According to an article today's NEW YORK TIMES, Giuliani loosened the Yankees' and Mets' leases days before leaving office, yet claimed publicly that he had not done so *and* did not apprise Mike Bloomberg about this. Supposedly he only learned about this from a letter sent by the city's new comptroller, Bill Thompson.

As Jennifer Steinhauer's article states,"Giuliani quietly amended each team's current lease, giving the Yankees the right to leave the city on 60 days' notice if the team does not get a new stadium, and releasing the Mets from paying the city large sums of advertising dollars."

The article raises some interesting points about the relationship between the teams and the city, and the nature of revenue streams, which may be critical over the next few years, given the bleak economic scenarios New York City and state face. What do Outsports fans think about this?

Not at all surprised at Giuliani's unilateral arrogance on this. Bloomberg's people are apparently already working on getting those clauses back.

The really ridiculous thing about the two teams blackmailing the public for stadium funds is they have no threat to follow through on. Move out of NY? Really? How could they possibly make more money elsewhere? They also need the support of the league for a move, and that would be commercial suicide.

What if New Jersey offered to build a stadium? They've hinted at it in the past, and they've already got the football teams.

The NJ Legislature is still trying to come up with a deal to move the Devils and the Nets to Newark. One of the things holding it back is the amount of money the state (i.e., NJ residents) has to kick in.

If the owner(s) are willing to pay for most of the construction and other costs, then NJ may build a major league stadium. In other words, the Mets and Yankees are staying in New York.

Perhaps. But the Devils and Nets are already in New Jersey, and I don't think tons of people would miss them if they left. The Yankees might be able to change people's minds on that.

Joe, Moving the Nets and Devils to Newark isn't exactly leaving NJ!!!!

That's my point. The state of New Jersey will have whatever revenue the Devils and Nets bring in, whether they stay where they are or move to Newark. So why should the state ante up taxpayer money for a building in Newark? And even if they leave the state, I don't think either team has a large fan base. People in North Jersey are largely devoted to the New York teams, and people in South Jersey are largely devoted to the Philadelphia teams.

It might make more financial sense to lure one of the baseball teams from New York than to keep the other two teams.

I think the Nets should head to Newark and the Devils should get their arena in Hoboken. Both sites would be accessible by public transportation for fans from the surrounding cities and suburbs and the teams would have real places to identify with (the poor Devils had their last Stanley Cup victory walk on tarmac...).

New Jersey's three largest cities are all in the north (Newark, Jersey City and Paterson) as are its most densely packed suburbs. There are many basketball fans in Hudson, Essex, Passaic and Bergen counties, and a large number of hockey fans in Bergen and Essex.

And New Yorkers could even cross the river (or state line to the north) to see the teams if they so chose.