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Sympathy for the Devil, M. Donald Grant chased the Jets out?

SteveJRogers Oct 01 2006 03:17 PM

Just saw this on UMDB: ]He also hurt the New York sports scene by keeping the Jets from playing at Shea Stadium in September every year. This served as the initial step in the Jets' eventual move to New Jersey. If the Jets don't get their own stadium in New York and wind up relocating to another city, don't blame their owner. It would be a result of the egotism of M. Donald Grant. I just responded with: ]I'm sorry, but how does not playing home games at Shea during the first 4 weeks of the year hurt the Jets? Doesn't that usually happen for teams like the Dolphins and Cardinals (since the move to Arizona) Did other teams have the same arrangements? Give that evidence before shooting off that Grant's not letting the Jets start their seasons at home was a reason for a lousy season or whatever. Blame M. Donald Grant for alot of things, but thats pretty unfair, and petty to blame him for the Jets poor records because they had to wait untill the Mets were done to play a home game. Besides, it was under Wilpon-Doubleday that the Jets finally left, and it had more to do with not refurbishing a nearly 20 year-old stadium to accomidate the increasing fandom of pro-football. Not to mention Shea's bathroom situation. Am I being off base here? I mean it does seem a bit harsh, and off base to say Grant hurt the Jets franchise by having them flee to the Meadowlands (and it has always been a cop-out by Jet fans, just as it is for MFY fans to blame the stadium for their problems)

RealityChuck Oct 01 2006 10:52 PM

Well, at the time, the Jets made it very clear that they didn't like that situation (it was worse in '69, of course, when the Jets didn't play at home until Week 6 and 1973, when it was week 7), and eventually managed to negotiate to play a couple of home games in the first few weeks. It was Weiss who negotiated the contract with the city to make the Jets prime tenants, which put the Mets in the driver's seat, and he dictated the original terms. Categorizing it as the "initial step" is not out of line. Whether it had any effect on the Jets's seasons, the team resented the restriction and the fact that they were second-class tenants made it all that easier for them to be wooed by the Meadowlands.