Let Me Put It Next To You

The New York (football) Giants are feeling like “second-class citizens” again as plans for a giant entertainment complex next to the Meadowlands begin to take shape. The complex is called Xanadu:

The New York Giants have gone to court to try to block their neighbor, the planned $1.3 billion Meadowlands Xanadu family entertainment and retail complex, from operating on game days, on the grounds that it would turn a trip to a Giants game from a mere traffic problem into a traffic nightmare.

The fight among the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which owns the land; the Giants; and the developers of Meadowlands Xanadu appeared to be over last May when the team and the state agreed to a plan for a new privately financed $750 million football stadium on a separate parcel nearby.

But in papers filed in State Superior Court in Bergen County on Aug. 23, just a month before the team is to provide details about the new stadium, its lawyers sued, asking a judge to immediately restrict the operations of Xanadu, now under construction.

According to their court papers, the Giants say their fans’ No. 1 complaint involves getting into and out of the stadium grounds on game days – a feat that involves 24,000 cars and as many as 80,000 fans. With Xanadu, 12,000 cars will be added to the mix, both sides agree.

Some of the cars will be shunted to Xanadu’s garages, affecting those fans’ ability to indulge in that parking lot tradition, tailgate parties.

But lest you think it’s just about parking spaces, know that we’re talking about something more. About respect:

The Giants say they are actually losing parking spaces. But the lawsuit is about more than parking, the team concedes. With details of the new stadium to be worked out, the suit is an attempt by the team to gain leverage in talks with Xanadu’s developers and to strengthen its hand in dealing with the sports and exposition authority. In particular, the team wants court enforcement of a provision in its lease that makes its consent required for any changes in the complex that affect the team’s operations on game days or compete with them.

The issue seems to have become a matter of pride for John Mara, the executive vice president of the Giants. In an interview, Mr. Mara spoke wistfully about the decision his father, Wellington Mara, made in 1971 to move the Giants from Yankee Stadium. There, they were “second-class tenants.” To get the true football stadium he desired, he decided to move his team to what was then a vast marsh and vacant expanse of filled-in dump.

One editorial cartoon at the time depicted the elder Mr. Mara, cloaked like George Washington on a snowy winter night, standing at the prow of a boat, being rowed by football players onto a shore strewn with broken bottles, crushed cans and litter. There was wide speculation, apart from New York-centric chauvinism, that the move to New Jersey would be a disaster for the team.

It was in that atmosphere that the Giants managed to get provisions in their lease that gave them a virtual veto over alterations at the site that might affect their operations. John Mara says those provisions are crystal clear, but Carl J. Goldberg, the chairman of the sports and exposition authority, insists they are not.

. . .

Mr. Mara said the Giants feel they must invoke the provisions to protect their interests. “It was a decision by my family that gave rise to this entire complex,” he said. “And to be honest, we are starting to feel like second-class citizens over here.”

Wah, wah . . .