from the New York Daily News

January 15, 2002

By LUKE CYPHERS and DAVE SALTONSTALL
Daily News Staff Writers

The Yankees could ditch the Bronx within 60 days after this year, and the Mets don't have to pay the city $83,000 in disputed fees under leases brokered by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani - and signed a few days before he left office.

That was the upshot of a letter released yesterday by city Controller William Thompson, who called on Mayor Bloomberg to renegotiate the apparently binding deals, some details of which had not been disclosed.

"I recognize the economic value of baseball in New York City," Thompson wrote to the new mayor. "However ... I urge you to negotiate new lease amendments with the teams which protect the city's financial interests."

The amendments, which Giuliani signed Dec. 28, were part of a highly publicized deal under which the teams would build $800 million stadiums, with city taxpayers picking up half the cost. But the new leases include the following, previously undisclosed, provisions:
* After Dec. 31, the Yankees can leave their Bronx home within 60 days if the team "reasonably determines ... that [the city] does not intend to proceed with the stadium project" as negotiated by Giuliani. * The Mets are released from having to pay the city $83,000 in fees from ad revenues and cable TV identified by the city controller in 1996 - and upheld by Giuliani's city Law Department. * As reported, the city will provide the Yankees and Mets with $25 million each over the next five years for planning and designing the stadiums. But the city will have "very little input" on how those funds are spent, Thompson said. * The teams extended their leases through 2005 but were granted more flexibility in canceling leases after that, with five one-year leases beginning after Dec. 31, 2005.

Representatives from each team pledged yesterday to continue working with the city in good faith - while making clear their desire for new stadiums.

"We have shown our good faith by prematurely extending our existing agreement through 2005," said Yankees President Randy Levine. "If for any reason the planning process for a new stadium does not go forward, the parties will be put back into the position we would be in at the end of 2002."

Dave Howard, senior vice president for the Mets, challenged Thompson's assertion that the team had evaded $83,000 in fees. The fees, calculated as a percentage of ad revenue, have long been in dispute, he said.

"It's left us paying Park Ave. rent for an old and outdated facility," Howard said of the fees. "We both believed this would be an appropriate solution."

Former Deputy Mayor Bob Harding defended the deals, which he said give the city a way to pay for new stadiums and more time to consider them.

"This provides the city with the necessary flexibility of one or two years to make a determination as to whether it wants to proceed," he said.

In a comment that seemed to throw cold water on the deals, Bloomberg press secretary Ed Skyler said, "The mayor has said that new athletic facilities should be built when the city can afford them."

But he declined to speculate on whether Bloomberg would try to renegotiate the apparently binding deals, which some believe may require City Council approval.