In the latest round of As the Jets Turn, it is hard to know the players' positions without a scorecard.
The Jets, who refused to consider a less lucrative stadium in Queens during their ill-fated five-year quest to build a new home in Manhattan, are now proposing to build an 80,000-seat football stadium where the Fountain of Planets, a remnant of the 1964 World's Fair, now stands in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
John Puccio, a co-founder of Bring Our Jets Home who supported a West Side stadium, is organizing a "tailgate party" today at Queens Borough Hall to support the team when the Jets' president, L. Jay Cross, explains the proposal to Borough President Helen Marshall and various elected officials in a closed meeting at 3 p.m.
But David Oats, the founder of the Queens Olympic Committee, who opposed the Manhattan stadium in favor of one in Queens, is adamantly opposed to the Jets' plan to take 15 acres of public parkland.
John C. Liu, the city councilman whose district includes the Fountain of the Planets, favored the Manhattan stadium, but says that the Jets' park gambit would be a "hard sell."
But Assemblyman Michael N. Gianaris of Queens, who also backed the Manhattan stadium, said the Jets' proposal was a great idea so long as the team replaced the parkland it used.
And Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who backed the Jets' $2.2 billion Manhattan stadium as a critical lever for redeveloping the West Side, said on Friday that the latest plan to take parkland might be "too controversial," although he wants to work with the team.
The shifting positions may boggle the minds of most Jets fans, especially since the team is also negotiating with the Giants and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority about building a new stadium with a retractable roof in the Meadowlands.
Dan Andrews, a spokesman for the Queens borough president, said yesterday that Ms. Marshall was aware that the team may be looking for leverage in its negotiations on both sides of the Hudson River. He said she organized the meeting with elected officials in Queens after talking to Mr. Cross about the Jets' plans in Queens.
"The fact is," Mr. Andrews said, "they opened the door a little bit, and the borough president thought it incumbent on her to encourage them to consider Queens."
Mr. Puccio said he expected a lot of people to show up at his tailgate party to show that "there's definitely a lot of community support for a stadium in Flushing Meadows."
"The Jets' exile in New Jersey will finally end," Mr. Puccio said.
Many people thought that the team was looking at a ramshackle district of auto shops known as Willets Point, near Shea Stadium and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. But Queens officials say the Jets fear that it may take until 2009 or 2010 for the city to condemn the property, relocate the 150 businesses that are currently there and clean up the environment. The team, however, wants a new stadium by the end of 2008, when its Meadowlands lease expires.
So the team has come up with the proposal for the Fountain of Planets site.
"If there's real interest coming out of the meeting, then we will seriously consider the idea, but either way, we appreciate the effort to bring us back to New York," said Matt Higgins, a Jets' vice president.
The parks department turned off the fountain years ago, and the water there is a dark pool of garbage. The Jets could use the same parking lots that serve the Mets at Shea Stadium.
To some extent, the Jets are taking a cue from the Yankees, who have won support to build a new stadium north of the existing ballpark, on 22.4 acres in Macombs Dam Park and Mullally Park. The city has agreed to spend $135 million to replace the parkland with 27 acres of new parks.
In 1995, the United States Tennis Association also expanded its tennis complex onto 25 more acres of the park when it built a new stadium for the United States Open.
But Mr. Oats, who had long advocated a Jets stadium at Willets Point, says he is incensed by the latest proposal. He supported the tennis association's plans in the 1990's, but he says the Jets are simply grabbing parkland and a piece of the World's Fair, albeit one that has seen better days.
"It's a parks department problem, not an urban renewal problem that anyone's been asked to fix, not like Willets Point," Mr. Oats said.
Ben Haber, president of the Civic Association of Kew Gardens Hills, said yesterday that any attempt to turn over one inch of the heavily used park to the Jets was a "giveaway to billionaire sports club owners." Flushing Meadows has already given up 121 acres for Shea Stadium and the tennis center.
"This is probably the mother of all foolishness," he said. "This is a park for the people. Now, you're going to put another huge stadium in the park?"
Chuck Apelian, vice chairman of Community Board 7, whose district includes Flushing Meadows, said he favored the Willets Point idea. But after the battle over the West Side stadium, the Jets and the mayor may be reluctant to lead the charge for a stadium in Flushing Meadows during an election season. But the proposal could gain ground if it appeared that Queens politicians were asking for it.
"We've grown accustomed to Plan B," he said. "Let's see what we can do. I'd love to have the Jets back."