"It will showcase the state," he
predicted. What is it and who is he?
It was supposed to be the Super Bowl being played at the Meadowlands this weekend. But now it looks more like ChristieGate will steal the spot-light, after all, just because of little traffic jam probably engineered to accommodate the games' guests.
It's not what "he," Wayne Hasenbalg, who's been working on this project for two years as the head of the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority, had in mind.
After all, transportation on game day has been a top priority. Chris Christie told him "Don't Screw Up," so, Hasenbalg, the Governor's former deputy chief of staff for policy, has been doing his best
to make sure the trains run, the power flows, the roads around the stadium stay open and visitors leave with a good feeling about Jersey by the time it’s over.
Fans feeling good leaving New Jersey is going to be doubly important. Because, although the facility is supersized, parking their cars is going to be a bit of a problem.
The game plan for MetLife Stadium will be unlike any Super Bowl ever played. Not only will it be played in a cold weather venue in a stadium with no dome, but it is in a location far removed from the hotels, restaurants and the downtown vibe of past games....
"There will be NO tailgating," Hasenbalg said.
Typically, there are approximately 26,000 parking spaces available between the MetLife parking lots and Izod Center lots. But large areas of the Meadowlands Sports Complex parking lots will be claimed by covered security checkpoints, temporary structures, and television production space. For the Super Bowl, there will only be about 11,000 spaces available, including space for permitted buses and other vehicles. Satellite parking lots and shuttles will be used to move fans who come by car. Trains will carry thousands more from the station at Secaucus Junction. Fans will not be allowed to walk into the complex, even if they wanted to do so.
Wouldn't want them to be stuck in a traffic jam, would we. Which may well explain how come David Wildstein surfaced insisting that he deserves to be defended by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for the outfall of that "test" at the tolls to maximize what the Authority could expect to collect from people crossing the GWB. If he's going to be the goat, he's going to make a bit of a
stink.
"Don't screw it up." Christie should have been talking to himself. One wonders if he is going to be uninvited to showcase himself and greet the fans. There's a lot at stake.
The Giants and the Jets have a lot riding on this game, even if neither team is playing in it.
It was nearly two years after Super Bowl XLII, with the $1.6 billion privately financed New Meadowlands Stadium still unfinished and yet to gain a sponsor’s name on the top, when the two teams publicly announced their intentions in late 2009 to make a bid for the 2014 NFL championship game.
"It’s time for the biggest game in football to be played on the biggest stage in the world," Johnson, along with Giants treasurer Jonathan Tisch, Steve's brother and the bid committee’s chairmen, declared in a joint statement, citing the appeal and prestige of the New York City metropolitan region, coupled with the opening of their new home.
What an opportunity for the Governors!
"If you embrace the weather as we have, it doesn’t sound so bad. We’ve had bad weather at previous Super Bowls," Johnson said he argued. The message was drilled home repeatedly. "New York knows how to do this," he said he told other owners. "We’re experts at it."
Not like Atlanta, he could add, if he were inclined to be snooty. And then Atlanta could respond that, at least, their Mayor and Governor didn't blame some underling for the
traffic jam.
Nobody could have expected (but maybe should have) Christiegate. As the Limerick Guy suggests in the Dallas Morning News.
They flubbed their proposal a smidge,
With the Governor closin’ the bridge.
After tense intervention,
Commenced with attention
To the Governor closin’ the fridge.