Lousy Giants football is good for business — some of them, at least.
And so, when the Giants started their season losing their first three games, it came as no surprise to George Dunner that he was fielding calls for some action.
Dunner is the sales manager at High Exposure Aerial Advertising, a New Jersey-based company that rents planes towing messages — some of which flew over MetLife Stadium last season.
The news that broke this week, though, might have mitigated the angst brewing in Giants fans that would prompt some of them to shell out big bucks to fly a negative message.
“I did think when I saw Jaxson Dart was getting the start, I thought ‘Okay, maybe we won’t get as many,’ ’’ Dunner told the Post. “But I think people are just kind of fed up.”
You think? Dunner said there will be at least two planes flying over MetLife Stadium this Sunday morning prior to the Giants-Chargers game. Yes, Dart will make his NFL starting debut, head coach Brian Daboll confirmed on Wednesday, and that surely has the fan base excited about a possible new chapter for the franchise. But the frustration remains.
Dunner said he already has one plane booked that will tote a negative Giants message and he knows that another company, AirSign North, has booked a plane with the similar intention. There could be a third plane booked by Sunday but only two will be allowed to fly over the MetLife Stadium airspace at any one time, based on Teterboro Airport flight regulations.
The cost of renting these planes for between 20-30 minutes is about $2,000.
During last season’s 3-14 nightmare of a season, planes flew over MetLife Stadium in consecutive weeks. The first toted the message “MR MARA ENOUGH – PLZ FIX THIS DUMPSTER FIRE.’’ The second read ‘MR MARA ENOUGH – WE WON’T STOP UNTIL YOU FIRE EVERYONE.’’
The Post learned that Mara was unmoved by these flights.
Dunner said the one plane he has booked for Sunday also directs anger at John Mara, the Giants’ co-owner, but that the message is not insisting that Mara sell the team.
“Most of what I’m getting requests for are asking Mr. Mara to do something with this team,’’ Dunner said. “As a company I won’t fly anything that is overly negative. If it said ‘Fire Daboll’ we’re not flying it. Sell the team, I can tell you for sure we don’t have one saying that but we would fly that.’’
Dunner said his company has flown banners with positive messages over stadiums for the Eagles, Ravens, Notre Dame, Penn State and Rutgers. He said he has never received a request for a banner with a positive message to fly over MetLife Stadium in his 14 years on the job.
“Just like sports talk radio, the negative always seems to get a little bit more juice when people are willing to spend money,’’ Dunner said. “The anger sort of leads them to do that more than when they’re happy.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
