Bloomberg : Stadium 'history'

By MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

The Jets haven't given up the fight for a West Side stadium, but Mayor Bloomberg apparently has.

"Everybody wants to keep revisiting this," Bloomberg said yesterday on his weekly radio show, four days after a state panel torpedoed the stadium proposal. "And my attitude is - that's history."

The mayor, who has spent the past year championing the project at his own political peril, said he failed to persuade Jets owner Woody Johnson to build the stadium in Queens.

"We came back and asked again three times this week," Bloomberg said. "I talked to Woody Johnson, and the answer's no."

Stadium supporters have floated the possibility of bypassing the state panel by forgoing $300 million in state money, scaling back the project and seeking a zoning change through the City Council, a process that could take up to a year.

Twenty-eight of the Council's 51 members have pledged their support for the West Side stadium.

Bloomberg said he would be surprised if the Jets opted to spend another year pursuing the project, but he made clear yesterday that the team would be leading the charge without him.

"I can't see the Jets going and waiting a year," he said. "You know, it's up to them. It's not up to us."

The mayor's remarks, aides said, were intended to indicate his unwillingness to reengage in the project.

Jets Vice President Matt Higgins responded, "We're still weighing our options, but I can say that in the life cycle of a stadium project in New York, one year is a blip."

Bloomberg said yesterday no decision had yet been made on how, or if, the city will pursue its bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.

The West Side stadium was the centerpiece of the city's Olympic bid, but the International Olympic Committee said Thursday the city could submit an alternative stadium proposal.