Mets Co-Owner Fred Wilpon has a "much more advanced" plan
than his partner Nelson Doubleday's desire to replace Shea
Stadium with a retractable dome ball park and construct an
adjacent futuristic entertainment complex, according to Richard
Sandomir in the N.Y. TIMES. In a conversation with Charles
Gargano, Chair of the NY Urban Development Corp., Wilpon said
Doubleday's Belmont Park plan has hardly been discussed and
stated further, "We're perfectly happy at Shea, and we don't want
to go anywhere" (Richard Sandomir, N.Y. TIMES, 6/22). Paul Moran
writes, "Doubleday's idea is worth exploring. The core of
Belmont must be preserved, but the fringes of its vast property
are expendable and the property is much too large for its current
use" (NEWSDAY, 6/22). Joe Gergen writes, "That the Mets are
preparing to abandon the facility is not exactly news. ... There
is a chance that by the start of the new century New York City
will be without a major-league baseball team" (NEWSDAY, 6/22).
Bob Glauber notes that the Jets' Meadowlands lease runs through
2008, making them unlikely to join the Mets in a new stadium in
"the foreseeable future" (NEWSDAY, 6/22). Denene Millner and
Jane Furse note in the N.Y. DAILY NEWS New York Mayor Rudy
Giuliani said he would "make certain" the Mets stay in New York
City (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/22).
