In 2005, Jay Cross, owner of the New York Jets football team, proposed that a new stadium be built for the team on New York City's West Side. Mayor Michael Bloomberg quickly gave the proposal his blessings, believing that the new stadium would not only be good for the community but could help with the Big Apple's bid to host the Olympics in 2012. However, before long the entire city seemed divided on the issue -- many on New York's city council felt the stadium would be expensive and impractical, and West Side residents didn't want the field in their neighborhood. Cablevision, the owners of nearby Madison Square Garden, were also vocally unhappy with the idea of a competing sporting arena being built so close by. Supporters of the stadium pointed out that the project would bring much-needed construction jobs to Manhattan, while opponents pointed out that a new housing project would do the same thing with more long-term benefits to the people who lived there. Some also noted that Jay Cross and Michael Bloomberg were old friends and extremely wealthy, putting their objectivity about the issue in question, and the matter of why the stadium would be built and for whose real benefit became the most hotly debated issue in New York. A Stadium Story: The Battle for New York's Last Frontier is a documentary which looks at the fierce debate over the West Side Stadium and gives all sides of the issue an opportunity to speak their mind -- and criticize everyone else. Appropriately, A Stadium Story received its world premier in New York City at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.
by Mark Deming
synopsis
