NYC's Edifice Complex

New York is in a unique position these days. Not one but three local sports franchises are actively vying to build a new stadium within the city limits, and a fourth franchise only recently gave up similar dreams. 

Both the Yankees and Mets are planning new stadiums adjacent to their existing facilities, and the New Jersey Nets are pushing to move from the Meadowlands to a new home in Brooklyn. To top it off, the Jets only abandoned their plans for a Manhattan stadium after the City's Olympic dreams were dashed last year, and are now looking to expand their presence in that same swampland the Nets are running away from.

A key component, at least on paper, to the planning of each of these stadiums has been "community input." All four franchises have gone out of their way to let the surrounding community know that they really care about them, and that they will do everything they possibly can to make sure the stadium and related works intrude into the fabric of neighborhood life as little as possible. 

The franchises will even offer the neighborhood a few givebacks in the form of a community benefit agreement (CBA), which typically includes job guarantees, money for local charities and other perks designed to make the project easier to swallow. Sounds good, right? 

Too bad it's only marginally true. There was nothing organic about any of the four stadium plans put forth to the city. The community did not rise up to offer their input and demand new stadiums. These franchises, in cooperation with their partners in city government, have delivered these stadium proposals in a top-down, ham-fisted manner. Sure, community input is nice to have. But what they say doesn't really matter.

The Yankees are in the midst of planning their new stadium, which is slated to be built next to their old one on adjacent Macombs Dam Park. Though most elected officials support the plan, there have been legitimate community concerns raised about the loss of parkland, the lack of adequate community involvement in the past from the Yankees, and the quality of jobs that will be created by the new stadium project. Community Board #4 even voted the plan down when it came before them last year. 

Are the Yankees listening? Hardly. Instead, the Yankees and their allies have made every attempt to shout down dissidents whenever possible, even shutting some out of community meetings for being just moments late. The team has also begun to trot out former players like Reggie Jackson to boost support for the stadium in a transparent attempt to use star power to muscle their project through. And now, with the opposition gaining momentum, the team is even making veiled threats that it might leave the city if it doesn't get everything it wants.

"If this isn't good enough, then I think it sends a signal that we're just not going to build in New York City anymore," said Yankees President Randy Levine after a City Council hearing last week. Much of what the Yankees have done comes right out of the same playbook the Jets used during their quest to build a stadium on Manhattan's West Side. The Jets also brought out team legends, particularly Joe Namath, to wow people into supporting their plan. And, when it looked bleak, a rumor was floated that team owner Woody Johnson would move the team to Los Angeles before he accepted a stadium anywhere but Manhattan. 

The Nets, too, are not above using celebrities to bolster their argument, either. Though their history boasts few identifiable superstars (Sam Bowie, anyone?), hip-hop legend Jay-Z is a part owner of the team, and the Nets have used his influence to woo the largely poor, black community the team says it will redevelop with its new arena.

Numerous questions have been raised about those CBAs, too. The Yankees are the richest franchise in sports history, yet are planning to give just $28 million to The Bronx over 40 years. Neighborhoods surrounding Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards are now concerned that their CBA with the Nets was signed to hastily, and are engaged in a seemingly futile push to get team owner Bruce Ratner to come back to the table to revamp the agreement.

When a team can't get want they want, they'll just lie, as was made evident by the Jets last year. While planning the West Side move, the team was adamant that they would only move from Jersey to Manhattan, pointing out over and over that Queens was not an acceptable alternative. As soon as Albany killed the West Side deal, the Jets reversed their former position and began trying to make a deal for a stadium in Willets Point.

Ah, Willets Point. The Queens neighborhood is apparently becoming a Mecca for local stadiums, as the Mets proposal to build a new Shea Stadium just north of their current home in Willets Point has been met with almost zero resistance. Other than junkyards and auto shops, there is no neighborhood to speak of; so just about everyone agrees that the new stadium will boost the local economy, and community concerns tend to worry more about the lack of tickets with a smaller stadium than any concern over jobs or parkland. Perhaps the key to positive community input is to build your stadium where there is no community to begin with.