Big Blue came to The Business Council of Westchester”™s Key Bank Speaker Series in Tarrytown Feb 25. John Mara, co-owner of the football Giants, told a business meeting the new Meadowlands stadium and all it incorporates are good for the economy and will be good for his team.
Mara, a Harrison resident who grew up in White Plains and attended Iona Prep in New Rochelle, talked about the lack of revenues that were being pulled from the old stadium, along with the state of New Jersey”™s ownership, and the lack of paralleled growth with rising salary caps for NFL players ”¦ all to answer the question of why the organization needs a new stadium.
“In the end of the day, we”™re in this business to win and put a winning team on the field,” said Mara.
Mara outlined the stadium, which he said will put the team in the top four in the National Football League revenue-wise, with 2,000 additional seats, thousands of additional square feet for amenities, as well as the new rail system to cart native New York fans to the Meadowlands.
The new stadium, in the works for many years and through multiple governors, will be a joint property between the Giants and Jets NFL teams, as was its predecessor.
The original project”™s credit was hinged to the sunken firm Lehman Brothers.
“When they filed for chapter 11, we became just an unsecured creditor, and the cap on the interest rates went out the door,” said Mara. “Fortunately we”™re in the process now of getting out of the ARS market. We”™ve sold three of the four major sponsorship positions in the building.”
The state of New Jersey is contributing the railway and land, but no money, to the rail project.
According to Mara the stadium will cost the two teams $1.6 billion.
Mara said the stadium, titled New Meadowlands in a slide show rendering, will announce naming rights in the near future. PepsiCo and Master Card, both of Purchase, are two of five exclusive sponsors of the stadium, due to be finished by 2010.
Michael Orsino, president of Key Bank for Hudson Valley-Metro New York, welcomed the crowd of about 50 and quoted President Obama”™s economic address to a joint session of Congress from the preceding night. “The state of our economy is a concern that arises above all others,” he said.
Orsino”™s talk was followed by Chris O”™Callaghan, vice chair of the Business Council of Westchester and business development and senior director of Cushman and Wakefield, who welcomed Mara and organized the event with Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council.
