Yankees seek more public financing for new stadium

[Lil Bit Special]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-spystad0612,0,315331.story

New York City officials confirmed Wednesday that the New York Yankees may be interested in seeking more public financing to build their new stadium, pending a regulation change by the IRS.

The team stressed, however, that its bid to change the Internal Revenue Service regulation wasn't going to affect the completion of the new Bronx stadium.

"The effort on the completion bonds will not affect the completion of the stadium," team president Randy Levine said. "We are working under the strong leadership of the city and state along with other projects to seek relief from the IRS regulation."

Janel Patterson, of the New York City Economic Development Corp., which is working with the Yankees, said the project isn't threatened. But she said the city is working to relieve an IRS regulation that prohibits more public debt to be incurred for the stadium. State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, of Westchester, said that IRS change also is being sought to help stadium and arena projects for the New York Mets and New Jersey Nets.

The $1.3 billion Yankees stadium is scheduled to open next year across from the historic current stadium, which is still being used.

"The Yankees have expressed an interest in receiving additional financing for their project," Patterson said Wednesday. "Currently, they are not permitted to do so on a tax-exempt basis pursuant to IRS regulation."

She said the city Industrial Development Agency, which can use public financing to help companies expand, would consider increased funding, but no decision has been made.

"The city is working with the state in Washington to seek relief from the applicable IRS regulation, as this regulation has taken away a tool that would be useful for a number of important New York economic development projects, not just Yankee Stadium," she said.

Brodsky said Seth Pinsky, president of the city's Economic Development Corp., "told me that the Yankees have said they may not complete the stadium if this issue is not resolved."

Patterson, in a statement issued later Wednesday, said Pinsky said the Yankees have assured the city that they intend to complete the project on time.

Brodsky, chairman of the state Assembly's committee governing public authorities and their borrowing, criticized the closed-door dealing for millions of dollars to benefit the Yankees in the face of public transit and other needs that aren't being funded fully.

[Lil Bit Special]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/06/12/2008-06-12_new_york_state_assembly_questions_yankee.html

State lawmakers and fiscal watchdog groups cried foul Thursday over the Yankees' bid for another $350 million in public financing for their new stadium, saying it could soak up funds needed for parks and transportation.

Three state Assembly members from New York City called for a public hearing to examine a proposal to provide public support for one the richest franchises in sports.

"These sports teams are private companies that appear addicted to keeping their hands in the government cookie jar," said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn.

Jeffries and Assemblymen Ruben Diaz Jr. and Jose Peralta asked for a hearing on the use of public funds for the Yankees that they said were negotiated "in secret and without the control of elected officials" while other community projects are desperate for funding.

About $941 million in tax-exempt public bonds have already been issued for the $1.3 billion stadium that the Yankees are building across the street from their current ballpark in the Bronx.

Under current Internal Revenue Service regulations, the Yankees cannot ask for more public debt to be incurred for the stadium.

But city officials have been lobbying Washington for a change in IRS regulations that would allow the Yankees to get the $350 million in additional tax-exempt bonds they say they need. Such a change could help other big stadium projects