Why Jets may not become yearly hosts for Black Friday game

The New York Jets may want to pump the figurative brakes as it pertains to the possibility of hosting the NFL's Black Friday game on an annual basis.

NFL reporter Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post pointed out Thursday that MetLife Stadium, home of the Jets, happens to be a stone's throw away from "the second-largest mall in the United States" -- American Dream. 

"American Dream opened its doors at 7 a.m. on Black Friday last year," Dunleavy explained. This year's Black Friday game between the Jets and Miami Dolphins is scheduled to get underway at 3:00 p.m. local time on Nov. 24. 

"The mall began a $150,000 season of giveaways last year by distributing gift cards and tickets to amusement park attractions to entice crowds to what was its fourth Black Friday but the first without the limitations created by construction delays or the COVID-19 pandemic," Dunleavy continued. 

NFL vice president of broadcast planning Mike North confirmed earlier this week the Jets were among the teams that "raised their hands" to host Black Friday contests each year, similar to how the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys always play home games on Thanksgiving afternoons. However, North conveniently failed to mention the headaches fans experience traveling to and from MetLife Stadium for Jets and New York Giants matchups on typical Sundays. 

Black Friday traffic in New Jersey is anything but typical, and individuals such as Larry Higgs of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com have described how attempting to leave MetLife Stadium following a massive event can become a nightmare for drivers and those using NJ Transit.

"Any talk of the Jets as regular hosts of a game on the biggest shopping day of the year needs to be put on ice until it is proven whether the Meadowlands and its surrounding roadways can handle the traffic and parking demands of two giants such as the NFL and Black Friday colliding," Dunleavy wrote. 

Amazon is offering this year's Black Friday game on Prime Video for free and thus, wanted to feature the country's largest retail market that afternoon. Perfectly understandable as a one-off, but Paul Schwartz of the New York Post once noted how a single occurrence resulted in Giants co-owner John Mara requesting that his team never play home games on the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Jets owner Woody Johnson may quickly change his mind about hosting future Black Friday games depending on what season-ticket holders say on the Monday following that holiday weekend.