| Built
as part of the Meadowlands Sports Complex
in 1975, Giants Stadium was built to serve
as a home for the New York Giants, who
moved from Shea Stadium beginning with the
1976 NFL season. In 1983 the New
Jersey Generals were born, but to readily
admit that the Generals were playing in
the home stadium of another team - and an
NFL team at that - would be sacrilege.
To avoid this situation, the Gens and the
USFL's television partners agreed to refer
to the facility as simply "The
Meadowlands," a practice adopted by
the New York Jets when they joined the
Giants as tenants at the stadium in 1984.
Sometimes the USFL's printed materials
would slip and use "Giants
Stadium," much to the dismay of team
owners J. Walter Duncan and Donald Trump.
The
seating capacity of "The
Meadowlands" was 76,891 back during
its USFL days, but it was rare that the
Generals generated enough interest to
necessitate that many seats.
Today
the stadium continues to host the Giants
and Jets home games, but its days are
numbered. A new Meadowlands Stadium
project is in the works, with Giants
Stadium, The Meadowlands, or whatever you
wish to call the stadium, headed for a
date with a wrecking ball or implosion
sometime in early 2010.
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THE
MEADOWLANDS |
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East
Rutherford, New Jersey |
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