L E G A L LY W E I R D By: Lisa J. Hall Hodges Doughty & Carson
START SPREADING THE NEWS: JETS AND GIANTS ACTUALLY PLAY IN NEW JERSEY Are you sitting down? Perhaps watching football? I do hope you are sitting down, because I have to tell you something that is likely going to cause severe emotional distress if you are or were a New Yorker. The New York Giants and New York Jets do not engage in sporting events in the State of New York. The stadium they share, MetLife Stadium, is located in a neighboring state called “New Jersey.” I know what you are thinking. Most Giants and Jets fans live in New York, and if they want to attend a game live and in person, it is a four hour roundtrip endeavor, involving public transportation or fuel, tolls and parking costs. Forget about taking an Uber after the game, unless you want to pay $125 or more. Compare this with transportation to see the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx or the Knicks and Rangers at Madison Square Garden, which are easy trips by subway or bus and much faster than traveling to East Rutherford, New Jersey. The laborious nature of the commute to these games is a direct cause of the fact that the MetLife Stadium routinely has a large number of empty seats during Jets and Giants games. The Jets and Giants make money at the expense of their fans, who pay extra to travel to New Jersey, not to mention the “additional carbon footprint imposed on the environment.” NFL fans enjoy a “sense of belonging and affiliation” known as “sports identification.” Factors that motivate people to become sports fans include eustress (positive response to stress), self-esteem, escape, entertainment, aesthetic, group affiliation and family needs. Unfortunately, once New Yorkers learn that the Jets and Giants play in New Jersey, they lose their connection with these teams and sadly, only
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maintain minimal sports identification with the teams. In the last ten years, the Jets record has been 51-93, and the Giants has been 57-87. Obviously, their fans are “insulted, ridiculed, harassed, tormented, and bullied” by fellow NFL fans of superior teams, due to the teams’ affiliation with New York as opposed to their actual home of New Jersey. This has caused depression, sadness, and anxiety, but most devastatingly, it has caused limited and damaged eustress. (I had never heard of “eustress” before today, but now that I know what it is and that some people have limited amounts of it, I will never get over it). It is clear that if the Giants and Jets return to New York, their fans will finally have the healthy social, psychological and physical benefits of sports identification of their home NFL teams restored. This is so exciting to imagine. I know what you are thinking: “How can I maximize my eustress and the eustress of everyone around me?” Maybe you wish to restore your own sports identification. Maybe you want to reduce the obvious carbon footprint these teams have created by virtue of their location in New Jersey. Maybe you just want to be fairly compensated for your share of the $4 billion in damages the Jets and Giants have caused their fans. I actually have good news! A class action lawsuit has already been filed to accomplish these goals and more! Abdiell Suero v. NFL, New York Football Giants, Inc., New York Jets, LLC, and MetLife Stadium Company, LLC, United States District Court, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:22-cv-31. Feel free to reach out to Mr. Suero’s attorney for more details about how you can join this class and as a result, be the change you wish to see in New York.
DICTA
March 2022
