Grammys Return to New York

NEW YORK – After a four-year West Coast hiatus, the Grammy Awards will return to New York City next year for the 45th annual ceremony, officials announced Wednesday.

The 2003 show will be held Feb. 23 in Madison Square Garden, the site of its last New York date in 1998, said Michael Green, head of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. It marks the first time the awards show will be broadcast on a Sunday night.

The annual show generates an estimated $40 million for the local economy.

The news conference was attended by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had extended an invitation for the Grammys to re-visit Manhattan after his November 2001 election.

The Grammys left New York after the 1998 show, when then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Grammys boss Greene engaged in a highly public spat.

Giuliani accused Greene of spewing a stream of obscenities at a mayoral aide following a mix-up over the mayor's appearance at a Grammy news conference.

Greene denied the allegation; Giuliani called him a liar. And when the Grammys moved back to Los Angeles the next year, Greene said the Giuliani dust-up was not a factor.

But the Grammys stayed in California for the duration of the Giuliani administration. Only now, with Bloomberg in City Hall, have the Grammys come back to Madison Square Garden.