What’s A few Hundred Million When It Comes To Stadiums?

So Texas is taking on North Carolina in the $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium which will call to configure the basketball court so the most can see it. It’s reminiscent of the Houston-UCLA game between Elvin Hayes and Lew Alcindor at the Astrodome where you needed binoculars to see. Somehow Jerry Jones will have a layout that makes use of his stupendous electronic scoreboard. There will not be a curtain like the Pistons once used at the Pontiac Silverdome, another football venue converted for hoops. I expect floor seating surrounding the court, that ascends to the football seats, enabling 80,000 to 111,000 to watch. Along with America’s Team, the stadium will host the Big 12 Championship Game, the Cotton Bowl, the 2010 NBA All Star game, the 2014 Final Four and the 2011 Super Bowl.

Which brings us to the $1.6 billion Stadium-Sitting-Next-To-Giants-Stadium-In-The-Meadowlands-Home-To-The-Jets-And-Giants. Whew. Here’s hoping they sell the naming rights soon, because that name just won’t fit. The “Meadowlands Stadium”, is preparing a bid for a cold weather Super Bowl in 2014. Why is it a cold-weather bid, requiring a special variance from the NFL’s decree for Super Bowls (NFL Championship Games) to be held at “domed or 50 degree locations?” Because it doesn’t have a top. That would have cost $250 million more, making it a $1.85 billion stadia.

The leaders of the Jets and Giants are the ones making the call here. Taxpayers are subsidizing, PSLs, 218 luxury suites, 10,000 club seats and price increases for everything, are helping the funding “and if you don’t like it, we’ll go someplace else!” The real reason that the new stadium doesn’t have a roof, is because the main benefits of hosting indoor events would be spent in Manhattan, and without kicking in a dime, New York would collect billions.

So how does Jerry Jones build the world’s largest domed stadium that holds 111,000 in Arlington, Texas for $400,000,000 less than they can build the Meadowlands Stadium that holds 82,500 without a roof? They might find a clue to the answer when they tear down the old Giants Stadium and uncover Jimmy Hoffa.