N.Y. officials are "scampering to sign a deal by the end of this month" for $300M in tax-free bonds that would allow the Yankees and EPL Manchester City Owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan to "tear down one of the bankrupt Yankee Stadium garages and build" an MLS stadium for NYC FC, according to sources cited by Juan Gonzalez of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. The sources said that a draft of the agreement circulating among Economic Development Corp. staff would "require Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio to decide within 30 days of his inauguration whether to approve the deal" for the expansion MLS club, which is set to begin play in '15. The team under the proposal would "pay virtually no rent for 38 years for the largely city-owned land on which the proposed 28,000-seat soccer venue would sit." The sources said that NYC FC also would be "permitted to divert the property taxes it would normally owe the city to pay off its bonds," which is similar to the deal the Yankees and Mets "got for their new stadiums" in '05. The team would be "exempt from sales tax or mortgage taxes." The stadium would pay an estimated $25M to bondholders of the bankrupt Bronx Parking Development firm "for its E. 153rd St. garage, which sits on city-owned land" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/11). In N.Y., Josh Kosman reports current Mayor Michael Bloomberg has "blessed the pact." However, sources said that the team "will not move forward" without de Blasio's blessing (N.Y. POST, 12/11).
