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Yankee Stadium Subsidy News

Read GJNY's two exposés on the stadium project:

 

July 2007: Insider Baseball--an exposé on the ill-conceived Yankee Stadium Project.

 

February 2006: Loot, Loot, Loot for the Home Team: How the Proposal to Subsidize a New Yankee Stadium Would Leave Residents and Taxpayers Behind.

Read Executive Summary

Read Press Release

Read Updated Subsidy Inventory (April 25, 2006)

NOTE: In response to comments from the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to reporters, GJNY is providing the following response:

* Rent Subsidy: Currently, the Yankees pay rent to the city and are permitted to deduct stadium maintenance costs.  Under the new lease agreement, the Yankees would no longer pay rent and the city would no longer be responsible for maintenance costs.  GJNY argued that this may amount to a net loss of revenue for this city.  EDC officials responded:

"...the old stadium cost the City over $30 million to maintain in the past five years alone."

                                                --EDC Spokeswoman Janel Patterson in the New York Sun

 

GJNY: These maintenance charges have not exceeded the Yankees rent payments. Between 2000 and 2004, the Yankees paid the city $26.43 million in rent after deducting maintenance costs.

 

"These [maintenance] costs were projected to run as high as $350 million over 30 years at the current stadium if it were not replaced."

                                                --team sources and the EDC, in the Daily News online

 

GJNY: The IDA has since stated that the net savings of not covering maintenance/collecting rent would be $41.2 million and the Independent Budget Office estimates this savings to be about $15 million.

 

Timeline

 

Both the land-use plan and the public financing for the Yankee Stadium project have been approved.

 

The City Council approved the use of payments in-lieu-of taxes (PILOTs) collected from the Yankees to pay back the tax-exempt bonds issued for the stadium.  PILOTs are normally a way to reimburse the city for revenue lost due to a property tax exemption.  In the case of the new Yankee Stadium, these PILOTs would instead be used to service the debt on the tax-exempt bonds issued for the project in order to satisfy a federal requirement that these bonds be repaid with city tax revenue.

 

The Internal Revenue Service issued a private letter ruling which determined that PILOTs qualify as "Generally Applicable Taxes," despite the fact that these funds are not collected at a uniform rate and would not be remitted to the city treasury.  It is also worth noting that the Bloomberg administration argued before the City Council Finance Committee in Spring of 2005 that PILOT payments are not "the equivalent of tax money."

 

8/10/2006--Manhattan State Supreme Court Judge Herman Kahn heard arguments from representatives of the New York Yankees and Save Our Parks, a community group suing the Yankees and the City to stop the project.  The lawyers for the Yankees argued that a delay in stadium construction would result in a$33 million in rent and $80 million in additional construction costs.  These claims were scrutinized in a recent article appearing in Metro.

 

4/26/2006--The City Council approved the financing plan for the new stadium. See how each Council Member voted.

 

4/2006 -- A "Participation and Labor Force Mitigation and Community Benefits Program Related to the Construction of the New Yankee Stadium" was signed by Yankee President Randy Levine, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, and three members of the City Council's Bronx delegation. Click here to view the deal.

 

4/25/2006-- GJNY calls on Council Member David Weprin to postpone Wednesday's City Council Finance Committee vote on the stadium financing structure until it receives approval from the Internal Revenue Service.  Click here to read the letter.

 

4/20/2006--The New York City Independent Budget Office released an update to its analysis of the fiscal implications of the Yankee Stadium Project. Click here to read the update.

 

4/19/2006--Members of the region's environmental, planning, and fiscal policy community request that the MTA amend its Capital Plan to ensure that a new Yankee Stadium Metro North station be built, but not at the expense of other transit projects.  The letter suggests that the $70 million approved by the state for construction of parking garages should be directed to pay for the new train station. 

 

The New York Times had previously called on the Yankees to help finance the new train station, which "could diminish the need for expensive parking garages, and reduce air pollution and congestion, making for happier fans and healthier neighbors." Click here to read the editorial.

 

4/10/2006--The City Council's Finance Committee held a public hearing regarding the use of PILOTs to pay back the stadium debt.  Read GJNY's testimony from the hearing.

 

4/5/2006--The City Council approved the land-use plan for the new Yankee Stadium.

 

3/24/2006-- The Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) approved the allocation of $70 million for parking garages to be built on public parkland adjacent to Yankee Stadium.  ESDC also approved a $4.7 grant to the Yankees for future maintenance costs.  Click here to read ESDC's General Project Plan.

 

3/14/2006--The board of the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) gave preliminary approval for the use of tax-exempt bonds, sales tax breaks, mortgage recording tax breaks, and a payment in-lieu-of taxes arrangement for the Yankee Stadium project.  Click here to view the project materials, including the cost-benefit analysis.  Click here to view GJNY's testimony from the hearing.

 

6/2005--The stadium and parking garages would be located on frequently used public parkland.  The New York State legislature quietly seized these parks in June, 2005, allowing the city to dispose of these properties to be used for the stadium and parking garages.  Click here to view a legislative timeline that charts the eight days it took for the city and state to seize these parks.

 

6/2005-- On June 15, 2005, the city's Economic Development Corporation, the Empire State Development Corporation, and the Yankees signed a Memorandum of Understanding detailing the subsidy and land-use commitments relating to the project.

 

 

Additional documents and details on the project:

The New York Yankees are building a new stadium one block north of its existing location at East 161 Street and River Avenue in the Bronx.  The project will also include the construction of three nearby parking garages containing almost 5,000 spaces.  The stadium and parking lots are being developed on frequently used public parkland, including portions of Macomb's Dam and John Mullaly Parks. 

The New York State legislature quietly seized these parks in June, 2005, allowing the city to dispose of these properties to be used for the stadium and parking garages.  Click here to view a legislative timeline that charts the eight days it took for the city and state to seize these parks.

The project passed through the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.  Click here to view a copy of the project's Draft Environmental Impact Statement.  Click here to view testimony submitted by Good Jobs New York to the office of Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión.

As currently proposed, the new stadium would involve a substantial public subsidy.  The state would contribute $70 million for the parking garages and the city would contribute $160 million to replace the lost parkland (several acres of these replacement parks would be located on top of the new garages).  In addition, the city and state would not collect rent, property taxes, sales taxes on construction materials, mortgage recording taxes, and taxes on income from bond payments.  The details of this subsidy are outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the city and its Economic Development Corporation, the Empire State Development Corporation, and the Yankees Limited Partnership.