Hofstra Univ. wants NY Jets to hold their summer training camp in

Long Island Business News, Oct 7, 2005 by David Reich-Hale

Though the New York Jets plan to pick up and move their day-to- day operations from Hofstra to New Jersey, the university hopes the team will keep some ties to the school by holding its summer training camp in Hempstead.

Melissa Connolly, Hofstra's vice president of university relations, said the school approached the Jets about the idea after the National Football League team reached an agreement with the New York Giants and the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority to place an 80,000-seat jointly operated football stadium in East Rutherford.

About 150 Hempstead-based jobs will move to New Jersey. Included are ticket takers, the media relations staff and clubhouse employees.

The Jets have held training camp at Hofstra since 1968 and began construction on Weeb Ewbank Hall, their full-time facility on the campus, in 1974.

This is preliminary, but having the Jets here adds excitement and brings people and life to the campus, Connolly said. It has been a mutually beneficial relationship and if they have summer camp here, it would give them the chance to keep a connection to Long Island.

About 3,000 people came each day to Jets training camp this summer, according to a Jets spokesman.

Jets spokesman Ron Colangelo said the team has been hampered by playing games in New Jersey while practicing at Hofstra.

It's been disjointed, he said. From a logistical standpoint, it has been a difficult situation for all of us. We've had a great relationship with Long Island and with Hofstra University. But to move everything to New Jersey for game days, only to bring it back to Long Island for practice has made every game feel a little bit like a road game.

The Jets decided to stay in East Rutherford after a plan to build a football stadium on Manhattan's West Side fell apart during the summer. That stadium was also supposed to house the 2012 Olympics, but New York City lost out to London.

It is common for NFL teams to hold pre-season training camps at locations other than where they practice and play during the regular season. Many teams hold their pre-season camp away from their home stadium. For example, the Philadelphia Eagles practice at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., before driving about 70 miles south to Philadelphia for the regular season.

And the Kansas City Chiefs have held their training camp at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls for 15 years. Both of those universities say that the team gives them a boost.

A Wisconsin-River Falls study claims that having the Chiefs at their university brings a little more than $2 million to that region each year.

Jeff Tourial, director of sports information at Lehigh University, added that the Eagles clearly pump money to the area economy, though that's harder to quantify.

He added that having a professional organization at our facilities gives great exposure to us and the Lehigh Valley.

The Eagles do not pay a fee to use Lehigh's campus, which runs on a year-by-year basis.

To know that our equipment is up to NFL standards is worth it, Tourial said.