newjerseynewsroom.com

Organization says purchases are continuation of previous practice

BY JOHN DUNPHY

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

State political leaders, including Governor Chris Christie, are speaking out against the recent revelation the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority has spent about $1 million to secure season tickets for the New York Giants and Jets, tickets which will be used by VIPs, including elected officials.

According to Bloomberg News, the state agency — established in 1971 to build and run the state-owned Meadowlands Sports Complex, including Giants Stadium — secured 142 season passes for the two teams' new $1.6 billion stadium in East Rutherford by paying an $854,000 one-time license fee and $221,600 for actual tickets to 20 games in the upcoming 2010 season. The agency also paid $275,000 for a luxury suite, according to Bloomberg News.

Sports authority officials have said the purchases were needed to secure tickets previously held at the old Meadowlands Sports Complex and that the business practice of buying the Jets and Giants tickets has been conducted for decades.

Governor Christie has criticized the season-ticket purchases in a statement by his spokesman, Michael Drewniak. "(This is another) astonishingly bad decision that we will now have to fix."

Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono, a Middlesex County Democrat seeking an audit of the authority's budget called the expenses not only unwise and unneccessary but "wholly inappropriate" given the amount of money the authority is seeking from the state, referring to $32.8 million the sports authority, which neither owns nor manages the new stadium and is supposed to operate without taxpayer help, is asking lawmakers for to make up a funding shortfall.

Dennis Robinson, the sports authority president, said the purchases were made so the agency could keep tickets it controlled in the old stadium. He said the tickets are used for business purposes, according to the Bloomberg News report, including use by sponsors of the sports authority's other facilities, high-stakes horse bettors and people who are valuable to its business.

John Samerjan, a spokesman for the authority, told Bloomberg that revenue from the nearby Izod Center and other facilities the authority manages paid for the seats, not taxpayers. Robinson said the agency will receive a management fee of about $700,000 from the new stadium, as well as reimbursement for staffing ticket sales, security and other services there.

The Christie administration, in place since January, began reviewing the authority's ticket practices after Bloomberg News reported in April elected state officials received preferred access to concerts, including shows by Bruce Springsteen and U2, at state-run venues.

Some of the tickets, including four Jets seats in its "Great Hall Club," carry $25,000 license fees. In total, 80 Jets seats cost $524,000 in licenses and $131,600 on tickets for this year's 10 home games. Sixty-two Giants seats cost $90,000 for tickets and $330,000 for seat licenses, according to the Bloomberg News report.