Snow removal demo at MetLife Stadium for Super Bowl

Crews remove recent snow in the parking lot of MetLife Stadium, which is in New Jersey, not New York.

(John Munson/The Star-Ledger)

EAST RUTHERFORD — Terry Bradshaw, New Jersey has a GPS it wants to give you.

Along with an earful of Jersey attitude.

New Jersey's two U.S. Senators, Robert Menendez and Cory Booker and U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-9th Dist.) joined East Rutherford Mayor James Cassella across the street from MetLife Stadium today to lash out against sports commentators, players and the National Football League for consistently ignoring the fact that Super Bowl XLVIII will be played in New Jersey — not New York.

"The Big Apple may have Super Bowl Boulevard, but no one is going to score any touchdowns in Times Square," Menendez said. "Richard Sherman isn't going to be screaming in anyone's face in the financial district."

In the run-up to the Feb. 2 game, many in the media and the NFL have referred to the game being played in New York. MetLife stadium is in East Rutherford, a 13-mile drive from Manhattan.

At a news conference at the Meadowlands Hilton, Menendez held up a promotional program from the NFL which showed a whole lot of New York City, and not too much New Jersey.

"Apparently, the NFL needs a geography lesson," he said.

Promotional items for the Super Bowl focus heavily on New York City, giving short shrift to New Jersey where the game will actually be played.

Booker said he was "astounded" and "outraged" every time he heard a commentator refer to the big game as being played in New York.

"The thing is, this is New Jersey's day," Booker said. "The state has so much to be proud of."

One of those things is the first football game. In 1869, Princeton and Rutgers played what many consider the first official football game.

Another is Vince Lombardi, the legendary Green Bay Packers coach who got his first coaching job at the former St. Cecilia High School in Englewood.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league was marketing events in both states.

"It’s a New York/New Jersey event. That’s how we are promoting it," Aiello said. "There are Super Bowl-related events in both places."

But there's more than just attention at stake. State and local leaders expressed real concern over whether all the New York-centric hype was costing the state precious tourism dollars.

"Mayor Cassella has to deal with this every game," Pascrell said. "And he's not going to be reimbursed by the NFL."

Cassella, whose police, fire, and EMTs will be on call to deal with any game-related emergencies, said he's used to the NFL brush-off.

"I knew from the beginning this was going to be a New York event," he said. "What I didn't expect was for us to be totally ignored."

Cassella said the hotel tax the city is hoping to collect will be a welcome revenue stream but it is unlikely to offset the costs of public safety. Moreover, the insistence of out-of-state media and the NFL to make New York the center of all non-game activity is robbing his local businesses of much needed traffic, he said.

"We're hoping to at least offset our costs but as far as revenue into the municipality, we're not going to see anything," he said. "I just wish the NFL was a little more respectful of the state of New Jersey."

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