N.Y. Mayor-Elect Not Exactly Endorsing New MLB Ballparks

N.Y. Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg "won't champion publicly funded ballparks the way" current N.Y. Mayor Rudy Giuliani did, "but he's not likely to kill the idea, either," according to O'Keeffe & Cyphers of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Bloomberg said, "Clearly, we have a lot less money than we did before Sept. 11, and that's going to have an effect on our priorities. But this is the Big Apple and we need first-class sports facilities. We have other needs like housing and education that are also priorities, but this is not an either-or thing." But advocates of new ballparks said privately that Bloomberg's election "at least keeps stadium proposals on the back burner." One baseball exec said if Democratic candidate Mark Green defeated Bloomberg, there "would not be any shot. The door is open a little wider with Bloomberg, but it's obviously not a priority like it was with Giuliani." But Bloomberg "doesn't appear to share [Giuliani's] enthusiasm for subsidized fields." Urban Assembly President Richard Kahan: "If it was important to (Bloomberg), you would have heard about it in the campaign. ... He hasn't talked about ballparks." Meanwhile, the September 11 terrorist attacks "changed everything, and teams ... have been reluctant to even discuss stadium construction." Jets President Jay Cross: "The timing isn't right now." Yankees spokesperson Howard Rubinstein, on a new ballpark: "We still are not focusing on that. We're still concerned about focusing on Ground Zero and the rebuilding of the city." But former NY Gov. Mario Cuomo said N.Y. "will be back, and there will be a time when the teams can go back to government about stadium plans. ... Now is not the time" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/9).