The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. They are members of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team plays their home games in East Rutherford, New Jersey at Giants Stadium.
The club's headquarters and training facility are located at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York on Long Island. They are constructing a new training facility and corporate headquarters in Florham Park, New Jersey.
The Jets hold the distinction of being the first AFL team to defeat an NFL club in an AFL-NFL World Championship Game when they defeated the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.
Originally known as the New York Titans, the team played home games at the Polo Grounds. But they had trouble attracting crowds despite fielding respectable teams that finished .500 (7–7) during their first two seasons. After a 5–9 season in 1962, the team's future was in doubt. It was saved from bankruptcy by a group headed by MCA head Sonny Werblin and Leon Hess, who bought the team from Harry Wismer on March 13, 1964.
After Werblin and Hess took over, the team was renamed the New York Jets as they planned to relocate from the Polo Grounds to the New York Mets' Shea Stadium one year later. Shea Stadium lies so close to LaGuardia Airport that the sound of jets roaring overhead was a common sound heard during games played there. The team's colors were also changed from blue and gold to kelly green and white, which also were the colors of Hess' gasoline stations.
Exactly one month after the sale of the team, the Jets hired Weeb Ewbank as head coach. Ewbank had won back-to-back NFL championships in 1958 and 1959 with the Baltimore Colts, and was one of the most respected coaches in the game.
Hess eventually bought out his partners, and retained sole ownership until his death. His estate sold the team to Johnson & Johnson heir Robert Wood Johnson IV in 2000.
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