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New York Jets Engage Ad Agency Fly Communications to Help Market New Jets Stadium Scheduled to Open in August 2010

NEW YORK-(Business Wire)-September 3, 2008 - New York Jets fans have been among the most loyal in all of professional sports following their team from one field to another to another. But starting in 2010, they will move into the New Jets Stadium where finally, after 50 years, they will be the home team.

The Jets have tapped Manhattan agency Fly Communications to develop the messaging, direct mail, collateral, and interactive micro-website to showcase the new stadium, which can be found at www.newjetsstadium.com

The initial theme and tagline was revealed this week at the Meadowlands. The line, “Finally, we’re the home team,” addresses the fact that the team has essentially been a tenant—a visitor—in every venue they’ve ever played in, starting with their first game as the New York Titans in the Polo Grounds in 1960.

The new stadium is being built right next door to Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. The Jets will not be renters or visitors, but owners. “The Jets have a unique story to tell, one that speaks to the decades-long yearning of their fans to finally be a true home team in their own stadium,” says Dave Warren, Co-Founder of Fly. “That’s the emotion we are tapping into with the new stadium website and through our messaging.”

As a way to meet their financial commitments to the league and to its lenders, the Jets have employed the use of PSLs, or personal seat licenses. These licenses have already been used by 15 other NFL teams. But not all Jets seats will be covered by PSLs. The Jets are setting aside a third of the new stadium for standard season ticket packages. In addition, PSLs for two thousand of the very best seats in the Coaches Club, an exclusive section of luxury seats behind the Jets bench, will be auctioned off later on in the Fall, providing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for interested fans to access premier season tickets.

“They’re setting aside 27 thousand seats for standard season tickets,” says Larry Rowen, Fly’s other co-founder. “It’s an acknowledgement that some Jets fans will want to keep things just as they are, and some will be interested in the enhanced experience that a PSL will provide. “Either way, we want to assure every Jets fan through our messaging that there will be something just for them in the new stadium.”

Larry Rowen and Dave Warren have had extensive backgrounds in sports marketing. They met at Sportscapsule, an online venture affiliated with ESPN.com, in the late 90’s. Before that, they worked for Sports Illustrated and ABC Sports, respectively. Rowen, a life-long direct marketer, and Warren, a Madison Avenue branding expert, formed Fly to bridge a gap that many agencies have yet to reconcile—combining both direct marketing and branding in the same effort.

“They understood our team,” says Matt Higgins, New York Jets Senior Vice President of Business Operations. “They were true Jets fans from way back and they recognized the New Jets Stadium as the biggest upgrade in NFL history.”

“The fact that they can remember freezing in late winter games when the Jets played at Shea Stadium – a stadium built for summer baseball – certainly didn’t hurt,” adds Vicky Vitarelli, Jets Director of Marketing.

The new stadium website built by Fly can be found at www.newjetsstadium.com.

About Fly Communications

Formerly RowenWarren, Fly Communications (www.flycommunications.com), based in Manhattan with a satellite office in Los Angeles, is a boutique agency founded in 2001. It has 50 employees and clients in a variety of industries, ranging from media and spirits to financial services, retail, and sports.

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