Well, I kind of lied. Leaked is a much better word than official.
MetLife has finalized a deal for naming rights to our new(er) stadium, per Tom Canavan and the AP:
A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Friday that insurance giant MetLife has finalized a deal to buy the naming rights for the $1.6 billion stadium that will be the site of the 2014 Super Bowl.
This can hopefully end speculation on which team gets the bragging/naming rights to our field. I think a lot of the "little brother" label we had picked up was due to the old Meadowlands being commonly referred to as Giants stadium. I'm hoping our recent success and the new corporate stadium sponsor can help us emerge from that big blue shadow, although I don't personally consider us a little brother team. There's not even a .04 billion difference between the market of both teams, and arguably, many more people are excited about Rex Ryan's Jets than Tom Coughlin's Giants.
The New York Post was the first to report the deal was finalized on Friday, saying it as worth $20 million annually for 20 years. But the person who confirmed the deal to The AP said those numbers were not totally accurate.
So there you have it. Not Jets' stadium. Not Giants' stadium. Not New Meadowlands. We play at MetLife stadium or whatever they are gonna call it.
MetLife is one of the core sponsors of the Jets, so there will likely be a new Jets' sponsor this fall as well.
What do you think of the business move? Will this impact what you call our playground?