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Recently, there was a focus group with Jets fans. The New York Post got into this over the weekend. Interesting stuff …
The Jets hired Luntz Global to conduct a focus group with 22 former and current season-ticket holders.
Writer Brian Costello talked to one of the fans in attendance. Let’s get into some of what the fan said.
“Most of the people don’t like the new stadium and certainly are not satisfied with the direction the team is going,” said the attendee, who is a former season-ticket holder.
Fair point on the new stadium.
The Giants, Jets and their architects could have done a much better job designing the stadium.
It’s a concrete monstrosity with little character.
But I have an issue with the second part of the sentence – “certainly are not satisfied with the direction the team is going,”
What does that mean?
We are in the middle of the off-season.
John Idzik is starting his second year as GM.
He has a plan. Let’s see what happens this year. The second season will be better litmus test on how Idzik’s plan is working.
His first year on the job was a transition period – cleaning up the cap mess and letting a bunch of draft picks get some quality experience learning on the job.
Now, the grace period is over. Idzik needs to win this year.
This “certainly are not satisfied with the direction the team is going,” is very unfair, and probably driven by a media that has been very anti-Jet this off-season.
There have been constant claims about the Jets being interested in certain free agents they might not have been interested in, or didn’t want to overpay for, and when the Jets didn’t get them, they got blasted for coming up short.
One guy wrote that the Jets were going to go after WR Emmanuel Sanders in free agency. It never happened. They didn’t seem to have any interest.
The DeSean Jackson angle was a joke. They just got rid of problematic wide receiver Santonio Holmes who created a bad vibe, and they should go sign another one? How does that make any sense?
This “direction of the team” discontent is somewhat misguided at this stage of the game.
Some fans brought up Michael Vick.
“Somebody brought it up and said don’t touch that guy,” one attendee said. “We just spent 10 minutes talking about branding and the team’s image, and then they are going to sign that guy?”
“Do you think the Maras would bring people in like Vick?
“I was annoyed that you brought us in the focus group and 90 percent of the people told you that it wasn’t a good move, and then you did it anyway.”
Do you really think the team should have town hall meetings to decide who to sign and who to draft?
The stadium stuff is fair game, not question, but not player personnel.
Any team that makes personnel decisions based on fans and media polling is probably not going to be very successful.
And Neil Glat told Costello that the meeting wasn’t about player personnel.
“It was not designed to talk about personnel,” Glat said. “It’s about the stadium experience and what we can do year round.”
And I don’t get the sense that 90 percent of Jets fans are against the Vick signing? Do you?
I understand some fans are still disgusted with the dog fighting, and rightfully so, but he served close to two years in jail, has done a tone of community service and was re-instated by the NFL. So if the Jets want to sign him, they have that right.
The Jets have a lot of work to do to improve the stadium experience.
They need to lower the prices of tickets and concessions. They also need to improve some of the concessions. No doubt.
But for these meetings to have anything to do with personnel, would be a terrible mistake, and the Jets clearly realize that.
April 14, 2014
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