The Jets went head-to-head with Cablevision yesterday, arguing in state and federal court two of the five lawsuits that seek to undo the football team’s deal for a stadium on the West Side.

The chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Peter Kalikow, has said he will not close with the Jets on a $250 million sale of development rights over the 13-acre Hudson Yards rail yards until the lawsuits are resolved. The Jets were awarded the air rights in a competitive bidding process that included a $400 million bid from Cablevision-owned Madison Square Garden, which feared that a possible Jets stadium would pose unfair competition to the Garden for sports and entertainment business on Manhattan’s West Side. The Jets and the MTA are scheduled to close on their deal next Thursday.

The state Court of Appeals heard Cablevision lawyers argue that the MTA’s bidding process was rigged to favor the Jets. The appeal comes on the heels of a strongly worded decision by a state Supreme Court justice, Herman Cahn, who threw out Cablevision’s lawsuit in a June 2 ruling.

“An analysis of the MSG arguments and the MTA powers leads to the conclusion that the MTA did not act in an arbitrary and capricious matter,” Justice Cahn wrote.

Yesterday afternoon the Jets brought out their top legal team, led by the lawyer David Boies, who represented Al Gore in the contested 2000 presidential election. The Jets currently play their home games at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, and argued in federal court that Cablevision violated the Sherman Antitrust Act in its attempts to quash its deal with the MTA.

Cablevision argued that the antitrust law does not apply to the company’s campaign to stop a Jets stadium because it was directed at politicians and the political process.

“This was political conduct not covered under the Sherman Antitrust Act, not commercial activity,” a Cablevision lawyer, Miguel Estrada, said. “It wasn’t like we were trying to stop people from buying tickets to Jets games.” Mr. Estrada is a former federal prosecutor and deputy solicitor general whose nomination by President Bush to a federal judgeship was blocked by a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.

Mr. Boies, who has also argued against William Gates and Microsoft in an antitrust suit, said Cablevision attempted to stem competition by submitting “a sham bid and sham litigation.” He said: “The bid, for example, was two pages and had no details, and its sole purpose was for disrupting the process.”

No decisions were made in either case yesterday. The appeals court has said it will try to make a decision quickly so that the MTA can proceed with its plans.