February 03, 2005
Plan B for Jets?
For the first time, the New York Jets appear to be looking at a fallback plan in case their Manhattan stadium plans fall through. The Newark Star-Ledger's Matthew Futterman reports that Jets execs will meet with New Jersey stadium officials next week, and the agenda will include dealing the Jets in on ongoing stadium talks with the Giants. A Jets spokesperson insisted that the talks are only meant to discuss pending litigation over the Jets' rent payments at Giants Stadium.
Meanwhile, Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez takes on the West Side rail yards sale price again today, noting that while the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has proposed deducting the value of unused development rights from the Jets' bill, standard real-estate practice is to charge developers the full land price, then let them sell any excess air rights themselves. "That's totally out of line with conventional development practice," Robert Yaro of the Regional Plan Association told Gonzalez. "[Sale of air rights] would be a risk assumed by the proponent of a project." If the air-rights deduction is counted as a subsidy, this would bring total taxpayer dollars for the Jets stadium to $1.25 billion - and if arbitrator George Mitchell rules in favor of the Jets in the land dispute, the public price tag could go as high as $1.45 billion, easily breaking the Big Owe's record as the biggest sports boondoggle in history.
