by DAVE MARTINEZ

Just when you thought the New York Cosmos stadium bid flatlined, Albany breaks out the defibrillators.

As first reported by Newsday, the Empire State Development Corp. is asking bidders to readjust their bids.

According to the report, a portion of the original land issued for redevelopment (Parcel A) has been offered to the New York Racing Association; the operators of Belmont Racetrack. This particular segment of the Cosmos bid is where the club proposed their “restaurant row” and sky bridge crossing to the proposed stadium complex.

With Parcel A out of the bidding, the ESD has asked interested bidders to readjust their proposals for consideration.

“Given the time that has passed, please update us on how your thinking for Parcel B has changed,” wrote Thomas Conoscenti, director of real estate and planning for the ESD. “Areas of interest include: changes to the scope and design of the project, an update on the financial condition of the responding team, revenue projections in light of market changes, project sources and uses, project timeline and financial offer. Please not at this time we would like all financial offers to be presented as a sale.”

Conoscenti also asked bidders to submit their changes by December 4th, with a follow up interview to come on the 9th and 10th.

This comes weeks after assemblyman Gregory Meeks indicated that the Elmont bid could face a possible rebidding.

Asked about this new development, Cosmos COO Erik Stover tells EOS, “We are still evaluating the correspondence from the State and look forward to presenting our updated plan that will bring thousands of jobs,

millions in economic revenue and a state-of-the-art entertainment complex to Long Island.”

So what does this mean for the Cosmos? That depends on how you look at the situation.

For one, they are still in the running at Elmont after three trying and confusing years. That is the good news.

However, the $400 million proposal just lost one of it’s primary revenue streams. While the focus of the Cosmos’ Elmont Crossing bid is the stadium, the adjacent “restaurant row” and the land bridge over Hempstead Turnpike were key aspects for drawing residents to the area, creating a destination district that would tie the stadium into Belmont Racetrack while establishing a steady revenue stream that would feed the club year round.

That leaves the Cosmos with the stadium itself as well as the proposed hotel area on Hempstead Turnpike and the adjacent parkland.

With a key piece of real estate now out of the equation, the Cosmos can look at the situation in three ways. For one, they may be tired of the chase and abandon it altogether. That is a bit extreme, but a possibility all the same.

If not, they will have to rethink their bid to maximize their potential revenue within a smaller area of land. That could mean a adjusting their 25k seat stadium to accommodate more restaurants and shops — perhaps even a supermarket area, which has been high on the community priority list for years. A more modest proposal, perhaps an 18k seat stadium, will still meet D1 standards and allow the team to be more flexible with what they wish to build in light of this subtraction.

Or they can do nothing at all. In fact, if they go this route, it may be the very best opportunity to date to gauge the priorities of club chairman Seamus O’Brien. What makes the Cosmos bid so attractive is not only the stadium, but the redevelopment of land within that district. With important swaths of potential property gone, the Cosmos will be forced to rely on just their stadium and hotel to fund their operations. Is that enough to keep the ownership’s interest in the project long term?

Whatever the case may be, the Cosmos now have options where once they had none. That is a victory in and of itself. Which way they go will be decided in short order.