Do Yankees really need new stadium?

The roller joint that fell last week demolishing seats at Yankee Stadium has only served to focus attention on the team's lease with the city that expires in 2002.

George Steinbrenner is in discussions with the city, his spokesperson Howard Rubenstein confirmed, but no decision has been made yet as to the Yankees next home.

The choices remain a new Stadium in The Bronx, a new stadium on the West Side of Manhattan or a move to the New Jersey Meadowlands.

Team owner Steinbrenner has always said he wants a new ballpark, Rubenstein noted, and the options are still open. He has not indicated any reservations, Rubenstein said, about problems with new stadium technologies that have plagued some recently constructed ballparks, including the one in Phoenix where the retractable dome continues to have leaks and doesn't always work.

Meanwhile, city officials have been scrambling to ensure both Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium are safe. Teams of engineers from the Parks Department, Buildings Department and the Department of Transportation have been scouring Yankee Stadium to see if there are any other structural issues.

Sources said they did find some facade problems at Yankee Stadium, and those were beginning to be fixed last week.

The lease between the Yankees and the city is silent on who is responsible for more than a walk-through inspection as soon as the season is over.

"We're going to start doing cellar to roof inspections," of both ballparks, said Parks Dept. spokesperson Edward Skyler last week. Previously, these were merely walk-throughs of the public areas.

The Yankees are supposed to maintain their ballpark and then the city credits these expenses towards rent. Usually, several million dollars is spent before each season to stabilize ceilings, replace steel beams and repair leaks.

The city has spent a total of $13 million on capital repairs since the stadium was refurbished in 1973-74.

As for the Mets, Parks Department funds and the Mayor's Capital Budget is used to pay for repair work, while the same inspection arrangement is in place.

"I was shocked to hear that no one checked on it," said Peggy Carnegie of Simon Rudd Associates on the lack of structural inspections. "The tenant was not obligated to repair or inspect, and apparently neither was the city. No one was responsible."

Members of the real estate industry, like the general public, are divided on what to do about a new stadium. But all agree the team should not be allowed to move to New Jersey.

Philip R. Weiss, a managing director with Insignia/ESG, is also a licensed architect who worked for Skidmore Owings Merrill before turning to real estate 19 years ago.

He summarized the issues that are facing both the team and the city.

"Yankee Stadium is really obsolete in terms of today's stadiums, but it is a Landmark," Weiss observed. Structurally, anything can be fixed with enough time and money, Weiss explained, but it's the "struggle" to adapt fans to a new stadium that he thinks is a major issue.

When he lived in Pittsburgh, Weiss recalled, that city tore down the historic Forbes Field and built a new stadium, to the fans dismay. He also still pines for Ebbets Field.

But Manhattan traffic would be a nightmare when 70,000 fans exit, he believes, if a new stadium is constructed in Manhattan just south of the Javits Convention Center.

"The die-hard fans love the current Yankee Stadium, but we all know it's the wrong size, and no one loves going to the South Bronx as it is," he added.

That is an issue that Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer struggles with daily. He has proposed a rejuvenated and safer area for a new ballpark, along with better transportation and parking facilities for fans, issues about which Steinbrenner has also expressed concern.

Neil Siderow, a principal of Murray Hill Properties, is one of those who would like to see a new stadium constructed on Manhattan's West side.

'I'm an avid baseball fan and the stadiums in Baltimore and Cleveland are successful, and both have been sold out since they opened because of their proximity to Downtown," he said.

As for the projected billion dollar cost of a new stadium at the West Side location, because of a projected $100 million "platform" that would support the stadium structure over the rail yards, Siderow believes it is being "blown out of proportion."

Cleveland obtained $50 million from a sponsor, he noted, "so you can imagine what a General Motors or other corporation would be willing to pay to put their name on a new stadium. You could probably get $200 million."