EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (June 27, 2005) -- The New York Jets are negotiating to change the terms of their lease with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, owner of Giants Stadium, where the team plays its home games.
Rent reduction is part of the discussion, which was spurred by a lawsuit the Jets filed in 2003 complaining that the New York Giants had been given a reduction and that the Jets should have one also, authority spokesman James DeBosh said Monday.
Leases for both teams require the authority to make such offers.
The Giants got a rent reduction in 1999, from 15 percent of ticket sales to 10 percent, and agreed to extend the team's lease through 2026.
DeBosh said that the authority made an equivalent offer to the Jets, but the team rejected it, contending the two items should be considered separately.
"It was not a unilateral rent reduction. It was a rent reduction together with a lease extension," DeBosh said.
A Jets spokesman did not immediately return a message Monday seeking comment.
Meanwhile, New Jersey officials have said the Jets are speaking with the Giants regarding the Giants' plans to build a new stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex that would open for the 2009 season.
The Jets' lease expires in 2008, and the team suffered a major setback this month when New York state leaders refused to approve $300 million for a $2.2 billion Jets stadium in Manhattan that would also have served as a stadium for the 2012 Olympics.
