New York Jets
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The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. They are members of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team plays their home games in East Rutherford, New Jersey at Giants Stadium, which is named after another NFL team that plays there, the New York Giants.
The club's headquarters and training facility are located at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York on Long Island. They are constructing a new training facility and corporate headquarters in Florham Park, New Jersey that is scheduled to open in 2009.[1]
The team began in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League under the name New York Titans. It was renamed after Sonny Werblin bought the team in 1963. The Jets later joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.
The Jets hold the distinction of being the first AFL team to defeat an NFL club in an AFL-NFL World Championship Game when they defeated the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.
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[edit] Franchise history
Originally known as the New York Titans, the team played home games at the Polo Grounds. But they had trouble attracting crowds despite fielding respectable teams that finished .500 (7–7) during their first two seasons. After a 5–9 season in 1962, the team's future was in doubt. It was saved from bankruptcy by a group headed by MCA head Sonny Werblin and Leon Hess, who bought the team from Harry Wismer on March 13, 1964. Hess eventually bought out his partners, and retained sole ownership until his death. His estate then sold the team to Johnson & Johnson heir Robert Wood Johnson IV in 2000.[2]
After Werblin and Hess took over, the team was renamed the New York Jets as they planned to relocate from the Polo Grounds to Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets, one year later. Shea Stadium lies so close to LaGuardia Airport that the sound of jets roaring overhead was a common sound heard during games played there. (The Jets thus became the second sports-related entity to use the "-ets" formulation. They were followed by the New York Nets basketball team, the New York Sets, World TeamTennis' first franchise in the market, and "New York Bets" used as a nickname for New York State's Off-Track Betting operation.) The colors of the team were also changed from blue and gold to kelly green and white, which also were the colors of Hess' gasoline stations.
Exactly one month after the sale of the team, the Jets hired Weeb Ewbank as head coach. Ewbank had won back-to-back NFL championships in 1958 and 1959 with the Baltimore Colts, and was one of the most respected coaches in the game.
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[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Jets pick Florham Park for new headquarters, NFL.com, retrieved January 14, 2007
- ^ Sandomir, Richard (January 12, 2000). "The Jets Fill One Opening: New Owner at $635 Million", The New York Times.
[edit] See also
- History of the New York Jets (Greater depth)
- List of American Football League players
