Politics

Giuliani Plays Ball With Yanks

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 15, 2002 / 9:37 AM EST / CBS

In his final days as mayor, Rudy Giuliani quietly added an escape clause to the city's lease with the New York Yankees that would enable the baseball team to break the lease if it concludes that the city is not going to build the Yankees a new stadium.

The team's only requirement would be to give the city 60 days notice. The Yankees' current lease requires the team to either leave Yankee Stadium after the lease expires at the end of the year, or commit to playing an additional five seasons.

Giuliani's action was part of a tentative $1.6 billion deal to build new stadiums for the Yankees and the New York Mets.

Giuliani, a lifelong Yankees fan and a friend of team owner George Steinbrunner, completed the stadium negotiations three days before he left office. The contract, which called for the city and the teams to split the cost of new stadiums, is non-binding.

Giuliani had pledged the contract contained "no escape clauses."

Giuliani's spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, did not return a telephone call seeking comment. The escape clause amendment was signed by two Giuliani administration officials, including then-Deputy Mayor Joseph Lhota.

City Comptroller William Thompson is urging Mayor Michael Bloomberg to reject the stadium deal.

In a letter to Bloomberg, Thompson objected to another amendment signed Dec. 28 in which the Giuliani administration agreed to pay both clubs $50 million over five years to cover planning costs for the new stadiums. Bloomberg has said he would abide by that provision even if no stadiums are built.

"I urge you to negotiate new lease amendments with the teams which protect the city's financial interests by capturing revenues that were due the city in the original lease," Thompson wrote to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg has said the city cannot currently afford to build the stadiums due to projected budget deficits of more than $4 billion during each of the next three years. His spokesman, Ed Skyler said, said the administration was studying the deal.

Yankees' spokesman Howard Rubenstein said that if the tentative deal presented problems, the Yankees would be willing to continue operating under the existing lease.