The NFL has announced that the 70th NFL Draft will be held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. The draft has been held at Madison Square Garden since 1995, but politics and a finished contract led to the possibility that it might be moved out of New York for the first time since 1965.
Cablevision owns MSG and they are upset with the Jets proposed location for a new stadium. Cablevision offered over $600 million for the right to build on the proposed land on the west side of Manhattan, while the Jets offered just $100 million. Being that the current contract with the Garden to host the draft had also finished, the NFL took the opportunity to react. “Is the dispute over the Jets stadium an issue or a factor? Our comment is ‘Yes, it’s a factor,’” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the New York Times three weeks ago. “The contract we have with the Garden is up.”
An NFL Draft Committe was formed in connection with the new agreement. The committee will help the NFL in the ‘overall presentation’ of the activities surrounding the draft. “The Javits Convention Center is delighted to be hosting the 2005 NFL Draft,” said Javits Center President and Chief Executive Officer Gerald T. McQueen. “We look forward to an exciting weekend in April as the NFL teams choose their players of the future. We will do everything we can to make this year’s NFL Draft the very best in its 70-year history.”
Located on Manhattan’s west side, the “Marketplace for the World” hosts 140 shows annually, and is considered a world-class convention and trade show facility. Spanning five blocks, the center provides over 800,000 square feet of exhibit space.
In the past tickets for the draft have been free and on a first-come, first-serve basis but there is no word yet as to whether that will carry through to the convention center. THN will post an update on further details when the NFL releases them.
— BossHog
Edit: This blog was archived in May of 2016 from our original articles database.It was originally posted by Mark Solway