Final Steel Beam Laid Down on New Meadowlands

The owners of the Jets and Giants were on hand for a ceremony yesterday to celebrate the final steel beam being laid down on their new stadium. The complex is four months ahead of schedule after breaking ground only eighteen months ago. Both teams are set to move into the New Meadowlands Stadium for the 2010 season and the team owners say that it may be ready by this December.

Jets owner Woody Johnson told the media, "In building a stadium, the politics and the financing are the critical factors, and with those in place, you can't really pick the timing of the economy. You normally wouldn't pick a recession to finish a project, but would I change a thing? No."

The new stadium will seat 82,000 and feature 2,000 video screens and individual monitors. In addition a rail link being built to it is expected to be done before this coming season.The state is spending about $300 million to improve road and rail access to the complex. Giants co-owner Steve Tisch said, "We're going to give it back to the fans every Sunday we play here and every Sunday the Jets play here."