Giants Get Home Opener; Woody Johnson Cries

In a move that did not come as a surprise to any New York Jets fan, the NY Giants will play the first regular season game in the new stadium this season.  Word on the street is that the Jets got wind of this and that is when they started pressing the “coin toss” idea.  From NY Jets.com:

As mentioned, the date, time and other details of this New Meadowlands Stadium winner-take-home coin toss are still being “minted,” so to speak. It’s quite possible there will be media coverage for this mini-event and fans may be invited into the stadium to observe the proceedings and cheer on their side — meaning their team as well as their team’s side of the medallion.

Think about it: the first coin toss at midfield of New Meadowlands Stadium, and it comes between the Jets and Giants.

We’ll provide you with more details when we get them.

There was only one small problem.  The Giants knew they were getting the home opener so they weren’t as interested in a coin toss and the NFL wanted no part of it either.  The Giants have opened at home 12 of the last 16 seasons.  As Dave Hutchinson from the Star Ledger wrote:

The Giants won a “secret” coin toss at the league office on Monday morning to determine who would host the first regular-season game ever at the new Meadowlands stadium and Jets owner Woody Johnson is said to be livid because the team didn’t have any representation there.

So Roger Goodell flipped the coin by himself at some point during his morning constitutional.  There is good news Jets fans, the Jets do get:

• The first preseason game in the new stadium
• The first Monday night football game and it is on opening weekend.

Here is the press release from the NFL, they did leave out any comments about Roger Goodell’s morning constitutional so we are just going to assume that everything came out alright.

NFL OPENING WEEKEND TO FEATURE HOME GAMES
FOR BOTH JETS AND GIANTS

Jets to Host First Game at New Stadium in Preseason

The New York Jets and New York Giants both will at home in their new Meadowlands Stadium on the opening weekend of the 2010 regular season, the NFL announced today.

The Giants will play on Sunday afternoon, September 12, and the Jets will play in the first nationally televised Monday Night Football game of the season on September 13. The NFL is completing the final stages of the 2010 schedule. The opponents for the Jets and Giants Kickoff Weekend home openers will be announced soon.

In addition, the NFL announced that the Jets will host the first NFL game at the new stadium during the preseason in August.

Under the NFL Constitution and By-Laws, the commissioner is responsible for determining the playing schedule.

“After extensive discussions with both teams, we have come up with what we believe is a unique approach for celebrating the opening of the new Meadowlands Stadium,” said Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Commissioner Goodell noted that both the Giants and Jets ownership felt passionately for their fans about being the first to play at home on the opening weekend of the regular season and could not agree on how to resolve the issue, including whether to conduct a coin flip. The commissioner said that, since both teams presented good reasons for playing first, he concluded that the fairest resolution would be to play both teams at home on the opening weekend and to make his decision on which team plays on Sunday by flipping a coin. The commissioner flipped the coin last Friday with his staff at the NFL office. He then notified both teams on Friday of his decision and that he flipped a coin to determine the team playing on Sunday.

The only time the Giants and Jets both opened a regular-season on the same weekend at Giants Stadium was in 1991 when the Jets opened against Tampa Bay on Sunday, September 1, and the Giants hosted the 49ers on Monday night, September 2.

Tell us what you think in our New York Jets forum.

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