NY Stadium Rejected: Olympics Bid Dead?

(ATR) Leaders of New York City's Olympic bid will huddle to decide what to do next following rejection of plans to spend state money to build a new stadium in Manhattan. With less than a month to the IOC 2012 vote, the New York bid is in trouble.

NYC2012 founder Daniel Doctoroff has insisted for years that the campaign has no Plan B on the stadium issue. Apparently, he was not kidding, although some experts believe a deal involving private financing could be under discussion.

Two legislators who have opposed plans to use public funds to help the New York Jets build a new $2.2 billion stadium on Manhattan's west side held fast Monday, refusing to sign off. The stadium has cleared a number of legislative hurdles but this one requires unanimous approval by the Public Authorities Control Board in Albany, N.Y.

The panel includes Gov. George Pataki, who supports the stadium and Olympic bid, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Silver pre-empted Monday's rescheduled vote by saying he would veto a plan to allocate $300 million from state coffers to help build the stadium. Bruno has threatened to abstain.

After Silver's dramatic announcement that he has not been swayed by intense lobbying, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told media that "if we don?t have the (West Side) stadium, we cannot get the Olympics."

Monday Doctoroff indicated that New York was in the same tier as 2012 frontrunner Paris and strong contender London, as long as the stadium survived. London has no stadium, either, but its bid includes an approved plan to erect one if London is the IOC's choice.

"The important thing is, with the release of this (IOC) report and the intensification of the campaign in the next 30 days, you cannot have a glaring weakness with your most important venue and expect to triumph," Doctoroff said.

More to come at www.aroundtherings.com, your best source of news on the race for the 2012 Olympics.