West Side Stadium Likely to Return in 2006

Subject: West Side Stadium Likely to Return in 2006
Date: 6/28/2005 5:32:44 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
From: kitchen@hellskitchen.net
Sent from the Internet (Details)



West Side Stadium Likely to Return in 2006

The stadium rests in peace.

Emphasis on "rests": sadly, it's likely to come back next year.

But no sooner than that: the mayor's team used a nasty poll to get him to drop the issue during his campaign. The mayor spoke of the stadium as "history" (though he now discusses the issue more clinically). If only it was completely dead. The West Side stadium was terrible for the bid, and terrible for such a prime section of the city's waterfront.

For over a decade, West Side stadiums have come and gone. Then come back again. In 1993, Governor Cuomo first suggested one for the Yankees (the idea came from a 1980s arena proposal). Then Mayor Giuliani took up the cause in 1994. NYC2008 brought in the Olympic rationale in 1996. After losing the Yankees, NYC2012 recruited the Jets and turned it into a football stadium in 2001. Mayor Bloomberg became head booster in 2003.

The stadium needs a series of events to break its way in 2005 to have another chance in 2006: the courts must continue to rule in their favor; the MTA must stay on board; Bloomberg must get reelected, etc. At the moment, the odds favor each.

There remains a great deal of energy for the project among construction unions. Real estate heavyweights, most council members, several editorial boards, and most of the city's elite, from the Guggenheim to Charlie Rose, have signed on.

The Olympic cudgel is likely to return. There's been an NYC2008 and NYC2012, count on an NYC2016. After Oceania, Europe, Asia then Europe again, the Americas are due for the next Games, and the U.S. nominee will start as the front-runner. While NYC2012 only had 10 votes in April, reports (from the Times to WFAN) have suggested the city is in second place. NYC2016 could seize upon a poor finish: 'We were in second place and closing until we were forced to Plan B. We must return to Plan A to win, and we'll get it done before the IOC's 2016 process starts in 2007' (which also happens to the last year of Pataki's term). Never mind that it was Plan A that dragged New York down in the first place.

The Jets would need to fade into the background until after the election. New Jersey wants a quick answer, but discussions are likely to never quite ... reach ... closure. The Jets have leverage over the Giants and Xanadu deals, so they can hold off, and apparently will.

The mayor would have to reverse course after going to Queens. Even though the current plan is clearly superior, he might argue he went with the Mets to save the 2012 bid after the state rejected Manhattan, and there wasn't time to do a city approval process before the IOC vote. A reversal has happened before: when Bloomberg first took office four years ago, he said no stadiums. He ended up proposing three of them.

Would the mayor try again?

After such a stinging defeat, he should think "good riddance" to something that hurt his � and the bid's � chances. Except he's compared the stadium to Central Park (on multiple occasions), Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Times Square, the Triborough Bridge, water tunnels, airports, and subways, concluding that the stadium is "one of the most important economic things for this city" and will create the "the premiere destination of 21st century New York."

After all the hyperbole, how could he not?