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A couple of weeks ago, Jets VP Matt Higgins announced he was leaving the organization. This came as a surprise. What might have happened?
So why would Higgins, just 37, and essentially running the business side of an NFL team, abruptly leave? These jobs aren’t easy to get, especially for a guy that young.
There are different theories as to why Higgins left.
Many people have assumed he left to join the Mitt Romney campaign.
Woody Johnson is a big player in the Romney camp, and Matt has been very involved as well, traveling quite a bit with the owner and the candidate.
And remember, Higgins came to the Jets after serving as former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani’s press secretary, so politics are in his blood.
A big reason he was hired by the Jets was to help them get a stadium on Manhattan’s west side, using his myriad NYC political connections.
Even though that didn’t work out, Johnson took a liking to Higgins and kept him around.
But while he might still help Romney out at times, we don’t think a job with the Romney campaign was the reason he left.
Another theory was he was leaving to start his own company, perhaps related to social media, a sector he loves and knows well.
While that could happen, we don’t think that possibility led to his departure, either.
This has been quite a build-up, so let’s get to it – here is what we’re hearing.
According to a league source, Higgins grew tired of the meddling of Ira Akselrad.
Here is a quick bio on Mr. Akselrad – He joined The Johnson Company, Inc. (the private investment company of the Johnson family), in 2006 as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. In 2008, he became President of the company.
The Johnson Company manages Woody’s money.
Obviously, the Jets are a big part of Woody’s money.
So we are hearing, Akselrad has quietly become very involved with the Jets business, and was making Higgins miserable.
“The Jets front office has become a little dysfunctional, and Mr. Akselrad is one of the reasons,” said the league source. “He is Woody’s guy and drove Higgins to leave.”
As the old cliché goes, “there are too many cooks in the kitchen.”
Akselrad was a successful lawyer with the powerful NYC law fire Proskauer Rose, prior to joining The Johnson Company. He actually helped Johnson negotiate his purchase of the Jets from the Hess Family in 1999, while with Proskauer Rose.
Surely some of the bad blood is related to unsold club seats and luxury boxes in the new stadium.
The Jets are going to be paying off their dept on the stadium and practice facility for many years to come, and the poor sales of club seats and luxury boxes isn’t helping financial matters.
Johnson and Akselrad have to be stressed out about this, and Higgins was probably feeling a lot of heat from them.
This isn’t to say the unsold inventory is Higgins fault (we’re in a pretty bad economy), but it’s fair to assume the man who manages Woody’s money isn’t happy about it, and this probably created a lot of tension.
Akselrad has been operating under the Jets radar for the last several year, but he’s a very powerful figure at One Jets Drive in Florham Park.
And we hear he’s a big reason why Higgins is now a former Jets executive.
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