NEW YORK, NY June 02, 2005 —The New York Jets won a big legal victory today. It allows them to take over the Hudson Rail yards from the MTA as soon as next Wednesday. The court decision gives the sports team a big boost of momentum as it faces a final state vote tomorrow on the West Side Stadium.

REPORTER: The legal decision stems from four separate lawsuits brought by everyone ranging from Madison Square Garden to the NY Public Interest Research Group. The Garden claimed the bidding process was truncated, and tilted towards the Jets. Instead of the Jets, the Garden’s lawyers said, THEY should have gotten the rail yards. The watchdog groups said BOTH bids were too low, and the cash-strapped transit agency should get a lot more money for 13 acres in Midtown West. In his 37-page decision, Justice Herman Kahn threw all those arguments out. Jets President Jay Cross says even he was surprised by how far the judge came down on his team’s side.

CROSS: We were gratified that it was so definitive because having launched the RFP process on their own, i.e. cablevision, they had no right to complain about the process.

REPORTER: Taking Madison Square Garden’s points one by one, the judge swept away any argument the MTA had acted unfairly. As for NYPIRG, he didn’t even consider the government watchdogs claims, saying because they weren’t injured by the MTA’s decision they couldn’t even bring a lawsuit. The New York Public Interest Group’s Gene Russianoff says that part of the decision could prevent NYPIRG from suing on behalf of transit riders in other cases.

RUSSIANOFF: It’s essential that we appeal because the decision not only affects the stadium but it affects our ability to represent riders.

REPORTER: Madison Square Garden said it would appeal, too. But if Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki are worried about more legal action, neither said so, when the two appeared together for a ribbon cutting in Lower Manhattan today. Instead, Governor Pataki was already looking forward to Friday’s vote by the Public Authorities Control Board.

PATAKI: I’m not going to predict what they’re going to do tomorrow, but clearly the excuse has been removed by the court’s decision.

REPORTER: The Governor was referring to an issue raised often by State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. They’ve both said they didn’t want to vote on the west side project until legal issues were settled. And while there are several remaining environmental lawsuits, Judge’s Kahn’s decision is another down for the Jets. Even so, with less than 24 hours to go before the Albany vote, Pataki was still sounding like a supplicant.

PATAKI: And I think its wrong to say no to the chance of having the Olympics to say no to the Super bowl…I would urge them to vote yes tomorrow.

REPORTER: Facing a major pressure campaign from NYC 2012, in Albany today Silver remained non-committal.

SILVER: There are fundamental questions out there that have not been answered. We get manufactured deadlines, clearly.

REPORTER: For his part, Bruno stayed behind closed doors. He did release a letter to the International Olympic Committee professing his support for the Olympic bid. But he stopped short of backing the stadium, which bid organizers say is crucial. Privately, Jets supporters have expressed concern about the effect of Bruno’s son, Kenneth, who is a lobbyist for cablevision. Right now, the final vote on the stadium is scheduled for 2 pm tomorrow. But this afternoon in Albany, Silver said he may ask for yet another delay. For WNYC, I’m Andrea Bernstein.