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There were so many ways out of it, and Big Blue did the wise thing, acknowledging that moving Saturday’s opening kickoff at newly christened MetLife Stadium to 2 in the afternoon from 7 p.m. wasn’t enough.
Giants President and CEO John Mara said he consulted his Jets counterpart, Woody Johnson, as well as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell — and one other influential person.
No one has revealed what the governor said, but Mara said team officials “have determined the best course of action for the safety and well being of all is to move the game to Monday night.”
Nice work, Boss.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Massive power outages and flooding will likely continue past midnight tonight, as New York runoff swells the already overflowing Hackensack River, Pascack Brook and area reservoirs, making an already bad situation much worse, Bergen County leaders told mayors and other government officials during a 15-minute emergency conference call this afternoon. READ MORE ….
The forecasts are that the worst of Hurricane Irene hits us later. But no one would want people leaving the game at 4 or so, needing at least an hour to get out of the parking lot and falling into streams of highway traffic that could extend their journeys home past nightfall.
What’s more, we’re going to need police of all stripes in New Jersey at the ready for real emergencies. No good reason to tie them up.
The security issue is heightened by the decision to bus displaced Jersey Shore residents to the Izod Center. We’re going to need police there.
Christie will have shut down the Garden State Parkway from Exit 98 going south by then, and pretty much all NJ Transit trains will have ground to a halt.
If the NFL believes the players need the work, the answer could have been as simple as closing the stadium, having the teams play at 1 p.m. to an empty house and televising the game. At some point, both sides could have even agreed to end the match early.
The Giants must have business interruption insurance. Refunds could have been made or tickets distributed for a pre-season game next season.
The NFL went down a somewhat similar road last year when the roof of the Vikings stadium collapses in Minnesota before the Giants were to play there last season. The game was bumped to an early night-time affair in Detroit, with free admission.
There’s at least one Giants fan who respects the lesson everyone learned there, as well as tonight’s decision.
Nice audible, Big Guy.
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