Cory Booker: New Jersey Super Bowl Slight 'Disrespectful'
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Add Sen. Cory Booker to the growing list of New Jersey politicians who feels the state is getting slighted during this week's Super Bowl hoopla.
Booker told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond that it is "disrespectful" when New Jerseyans turn on their TVs and hear announcers saying Super Bowl XLVIII is being played in New York.
"Think about this in any place," the Democratic junior senator said. "If there was a Super Bowl in Texas, and everybody kept saying it was in Arkansas. If there was a Super Bowl in California and everybody kept saying the Super Bowl was in Arizona.
Cory Booker: New Jersey Super Bowl Slight 'Disrespectful'
"We're going to flex our pride, and I think by the end of the Super Bowl people will know that truly New Jersey is boss," he added.
Booker is far from the first to voice his frustration about the matter.
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At a NY/NJ Host Committee news conference Monday, Gov. Chris Christie said he wanted to "remind his friends in New York" that the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks arrived Sunday at Newark Liberty International Airport and are staying and playing in New Jersey.
"They did not land at LaGuardia Airport. No, they didn't," Christie said. "God knows, they did not land at JFK."
Some New Jersey lawmakers have complained that the NFL has not endorsed any Super Bowl-related events in the state, leaving the Garden State out of the spotlight and in the cold.
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Secaucus was forced to dub its pre-game bash "Winter Blast" because the NFL hasn't recognized its event, and therefore it can't use the official name "Super Bowl." East Rutherford, the home of MetLife Stadium, is throwing a party called the "The Meadowlands Tailgate Event."
"It's just not a feeling of -- it's almost like not wanting to be here," Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli told CBS 2.
Sen. Robert Menendez last week denounced the design for the official Super Bowl program and tickets, which features the New York City skyline with New Jersey just a small speck in the distance.
"Apparently, the NFL needs a geography lesson," the Democrat said at a news conference.
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