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The Meadowlands Sports Complex is a sports and entertainment facility owned and operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA). It is located in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It consists of three venues: Giants Stadium, the Meadowlands Racetrack, and the Continental Airlines Arena.
History
In the mid-1960s, civic leaders in New Jersey began calling for a sports complex in the New Jersey Meadowlands that would be able to lure a National Football League team from New York. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority Law was passed by the state legislature in 1971 and signed by then-Gov. William T. Cahill. The first chairman of the NJSEA was David A. "Sonny" Werblin, former president of the NFL's New York Jets. By year's end, Werblin had secured a deal for the New York Giants, who were then playing in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, to move to the Meadowlands. Ground was broken on Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack on November 19, 1972.
To accommodate the new facility, access roads were improved. The New Jersey Turnpike, which had been suffering the burden of increased traffic volumes near its northern terminus in Ridgefield Park, built a new alignment, the "western spur", with an exit, interchange 16W, leading directly to the sports complex as well as to New Jersey State Highway 3. Routes 3 and 20 (now 120) also received improvements.
On September 1, 1976, the Meadowlands Racetrack became the first complex venue to open, featuring harness racing. The track drew a capacity crowd of 42,133 for its initial date. Giants Stadium opened on October 10 of that year, as 76,042 fans watched the New York Giants lose to the Dallas Cowboys, 24-14.
By 1977, plans were in the works to expand the complex. A new arena was to be built on the opposite side of Route 20 from the stadium and racetrack, connected by vehicle ramps and a pedestrian bridge. Brendan Byrne Arena, named for the sitting governor, opened July 2, 1981, with the first of six sold-out shows by the rock musician Bruce Springsteen. The arena was renamed for its corporate sponsor, Continental Airlines, in early 1996.
Future
Several times, the prospect of bringing baseball to the Meadowlands Sports Complex has been discussed. However, a bond issue to build a baseball stadium was defeated by the voters in the 1990s.
In 2003, under the leadership of NJSEA chairman George Zoffinger, the authority agreed to a redevelopment of the Arena site. The proposal, named Xanadu, would expand the site into a shopping, office, and entertainment complex, preserving the Arena in a scaled-down form and adding a stadium for minor-league baseball. Environmental studies for the project are not yet complete.
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