New Parks Said Costly

Building two new baseball stadiums in New York City would cost $500 million and perhaps more, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said.

“It would be at least that, at least,” Giuliani said, “over a period of time.”

Instead, the fiscally fit city has “a plan for modernizing the current Yankee Stadium,” Giuliani said after a speech at the National Press Club in Washington. New York Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner is unhappy with Yankee Stadium, which is in the Bronx, and has discussed moving the team from the city.

Meanwhile, the New York Mets want to move from Shea Stadium in Queens to a new home, Giuliani said.