from the New York Daily News
Saturday, December 29, 2001
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Daily News City Hall Bureau Chief
Just 79 hours before he leaves office, Mayor Giuliani announced deals yesterday with the Mets and Yankees to construct new domed stadiums, but it's up to Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg to decide whether the ballparks will be built.
At a City Hall news conference attended by club officials, including Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, the teams rolled out architectural mockups of the glass and steel, retractable-domed stadiums.
The famous arches of Yankee Stadium would be captured in some of the facade of the team's new ballpark, but most of it would be a futuristic-looking expanse of steel and glass.
The deals, if approved by Bloomberg, would herald the end of an era: The ballparks would be built near the existing Shea and Yankee stadiums, which then would be demolished.
Giuliani, who for years has sought to conclude deals with the teams, depicted the nonbinding 35-year pacts as a windfall for the city, a lure for the 2012 Olympics and a cornerstone for a wounded economy.
"You can't underestimate the value of baseball," the mayor said, referring to the Yankees' run through the playoffs after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "This is a very good deal."
The stadiums' estimated cost of $800 million each would be shared equally by the teams and taxpayers. The city would float $1.6 billion in tax-exempt bonds for construction money, and the city and the teams would split the $46 million annual debt service for each stadium. After 20 years, the teams' payments on the debt service would rise by $200,000 a year.
Each team agreed to provide 4% of gate receipts to the city. They also would provide the city with 35% of net revenues, excluding parking fees, for nonbaseball events held at the stadiums.
The clubs would cover maintenance costs, which the city now pays for.
Steinbrenner, when asked about his decision to demolish the House That Ruth Built, the most legendary field in sports, said the era of Yankee greats like Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle inevitably turns a corner.
The Boss - who long has threatened to take the Bombers out of New York - did not disclose the number of luxury boxes in the new stadium but said it would have more bathrooms and wider aisles.
"The city moves ahead," he said. "Hopefully, the new administration will believe in the value of these two stadiums for New York."
Mets owner Fred Wilpon said in a statement, "The public-private partnership we have crafted would produce significant long-term benefits to the city ... and the Mets."
Bloomberg did not attend the news conference. He comes into office burdened with a limping economy, a budget gap pegged at nearly $4 billion for the next fiscal year and a record long-term debt of $40 billion.
The mayor-elect has said he recognizes the need for first-class sports and entertainment venues but that the decision to finance stadiums must be balanced against the needs of schools and other programs.
Giuliani said Bloomberg appeared to agree with the plan at a private meeting Thursday. But the mayor-elect gave no such assurance yesterday.
"The mayor has said quite clearly ... he will not obligate me," Bloomberg said.
"He will leave it to the next administration to look at in the context of what this city can afford and whether the next administration agrees with him," Bloomberg added.
The state has pledged to make infrastructure improvements worth millions of dollars but will not contribute to the construction costs.
The plan for a 45,000-seat Mets stadium has been making its way through city environmental reviews. The stadium, to be built adjacent to Shea, is designed to evoke Ebbets Field, the one-time Brooklyn home of the Dodgers. It could be completed by 2006.
The Yankees plan is more complicated because the 47,000-seat field would be constructed in Macombs Dam Park. Giuliani said the city would make parkland available to replace the lost green space and estimated the field could be ready by 2007.
The interior of the Bronx ballpark would include the facade from the existing building, and the dimensions of the field would be identical to those of Yankee Stadium. Soil from the outfield would be moved to the new stadium.
Critics have questioned plans to pump millions of taxpayer dollars into private teams while the city struggles to recover from the economic aftershocks of Sept. 11. And academic studies have shown that new stadiums do little to boost local economies.
"It is just very surprising that New York would go to the length it has to accommodate these two teams at this time," said Robert Baade, a sports stadium expert who teaches economics at Lake Forest College in Illinois.
Baade noted that San Francisco's PacBell Park was completed last year at a cost of $338 million - with 4% of funds coming from the public sector. Taxpayers also paid 35% of the $328 million in construction costs at the new ballpark in Detroit. However, in most cities, public money covers 60% to 70% of the cost.
