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Former Giants wide receiver David Tyree - Source: Reuters -
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The New York Giants will get the first game and the New York Jets will also play in their shared new home on the opening weekend of the 2010 NFL season, the league said on Tuesday.
The Giants will play at Meadowlands Stadium on Monday, September 13, and the Jets will play in the first nationally televised Monday night game (Tuesday NZ time) of the season on September 14. Their opponents will be announced soon.
The New York Daily News reported that Jets owner Woody Johnson was outraged that his team had no representative present during a "secret" coin flip to determine who would host the first regular game in the US$1.6 billion stadium.
The Jets, who split the cost of the new stadium across the parking lot from the previous one in East Rutherford, New Jersey, played their home games in Giants Stadium the last 26 seasons but never felt it was a real home.
"After extensive discussions with both teams, we have come up with what we believe is a unique approach for celebrating the opening of the new Meadowlands Stadium," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement on Tuesday.
The commissioner said he decided the fairest resolution was to play both teams at home on the opening weekend and to flip a coin to determine which team played on Monday.
Goodell did the coin toss last Friday with his staff at the NFL office and notified both teams of the result, the league statement said.
The Jets will be the first team to play at the new stadium during the pre-season in August.
