It should come as no surprise that the New York Giants ownership has not completed an agreement with New Jersey state officials to build a new football facility. Following a deal struck in April, the Giants and New Jersey were supposed to have a contract in place by today for an 80,000-seat open-air stadium that would cost about $750 million. The Mara and Tisch families would pay for the stadium in exchange for land and tax breaks and incentives.

The Giants had hoped to open the new facility with the requisite luxury suites, club seats, in-stadium restaurants, and lots of extra concourse space for concession stands by the 2009 season. A nice stadium, but nothing more.

But the Giants ownership feels it is being dwarfed in the Meadowlands complex by the $1.3 billion Xanadu entertainment and retail project that is being built by the Mills Corporation and Mack-Cali Realty within the complex’s borders, and doesn’t want to compete with for parking spaces on game days. The Giants are suing the Xanadu developers in a bid to get the complex closed on game days. State officials say they will toss the April agreement unless a settlement can be reached between the Giants and the Xanadu developers.

The Mills Corporation is thinking big picture, and believes that football and its entertainment-retail business can coexist. The Giants are thinking simply about game day or game night, and that’s a problem.

Unfortunately, Wellington Mara, his son John, and Bob Tisch don’t know how to play “The Stadium Game.” Sports ownerships across the country have scared both big and small city mayors and state governments into giving them stadiums and arenas complete with all the venue revenue streams for little more than rent. The owners simply say “give us a new stadium or we are moving.”

While it might not be going anywhere, the Giants franchise is nevertheless suffering from a lack of vision. (The organization might have gotten a better deal from New Jersey if ownership had emphatically threatened to go with Johnson into a partnership on the West side stadium.)

Wellington Mara is presented as an NFL patriarch, but he’s never been a leader within the NFL hierarchy. Since taking over day-to-day operations in 1965 after his brother died, Mara has done two things correctly. He got a $10 million payoff from the Jets as part of the AFL-NFL merger in 1966 because Sonny Werblin’s AFL team invaded his football territory. Then, in 1972, he got New Jersey to build the Meadowlands sports stadium.

In 1979, after the NFL got in the middle of a family feud between Wellington Mara and his newphew Tim, and urged the co-owners to hire George Young to run the Giants. A decade later, Tim sold his half of the Giants to Robert Tisch.

Now, the NFL needs to step in again and remind Giants’ ownership of the rules of engagement in the Stadium Game by pressuring Mara and Tisch to co-exist with Mills and Cali Realty and build a new stadium that will be viable in today’s reality.

In 2005, there are different Stadium Game rules. Baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals are building a stadium along with an urban village complete with residential and office space. Oakland A’s owner Lewis Wolff wants land north of the Oakland Coliseum to not only build a stadium, but a residential building in the stadium’s outfield design. He also wants to put up hotels, more residential buildings, and office space.

In NFL circles, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Chargers owner Alex Spanos, and Vikings owner Zygmunt Wilf are all looking into the construction of urban villages to accompany their stadiums.

Where does the money come from? Well, local owners like George Steinbrenner and Mets owner Fred Wilpon understand that a team is only one part of a business plan. There are media and real estate considerations.

Steinbrenner sells the Yankees logo for huge profit and has a deal with Adidas – among other – that gives him $10 million annually. He will have someone else pay for the new Yankee Stadium through various naming rights and endorsement deals. The Boss also owns his media company. Wilpon doesn’t have the same logo prestige as Steinbrenner, but he can sell the stadium naming rights and get others pay to for his new stadium through endorsement deals. Wilpon also owns a media company.

Nets owner Bruce Ratner is planning to move the team to Brooklyn as part of an urban redevelopment that will include new residential units, commercial and retail space, and six acres of public space including an open-air, rooftop skating rink.

Islanders owner Charles Wang wants to renovate the Nassau Coliseum as part of his Lighthouse project. The 77-acre development would include a 50,000-square foot athletic complex, a five-star hotel, condominiums, and the Plaza, a public performance and recreation space complete with an amphitheater, outdoor cafes, shops, and restaurants.

Madison Square Garden owner Charles Dolan wants to build an arena on top of the old Post Office property across the street from his building, then knock down the Garden and replace it with commercial and residential space.

The New Jersey Devils’ new arena in Newark is supposed to be the centerpiece of urban development in the city.

The best thing the Giants have come up with is a Giants Hall of Fame and maybe a hotel near the stadium. The owners seem to be clinging to the old notion of putting up a shingle and announcing ‘Game Today.’

Should the Mara and Tisch families fail to come to an agreement with the Xanadu developers – which looks quite likely – New Jersey may turn to Jets owner Robert Wood Johnson IV and his proposed 90,000 seat stadium and NFL showplace plan complete with an urban village. The Giants then might have to negotiate with the Jets or look for a new stadium. One way or the other, without a signed deal, the Giants are looking like big losers in the Stadium Game.