A politician is hoping to see a local NFL team relocated and the wider NFL has some thoughts on that.
According to Legal Sports Report, New York State Senator Joe Addabbo Jr. is advocating for the city of New York to build a 70,000-80,000-seat stadium in Queens in hopes of bringing the New York Jets back to New York City. The Jets have the option to opt out of their current contract at MetLife Stadium in the near future.
Queens recently approved construction of a Major League Soccer stadium at Willets Point. But Addabbo believes that the city can do better – even if it’s a longshot.
“If you’re building a stadium — and I know it’s only 25,000 seats — but if you’ve got that kind of incentive to build a stadium, if the opportunity is there with the land and the expiring leases, we can connect the dots, why miss this opportunity?” Addabbo said.
“They’d have their own stadium, a newer, more technologically-advanced stadium, with all-new amenities and everything. To go into a brand-new stadium as the New York Jets and the marketing behind it, that just blows it out of the water.
Fans are a bit mixed. Some that are based in New Jersey don’t want to see them go while some Jets fans closer to Queens are practically begging to make it happen:
The New York Jets haven’t played home games in New York City since 1984, when they called Shea Stadium their own.
The Jets moved to East Rutherford in the 1980s and played at Giants Stadium until its closure in 2009. They joined the Giants in moving into MetLife Stadium, which opened the following year.