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Sports authority makes pitch to Marlins
MLB at Meadowlands faces obstacles
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff
Wednesday, November 23, 2005

The New Jersey Marlins?

On the day baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced he had given the Florida Marlins permission to explore moving the team out of South Florida, sports officials in New Jersey contacted the team's owner about moving to the Meadowlands.

The pitch to Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is the latest move in a two-year quest by George Zoffinger, chief executive of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, to bring Major League Baseball to what is becoming an extremely crowded sports complex. Zoffinger has had previous conversations with Loria, a New York art dealer, and Jerry Reinsdorf, the influential owner of the White Sox who helped relocate the Montreal Expos to Washington, D.C., but yesterday's conversation marked the first time the sports authority presented Loria with a concrete plan to house his team.

"We think New Jersey is a viable market for baseball," Zoffinger said yesterday. "If we can keep the Giants, Jets and horse racing, build Xanadu and add baseball, we'll really have something here."

The longest of long-shot plans calls for retrofitting Giants Stadium into a ballpark once the Jets and the Giants move to a new building they plan to construct across the parking lot.

Marlins executives did not return phone calls seeking comment about New Jersey, but Loria, who has not been able to get a stadium deal in Miami, released a statement yesterday acknowledging his plan to explore all options.

"It is now clear to us that there will be no baseball stadium in the city of Miami," Loria said. This "does not mean that the Marlins are necessarily leaving South Florida. It does mean, however, that we need to seriously explore all of our options, including those in other markets."

Any plan to bring Major League Baseball to the Meadowlands likely would face a series of huge obstacles.

# The football teams that play there likely would oppose any plan for baseball at the Meadowlands, since they are planning to build restaurants and stores where their current stadium now stands.

# The Yankees and the Mets would oppose the increased competition and would demand substantial compensation for allowing a third team to move into what they consider their territory.

# Having a major league team would complicate a commitment the sports authority has made to build a minor league ballpark as part of the $1.3 billion Xanadu retail and entertainment center currently being developed by the Mills Corp. and Mack-Cali Realty.

Giants officials wasted little time yesterday dismissing talk of Major League Baseball at the Meadowlands.

"I don't see how baseball could work," said John Mara, the Giants' chief operating officer. "The parking and the traffic would be impossible with our schedule of using this place every weekend starting in August."

Jets officials were less resistant, but still skeptical.

"There would be a lot of issues and challenges, but we are willing to listen," Jets spokesman Matt Higgins said.

Even if the football teams did allow for baseball, the Mets and Yankees may demand so much in compensation that Loria would not be able to afford to move here. Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos received ownership of a new regional sports network and a guaranteed value on his franchise in exchange for allowing Major league Baseball to bring the Nationals to Washington, D.C.

"There is a precedent now, and I'm not sure where you could begin to set the floor for the value of the Mets and the Yankees," said Sal Galatioto, a leading sports financier.

Finally, Steve Kalafer, who owns the rights to build a ballpark for the planned Bergen Cliff Hawks of the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, has said Major League Baseball would not compete with his far cheaper product, but two baseball stadiums on one site may seem like overkill.

Kalafer, however, says he has not been able to finalize a deal with the sports authority and the developers of Xanadu to build the ballpark.

The current proposal calls for the Mills Corp. to contribute $5 million for the $20-$30 million stadium, with Kalafer covering the remaining debt. Kalafer declined to comment yesterday on the ongoing talks, but Zoffinger insisted the site was big enough for all of his grand plans.

"The trick is getting past all the people who insist you can't do this stuff." Zoffinger said.

Hi there -

It's been awhile since I've posted but I had to respond to this article.

I moved to northeaster Pennsylvania about six months ago and work Jets and Giants games for CBS at the Meadowlands. I find it impossible, with the Mets and Yankees in the area, that MLB would allow a team to move to the Meadowlands.

Also, in getting the NY Jets and NY Giants to build a new stadium at the Meadowlands and stay in NJ, the NJSEA agreed to add restaurants, business parks and hotels on the land around the Meadowlands. An additional stadium would take away space for these things.

Anyhow, I can understand why the NJ group is making the bid, but I think the other teams at the Meadowlands would make it difficult.

~ Missy

I would really hope that MLB would avoid putting ANOTHER team in New England (considering they have, in essence, 5 teams all within about the same proximity to each other as Portland is to Seattle). But this is MLB we're talking about.

NY/NJ is a Hugee metro area. That said, at what point saturation?

Yankees, Mets, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Jets, Giants, Knicks, Nets...

You could even make argument that Phillies, Flyers, Eagles, 76'ers, Bills, & Sabres could effect that market..

I don't see it hapeening.