Despite a raft of headlines asserting that the Jets and Mayor Bloomberg have reached the "end zone" in their fight to build the unpopular West Side stadium, the MTA’s vote in favor of selling development rights to the team does not make the project a done deal (since sports metaphors seem unavoidable, we note that Times sports columnist Dave Anderson more accurately described the development as a "first down past midfield"). In fact, just several weeks ago, before the surprise bid for the site by Madison Square Garden, the Jets already seen as already having a lock on the MTA agreement.

The project still faces two lawsuits on environmental grounds, including that filed by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and NY Public Interest Research Group charging inadequate transportation and traffic analyses, and likely legal challenges to the process by which the MTA awarded the development rights to the Jets. It also has to receive a stamp of approval from legislative leaders. The latter have said they are in no rush to approve a new public authority to run the project and the $300 million subsidy from state coffers the project requires until they see if NY wins the 2012 Olympic bid.

Probably most troubling in terms of transit, the Jets bid looks like it will open another hole in the MTA’s shaky 2005-2009 capital program. The agency’s proposed rebuilding and improvement program requires $1.4 billion in asset sales. Development rights above the West Side yard are the largest and most valuable MTA asset up for sale.

According to news reports, the Jets bid for the stadium site will produce only $250 million during the 2005-2009 period of the capital program. The MTA will retain the rights to the area above the eastern half of the railyard, but any timetable for its sale is theory at this point. Every dollar the MTA misses its $1.4 billion 2005-2009 target will have to be made up by bus and subway riders. The MTA originally appraised the entire West Side yard property at $900 million.

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