The Giants have offered to build the stadium themselves - with no taxpayer subsidy, they say - adjacent to the current 29-year-old stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. They would also pay $6.3 million to the state in annual rent on the land. This is in stark contrast to almost every other stadium deal in the country, where government pays the lion's share of the costs. Just across the Hudson, for example, New York State and New York City are offering the Jets $600 million in public subsidies for a proposed West Side stadium.

Ostensibly, the biggest stumbling block is over a provision for taxing stadium luxury suites down the road. The Giants say this would undermine their ability to pay for the new stadium. Acting Governor Codey has insisted on keeping the provision, saying that he can't hamstring future governors.

But at a meeting yesterday with The Record's editorial board, Giants officials suggested they might still reach some sort of accommodation on tax credits. A logical place to begin resolving this would be to see how luxury-suite-tax questions have been resolved elsewhere - factoring in the extraordinary value of Meadowlands real estate.

Both sides indicate that disagreements and litigation over Xanadu, the new $1.3 billion entertainment and retail center to be built at the nearby Continental Arena site, can be resolved.

Carl Goldberg, chairman of the sports authority, says that he is ready, willing and able to sit down with the Giants and work out a stadium deal. But other state officials have diametrically opposed views on the deal. No wonder the Giants are frustrated. They keep getting a different story, depending on what state official they last talked to.

Mr. Codey needs to get state officials on the same page and propose a way around the current impasse so the talks can begin anew. Bring in a mediator if necessary. But both sides need to get this deal done.

• State officials appear hesitant to sign an agreement with the Giants because this is an election year. They don't want to be seen as giving the team's wealthy owners a sweetheart deal in the same year that they are suspending property tax rebates to most state residents. But that should not stand in the way. After all, any agreement will no doubt be criticized by some.

The greater risk is that the Giants will pursue their lawsuit against the state, which they filed this week with the aim of spurring new negotiations. If the state were to lose the case, taxpayers could pay for hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations to make the current Giants Stadium a state-of-the-art facility again.

Sports authority officials insist that they would never lose the lawsuit. Then again, they also said that the Jets, Nets and Devils wouldn't leave the Meadowlands - and those teams sure look like they're packing their bags.

The Giants are a first-class operation. They are the prime reason that the sports complex is what it is today. And, as Giants officials like to point out, they are the only pro sports team that wants to stay in the Meadowlands. The region would not be the same without the Giants.

It is in no one's best interest for negotiations to degenerate into an expensive legal squabble. It is in everyone's best interests for the Giants to build a new stadium here.

The preceding editorial appeared in the April 7 edition of The (Bergen) Record. You can reach The Record online at http://www.northjersey.com/

The Giants are urging their fans to write New Jersey newspapers and representatives in the New Jersey State Legislature and tell them you want them to allow the Giants to build a new Giants Stadium. To contact state representatives, visit the New Jersey State Legislature website at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/