ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – For Broadway Joe Namath, beating New York politics in a quest for a Manhattan stadium is a bit tougher call than guaranteeing a win over the 1969 Baltimore Colts.

“A predication?” Namath said while lobbying lawmakers in Albany for the controversial project. “We’re going to have that stadium.”

You guarantee it?

“No,” he laughed. “You guys know better than that.”

He was quick with his guarantee in 1969, to the shock and derision of the football world.

“Yeah, well, I had a little bit more to do with it too,” Namath laughed, as senators gushed about his Hall of Fame career and even his pantyhose commercial three decades ago. “We had more control of that. It’s amazing when you have a hands-on position.”

The Jets want to build a 75,000-seat stadium that would also house the 2012 Olympics, should the city win its bid for the games. The project, which needs Albany’s approval, would include a convention center. While the stadium itself would be financed by the Jets, the state and city would each contribute $300 million for related projects.

But key figures including Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who met behind closed doors with Namath on Monday, have yet to support the proposal. The Public Authorities Control Board is scheduled to vote on the proposal May 18.

Assembly members, labor unions and other supporters of a stadium rallied outside the Capitol. Bruno still hasn’t made a decision, said his spokesman, Mark Hansen.

In the Capitol – hardly unfamiliar to Hollywood, music and sports stars turned lobbyists – Namath strode the halls liked he owned it, telling stories and stopping to shake hands. It’s been 36 years since Namath won Super Bowl III, but he still cut an athletic figure three weeks before his 61st birthday, tanned and standing on reconstructed knees better than the ones he played with in the NFL. In his playing days, Namath became a 1960s icon for a brash generation, wearing white spikes and long hair on the field and haute couture in night clubs. He helped bring superstardom of an individual and outsized paychecks to big-time sports, but isn’t completely pleased with where that’s gone since he retired in 1977.

“There’s a lot more “I’ today that “we,”‘ he said. In defense of today’s players, however, he said there is a much greater chance for a “quick score” of millions of dollars for a player who makes it big fast. In his day, many players still had to have off-season jobs, he said.

As a player and fan, he said it’s important for the New York Jets to play in New York, rather than in New Jersey’s Giants Stadium.

“No doubt about it,” he said, wearing a staid blue suit instead of the full-length mink coat he once wore as a player on the sidelines while injured. “You have an identity with your fans and your home, you know? And beyond football, this project is enormous. It’s going to have so much potential. The other venues that come in will become income producers.”