Owner of Jets Denies ‘New York Conspiracy’ Against USFL

New York Jets owner Leon Hess denied Thursday earlier testimony by Raider owner Al Davis, who that said Hess did not want a new team in the New York area.

Hess, who serves as a board member of ABC and has been board chairman of the Jets, also denied during the United States Football League’s $1.69-billion antitrust suit against the National Football League in New York that he had any conflict of interest in his two roles.

“I did not say it, and it’s not true,” Hess said about Davis’ remarks that the NFL didn’t want another team in the New York area, something the USFL has referred to as “the New York conspiracy.”

In its suit, the USFL alleges that the NFL conspired to keep New York without another team, boost player salaries and keep the newer league off television.

Davis testified earlier in the trial and told of conversations during the 1983 NFL winter meetings in which Hess complained of the poor conditions at Shea Stadium in Queens and said he wanted to move to the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., where the Jets eventually went, starting with the 1984 season.

Davis recalled telling Hess that such a move would leave New York open for another team, but Hess assured him that would not happen, Hess testified.

Hess was strongly criticized by USFL attorney Harvey Myerson for his roles with both the Jets and ABC.

Hess explained that he had abstained from voting on network contracts with the NFL and said he didn’t believe he attended the March 22, 1982, meeting when the television network approved a $2.1-billion contract with the older league. Hess also said that in matters regarding NFL TV contracts, he would always abstain from voting.

Hess told NFL attorney Robert Fiske that at a June 1982 meeting, he did vote on ABC’s contract with the USFL and “heartily voted in favor of it.”