Yankees Claim Subpoena For Documents Would Cost Taxpayers $5M
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Yankees Reportedly Did Not Provide Promised
Information Regarding Stadium's Financing |
Yankees officials yesterday said that taxpayers would face more than $5M in document costs if the team is "forced to provide internal records sought by lawmakers looking into public financing" of the new Yankee Stadium, according to Michael Virtanen of the AP. New York Assembly members Richard Brodsky and James Brennan are looking into what Brodsky claims is nearly $4B in "financing and tax breaks over 30 years that was used to build the new ballpark." Yankees attorney George Carpinello, in a court hearing with the politicians in Albany, said that the estimated $5M is for the legal review of about 1.4 million "relevant e-mails and attachments and doesn't include reams of other documents." Carpinello said of Brodsky: "If he wants the documents, the standard rule is he pays for them. ... I hope the bill isn't put on the taxpayers." Brodsky claimed that the Yankees "didn't provide information they promised and he disputed that the team's document costs would fall to him or to the public." New York state Supreme Court Justice John Egan Jr. yesterday said that he will issue a decision on whether Brodsky "has the subpoena authority, which the Yankees challenged, whether they must comply, and the scope and cost of any required information, and whether it's overly burdensome" (AP, 6/1).
HIGH & TIGHT: In Albany, Robert Gavin notes the Yankees and the politicians yesterday "traded shots over everything from the stadium's true cost to ticket prices to an argument made rarely by the Yankees -- facing an unfair financial burden." Brodsky argued that the Yankees are spending $4B in "public money without providing affordable tickets, public benefit or sufficient information into the project." He contends that the case is "critical to the Legislature's 'ability to know things,'" adding that the Yankees previously "said they would disclose documents, calling it a case of 'broken promises and stonewalling.'" But Yankees President Randy Levine said, "I think he has a vendetta. It's obvious." Gavin notes the Yankees on May 27 "offered Brodsky a chance to settle" the document battle, but he rejected (Albany TIMES UNION, 6/2). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir notes Brodsky yesterday got "bruised during the acid, contemptuous cross-examination" by Carpinello. Brodsky "tried to defend his decision to pursue the Yankees as the right thing," but Carpinello "made him look opportunistic, or vengeful, by serving a subpoena on the Yankees and holding hearings." Sandomir notes the Yankees "represent a huge target, and Brodsky's focus on them consistently yields news" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/2).
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Yankees GM Does Not Think Home Run
Total Is Related To Ballpark Dimensions |
WALK IN THE PARK: Yankees GM Brian Cashman, when asked if the dimensions at the new Yankee Stadium are the "same as before, as some folks have disputed," said, "I've been told they're the same. I know they're supposed to be the same." But in N.Y., Tyler Kepner wrote the new ballpark is a "bandbox," and "take the number of home runs the old Yankee Stadium allowed and double it." But Cashman said of the increase in home runs, "I don't think it has anything to do with the dimensions" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/29). Meanwhile, also in N.Y., Oren Yaniv reported bathroom urinals are "one of the most sought-after items in the auction of old Yankee Stadium items," but they "aren't even for sale." About 3,000 participants have registered for a July auction that "will let fans own the dugout phone, the clubhouse carpet, even the foul poles." Some items have been on sale for two weeks, and "they're doing brisk business," including pieces of sod and dirt that "will probably sell out in a month" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/31).
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