Giants and Jets both to open new stadium Opening Weekend, but WHY?

The New York Giants have been planning for nearly 5 years the construction of the new Meadowlands Stadium set to open next month. The New York Jets originally planed to build their own stadium on the West Side of Manhattan before that was thwarted by politicians. Don't even get me started on trying to build ANYTHING in the state of New York, its just a joke.

After the West Side Stadium collapse, the Jets and Giants joined forces in a 50/50 partnership in the Meadowlands Stadium. Unlike the current stadium where the Jets are tenants, the new stadium will not be named after the Giants and even the colors will be interchangeable to reflect who is playing.

So when the question came up as to who would open the new Stadium, both teams demanded that it be them. One solution that made perfect sense for everyone and would please a lot of fans would be to let the 2 teams play each other Week 1. But that was quickly thwarted by the NFL. Since the 2 teams are not scheduled to play each other until next year, the NFL would not alter the schedule to solve the dispute. No problem. We all know how complex and particular the schedule is and how far in advance its planned. So the next thing was to just award it to the Giants, after all they started the process. The Jets quickly whined about that idea. So the NFL decided it would flip a coin to see who has the first game. When the NFL conducted the coin flip without representatives from either team present, the Jets whined again saying the flip was biased.

O.K. on to solution number three, have BOTH teams open the stadium on the same weekend, which the NFL has decided it will do. The Giants will be first and open on Sunday with the Jets hosting on Monday Night Football. The Jets will open the first preseason game, not that it matters because no one shows up to them anyway.

But how we got here was sketchy to say the least, with a lot of back and forth by both the Jets and the NFL. This solution makes total sense, but oh man wouldn't it have been fun if the two faced each other Week 1 in September? Try getting a ticket to that game!

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