New Jersey’s private sector would play an increasingly important role in the success of its sports entertainment and gaming sites, under a set of recommendations submitted Wednesday to Gov. Chris Christie.

The recommendations — made by a high-profile commission, chaired by an influential real estate developer, and tasked with fixing New Jersey’s ailing gaming and entertainment industries — suggest a new public-private partnership take responsibility for Atlantic City’s casino and tourism industries, and private businesses also would be called upon to buy or lease the state’s horse racing venues and the Izod Center, in East Rutherford. The commission's report also recommends the Xanadu complex become an entertainment center, not just a retail shopping mall.

If approved, the recommendations essentially would strip the Sports and Exposition Authority of much of its oversight role in Bergen County while stepping up state involvement in Atlantic City, which Christie wants to transform into a family-friendly “Las Vegas East.”

Jon F. Hanson, chairman of Hampshire Cos. and former sports authority chairman, said negotiations over Xanadu’s future were happening in “real time,” as the press conference was ongoing. Billionaire developer Steve Ross’s Related Cos. has been in talks with the state over the future of the site.

Christie said Xanadu’s potential developers also have expressed an interest in owning or operating the Izod Center as part of an entertainment complex in the region.

“The sports authority needs to get out of the business of running things, and needs to be a landlord,” Christie said. The state will seek an equity stake in Xanadu if it provides public dollars, he added: “If there were ever to be taxpayer investment, we have to become owners” so that the state participates in any future upside for the site.

Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney, who attended the press conference at New Meadowlands Stadium, criticized Christie’s plans for Xanadu, likening a public investment in the project with a bailout of private interests over the public good.

But Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who also spoke at the event, said tens of thousands of jobs would be preserved and generated by the public-private partnerships recommended by the commission.

Christie plans to sign an executive order later Wednesday to extend the life of the Hanson commission, effectively allowing it to negotiate the implementation of its recommendations. He also said he would work with the Legislature to enact the report’s recommendations, and particularly endorsed its vision for Atlantic City, which he will not allow to “drift out into the Atlantic Ocean.”

Christie said this summer’s changes to Monmouth Park, which included fewer race dates and bigger purses, show thoroughbred racing can be successful, and could entice private investors, though the report recommended restricting gambling to Atlantic City, which would continue New Jersey’s practice of keeping video lottery terminals away from the tracks — a model so-called “racinos” in other states have abandoned. Rather than leaving the state to gamble, Christie said residents of North Jersey must support the effort to revitalize Atlantic City after enjoying the benefit of decades of revenue flowing from the resort town to the rest of the state.

E-mail Andrew Kitchenman at akitchenman@njbiz.com