WITHOUT AMAZING FANFARE, METS STRIDE CLOSER TO NEW BALLPARK

     While talk of a new Yankee Stadium has dominated attention
recently, the Mets are "quietly inching ahead" with plans to
build a new 50,000-seat retractable domed facility in a parking
lot next to Shea Stadium, according to the N.Y. TIMES.  Final
details on the proposed $457M baseball-only facility are due
within the next six months, when a site study commissioned by the
city, state and club is completed.  Norimitsu Onishi notes Mets
stadium talk has been as "eventful as plans to add a room to a
house" because "low-profile" Co-Owner Fred Wilpon has not
threatened to move the team in order to get a "sweeter deal."
Stadium consultant Marc Ganis:  "Fred Wilpon is a real estate
developer who makes deals regularly, and often they're done and
completed quietly" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/21).