Cortland Standard .net

By HOLDEN B. SLATTERY
Staff Reporter
hslattery@cortlandstandard.net
CORTLAND — The New York Jets will host their preseason training camp at SUNY Cortland this summer, officials announced late this morning.
The first day of practice is scheduled for July 31, and the camp is expected to end between Aug. 20 and Aug, 22, SUNY Cortland President Erik Bitterbaum said during a news conference at the college, at which the camp location was announced.
The agreement is only for one year.
Jets owner Woody Johnson, Gov. David Paterson, State Sen. Jim Seward (R-Milford) and Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton (D-Ithaca) announced the decision this morning during the news conference in the Hall of Fame Room in the college’s Park Center near the athletic fields.
Paterson announced that the state has agreed to provide $410,000 in grants to SUNY Cortland to reduce the costs of training camp and make long-term improvements to the college. These facility upgrades will include air conditioning in dormitories and common areas, Paterson said.
“I think if we do a great job and they win and it makes sense to the owner, I think Woody Johnson will be back here in a heartbeat,” Bitterbaum said.
“It’s going to be a decision that’s made mutually between SUNY Cortland and the New York Jets,” Johnson said on the prospects for the team returning next year.
Bitterbaum said the team has estimated that it will pay $1.2 to $1.3 million to the college for upgrades and preparations for the training camp. He said the college cannot use its state funds to host the training camp. The college could use its endowment funds, he said, but he does not expect that it will be necessary.
Bitterbaum said the college and the team are also looking for private sponsors to cover some additional costs, but he did not provide details. He said the college should not have to use any of its endowment funds.
He said the college will have to buy 100 air conditioners, paint facilities and upgrade its athletic fields.
Bitterbaum said the Jets plan to hold high school clinics, and the Jets coaches will spend time working with SUNY Cortland’s coaches.
Johnson said that when he interviewed Rex Ryan, the team’s new head coach, Ryan spoke for three hours about team building and said he wanted to hold training camp in a remote location for training camp for this purpose.
“He thought it was the single best way to pull together team chemistry,” Johnson said.
Johnson declined to comment on which other facilities the team seriously considered.
The team visited Cornell University on March 20, the same day it visited Cortland.
For the past 40 years, the Jets held their training camp at Hofstra University on Long Island.
A total of 160 players, coaches and staff will attend the training camp, according to Bruce Speight, senior director of media relations for the Jets. During previous training camps at Hofstra, an average of 3,000 people attended each practice, Speight said prior to today’s announcement.
Jets officials visited the college’s 7-year-old SUNY Cortland Athletic Stadium on March 20 and toured the campus, looking at dining and residence hall facilities along with the stadium’s artificial turf and nearby grass fields.
SUNY Cortland’s sport management students can help to manage the camp’s technology requirements.
SUNY Cortland was considered when the New York Giants were looking for a training camp location in 1995, but the Giants chose SUNY’s University at Albany.