contingent on the county's sale of bonds. Several weeks ago, Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey told The Star-Ledger of Newark that the bond issue was not viable and that the project was dead. Instead, Codey proposed building a soccer stadium for the MetroStars in the Meadowlands. The uncertainty about the project in Harrison has put the MetroStars in a strange position, one with leverage they have never had before. And although Sakiewicz was careful not to criticize the continuing efforts in Harrison, he refused to say where, exactly, he would like the stadium to be built. "I want to clear up any ambiguity that we are not still working with Harrison," Sakiewicz said. "We're not walking away from anything. Although I'm not in a position to comment on what the governor had to say, I can say he believes the MetroStars are part of his vision of sports in the state of New Jersey. As a result, we've been working with the Sports Authority to get a soccer stadium built."
This has always been a delicate situation. At the same time I really try to stay out of this discusssion thread. I am just as angry & upset as everyone else is and I don't know what's going on. All I know of this whole fiasco right now is from everyone on these boards who are lashing out at MFO. Picking up pieces of information from the sports media in NY & NJ and slaping on the links. There is this quote from the acting Governer, there is that quote from Nick & the Mayor of Harrison has chimed in as well. There is something that really ticks me off about this whole situation & personally I don't care if the Chicago Fire beats us to the punch with their Bridgeview Stadium being ready by 2006, or if the Rapids are going to break ground, or if DC is going to get a stadium of their own now they have to share RFK with the Expos/Nationals. The only thing that is clear to me is this. Columbus, Ohio. Carson, California. Frisco, Texas. Bridgeview, Illinois and this suburb of Denver that escapes me for the moment never had any problems getting their own stadium, yet we have a problem here in NJ. Because of how much in the dollar ammounts the Bonds should be from Hudson County as well as how much AEG should pony up in their end of the deal. Somewhere, somehow there is a snag in this situation and sadly this snag is keeping us hanging on the hooks nailed to the wall. Someone is holding a piece of paper or a news article saying "keep dreaming because it's never going to happen". I agree with everyone that Nick should have kept his mouth shut when it comes to deadlines. Because no matter how many times he has set one up, they keep getting knocked down and nothing has come of them. There is this sense of nervousness from everyone that no matter how many times MFO takes a step forward, 2 to 10,000 steps are going back drastically and everyone has the right to be angry, everyone has the right to be upset. But just sit back for a moment and think about how badly Nick Sakiewicz, John Guppy, Chris Canetti & everyone else feels. Everything they have poured their seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and the past four years into getting this project done will either go down the drain, or in some form of a miracle Harrison will happen, or more nightmares of a SSS somewhere behind Giants Stadium & the Race Track in the Meadowlands. If this stadium is completly destroyed there is alot of blame to go around. MFO is not the only ones to be blamed for this. There's going to be some fingerpointing towards Hudson County, all parties are involved including MFO. So much good can come of this stadium not just for Hudson County and for Harrison, but the entire community of soccer for everyone in NJ. This could be the home for the NJAC Conference Tournament in Men's & Women's College Soccer. NCAA Division I College Cup Semis & Final. AYSO & US Youth Soccer championships. USASA Championships & so on. Other events that are non Soccer related. I'm going to conclude in saying this. Let's all try to be patient. Let's all try to sit back, take a breath and see what's going to happen. I'm not going to listen to this guy Codey who is going to be an acting Govener for a couple of months and hear this crap that the stadium deal in Harrison is dead. If he truly knows this then bring out the information. If he is just saying this to get his plan to improve the Meadowlands, then it's a crock. I don't trust in NJ politics. There are too many crooked, backstabbing, greedy jerks that are running this state. Please folks let's be calm and try to wait this out. But if everything goes to hell. Then sound off and have fun.
.... "The MetroStars, who have never advanced past the first round of the playoffs,..." Ok, so either : 1) We have sucked in the playoffs even more than i thought and my delusion made me believe we beat the Dallas Burn.... OR 2) the fact that Dallas Burn "ceased" to exist means our victory over them is null and void OR 3)Jack Bell is a fvcking idiot at times when it comes to research....
Everything has already gone to hell. Here's my prediction. 1. Nick works with Codey to build the stadium in the Meadowlands. 2. Harrison gets pushed to the back burner or gets thrown out as an option. 3. A new ELECTED governor comes in and scraps the whole deal. 4. The Metrostars continue to play in Giants Stadium. 5. We're back to square one. Am I pessimistic? Yes, but it doesn't sound good when Nick says things like "I can say he believes the MetroStars are part of his vision of sports in the state of New Jersey. As a result, we've been working with the Sports Authority to get a soccer stadium built." This tells me that the Meadowlands is now thier preference. Does anyone else read this statement the same way?
I say AEG is claiming that it will pay for the entire Harrison deal, to see if that creates leverage so the state puts a better deal on the table in the Meadowlands. I don't see how the blame for this mess falls anywhere but at the feet of Nick. He was in charge of this project, he picked his partners, he failed to get the right advocate behind this project, and he deserves to be accountable.
IMO, the root of the problem lies with New Jersey politicians. Even though I dislike Nick and he has skrewed up big time with this, there is only so much one can do with crooked NJ politics. Think about it, this Codey guy comes in who is only governer by default, has a background in sports and NJSEA. Even though he will be governer for a year, he announces these massive changes. Why why why? Because of his involvement with NJSEA and now he has some power and intends to use it. Also, the fact that it has taken so long just to get to this point with Harrison shows how slow things move in NJ politics. Other teams/cities started planning after the Metrostars and are already ahead of us. Why? Because this is New Jersey. At this point, I would just like to know whether Harrison really is dead or not. When is HCIA going to come out and tell us if they approve the bonds? Are they ever? For once, I'm going to back Nick, there is so much out of his control and who knows how NJ politicians really work. However, I do believe he could have been more forthright with our stadium prospects.
Having worked across the border in NY politics, I agree only to a point. Nothing excuses utter incompetence on either side, but especially Nick's. If anything, the molasses that is the NJ system only allows the MFO to adopt a wishy-washy attitude on just about everything it touches. Squad-related, the manner in which Nick has left Walker out to dry is in contrast to his near-automatic signing two years ago. One day the Harrison deal is all but inked, the next day it is dead as a dinosaur. I can only imagine that tomorrow the county will find the loan guarantees necessary to start construction, in which Nick claims all along he was 100% behind Harrison. And if that isn't convincing enough for you, MFO knew the state was changing governors for months, they didn't foresee it coming?
maybe, just maybe, nick is deciding to date two women until he decides which one to marry? problem with that is if you piss either woman off, you're liable to lose them both. genius, or idiot? time will tell.