ALBANY – Cablevision executives not only drove statewide lobbying spending through the roof in their fight against the West Side stadium last year, but they also doled out tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions to state lawmakers.

Last year’s lobbying totals, made available to reporters last month, show that Cablevision and Madison Square Garden spent $22.1 million – largely in television advertising – to fight construction by the Jets of a new stadium above the West Side rail yards in Manhattan.

The wisdom of that spending was placed in doubt last week when the board of directors at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted unanimously to accept a $720 million bid by the Jets to develop the site over a $760 million Cablevision bid.

But a report released yesterday by a collection of government watchdog groups shows that Cablevision was not relying on advertising alone to beat the Jets. The company also spent $145,767 in contributions to lawmakers, bringing its total spending against the football team last year to $22,270,231.

The Jets spent $6,845,089 – or less than a third that amount – on counter-lobbying efforts of their own last year and a mere $500 on campaign contributions. The lower spending was enough to win MTA board approval, but could still prove inadequate to push the roughly $2 billion building project through, lobbying officials said.

“I think you’re going to see more activity on the stadium,” David Grandeau, executive director of the state’s lobbying commission, said. “I think in that particular case it’s such a large issue that I’m not convinced money will not have a positive impact for Cablevision when all is said and done.”

A decision on the stadium is now up to the Empire State Development Corporation and the Public Authorities Control Board. The first group, run by a political appointee of Governor Pataki, is expected to vote in favor of the stadium later this month. The second, which consists of Mr. Pataki, Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, and Senator Joseph Bruno, is thought to be up for grabs.

Mr. Pataki, who along with Mayor Bloomberg is a major supporter of the stadium, included $300 million for the project in his executive budget. The state Legislature, however, struck the funding from the budget it passed last week. Mr. Silver, a Democrat from Manhattan, and Mr. Bruno, a Republican from Rensselaer, are the two legislative leaders.

Messrs. Bruno and Silver have not indicated how they plan to vote on the stadium, but they have dropped hints of opposition in addition to striking the governor’s proposed funding from their budget. Mr. Bruno recently cited polls suggesting a majority of New York City residents oppose the stadium. Mr. Silver is notoriously hesitant to show his hand in negotiations until the last minute.

Asked yesterday how he planned to vote on the stadium, Mr. Silver said growing uncertainty about an investment banking firm’s plans to build a new corporate headquarters in Lower Manhattan was proof to him that too much attention is being paid to uptown development. He suggested that downtown should be a greater priority for Messrs. Pataki and Bloomberg.

“They neglected our first obligation, which is rebuilding from September 11,” Mr. Silver said. “We are three-and a-half years down the road and there is no coordination, no decision making, and one of the biggest pluses to downtown would have been the Goldman Sachs headquarters that was planned, and now they’re pulling out based on that failure.”

Other top lobbyists last year included the Oneida Indian Nation, which is looking to build a casino in the Catskills; New York State United Teachers, and New York State Trial Lawyers. The three groups spent $2.5 million, $1.1 million, and $1 million respectively in lobbying in 2004.

The New York State United Teachers outspent every other group in campaign contributions, with a $1.3 million outlay. The trial lawyers’ association spent the second highest amount on political campaigns, with $711,220.

Mr. Grandeau said he expects special-interest groups to rely on television advertising and celebrity appearances in their lobbying efforts in coming years. Citing last year’s presidential election, in which a number of celebrities took to the campaign trail in support of candidates, Mr. Grandeau said he expects the lobbying landscape here to follow suit.

“It’s been my experience that lobbying tools tend to lag behind political tools by about two years,” Mr. Grandeau said. “Obviously, the reason for that is people who run campaigns end up doing lobbying. They see what works on the political campaign trail and they bring it to their lobbying work.”

The report, which included both lobbying and campaign finance expenditures by special-interest groups, was released yesterday by Common Cause New York, the League of Women Voters, and the New York Public Interest Group.