New Yankee Stadium?

I heard this on the radio today, and when I checked my email, Mr. Zog had sent me a link to the following report. I’m starting to think I’ve got my own personal NewsNow source. :)

From money.cnn.com

Yankees pitch new stadium proposal
Team reportedly would pay $700M cost of new baseball park located across street from Yankee Stadium.
July 30, 2004: 11:33 AM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Yankees have pitched a proposal to city officials to build a new baseball park across the street from Yankee Stadium at a cost of $700 million, officials and media reports said Friday.

A spokesman for Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner said the team would pay for the entire cost of the new park, and city and state government would pay for improving the infrastructure around the stadium in the borough of the Bronx.

A spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the city has been in talks with the Yankees about the possibility of building a new stadium.

“The city’s position has always been that any stadium has to be built with private money and the investment in infrastructure that the city could make would have to be paid back so that it doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime,” said Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for Bloomberg.

Crain’s New York business magazine and The New York Times reported that the cost of the project would be $700 million or $750 million. Steinbrenner’s spokesman, Howard Rubenstein, declined comment on the amount. The reports said an announcement would be made in the coming weeks.

“The Yankees have been in discussions with officials in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration and in the Bronx about this proposal,” Rubenstein said. “Details are being considered but we are not going to put a timetable on an announcement.”

The plan is cheaper than previous proposals and would fulfill a nearly two decades-long goal of owner Steinbrenner, who has frequently complained about the shortcomings of the aging stadium, which opened in 1923 and has hosted 33 World Series.

Parts of Yankee Stadium, known as the “House that Ruth Built” after baseball legend Babe Ruth, would be demolished and converted for other purposes, the reports said.

Crain’s New York said the team would seek to finance the new stadium by issuing tax-exempt Industrial Development Authority bonds. The bonds would be paid off with revenue from the new stadium.

The new ballpark would be slightly smaller than Yankee Stadium with 50,000 seats and 50 luxury boxes, according to the proposal.

The city and state were expected to spend about $100 million on a series of ball fields.

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