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Garber: League progressing in search for New York City stadium site

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Photo by ISIphotos.com


By AVI CREDITOR

MLS commissioner Don Garber's desire for a second New York franchise has not been a secret for some time, but Thursday he shed some light on the progress the league is making on securing a stadium site.

While addressing topics such as the growing league attendance, the new officiating program initiative, the league's new disciplinary measures and television ratings during a teleconference with national reporters, Garber touched on the latest involving New York City expansion and indicated that the league's unprecedented steps in ensuring that a stadium is in place before an ownership group is secured are making headway.  

"The league is taking the lead on developing the stadium opportunity," Garber said. "It’s the first time we've ever done that as part of the expansion process. There have been nine teams over last 10 years to build stadiums, but this is the first one where the league is driving most the important aspects.

"Architecture, consultants and environmental all work for the league. We will put together a project and then we hope to be able to deliver to a potential owner. We’ve been working with the mayor's office, and it has been a great resource for us, helping to steer us to sites that can be developed and where there is enough community support and to achieve success." 

Garber said the league has looked at 19 different sites over the last 18 months and is in the process of narrowing down the choice locations.

"We want to ensure that when this project is complete that we have the perfect site for a stadium, and we'll take the time, as long as it takes, to ensure we have the right site. That's how important this second team in New York is.

"It's too early to go public with what those locations are. We are focused on locations that have really strong public transportation access and are close to the urban core as possible."

Although Garber, who ruled out Belmont Park as a potential site, said that there are "no ongoing conversations with any specific owner" at the moment — including the Wilpon family and the new Cosmos ownership group — and he feels that as soon as the stadium site is selected and cleared, the ball will get rolling on securing an ownership group that will pay the hefty expansion fee to join the league. 

"When the stadium is done, there's going to be no shortage of owners who will line up and want to pay $100 million for our 20th team," Garber said.

Future stadiums remained a theme in Garber's comments. With San Jose getting the green light to go ahead and built its new stadium and Houston set to open BBVA Compass Stadium in May, the league has its eye on rectifying the stadium situation for two of the league's original clubs. 

D.C. United and the New England Revolution have perpetually been at the forefront of the stadium discussion, and Garber addressed the latest goings on with each franchise.

This week, D.C.'s city council passed a resolution calling on local government to come up with a long-term solution to keep United in the nation's capital. While the resolution itself guarantees nothing and is more a symbol of political support than actual tangible progress, Garber took note of the development.

"I applaud the gesture, and I hope that it is the beginning of a very quick path to finding a facility for the club," Garber said. "(D.C. United owner Will Chang) and (club president and CEO Kevin Payne) are commiteed to doing what they need to do to try and resolve the situation," Garber said. "Baltimore does remain an option for a stadium should they not be able to resolve their situation. I am watching the situation very closely."

As for this year, new lease terms and a restructured finanical agreement between the club and Events D.C., the operators of RFK Stadium, are set to be announced as the team is on the verge of opening up a 17th season at the aging ballpark.

"That's a positive sign and another indication of the District working with D.C. United," Garber said.

New England, meanwhile, is still in search mode, and Garber said that the subject of a new venue would come up when he next meets with club owner Robert Kraft, which was slated to be a breakfast meeting on Friday.

"There's an opportunity there that if we're able to get some public support, hopefully we'll be able to get something done," Garber said. "Our view is that if the Revolution have a soccer stadium in Boston, it will be one of the most vibrant environments in the entire league. So we are going to continue to try and work to see if we can get that done."

Comments

  1. I think NY2 will work. I could easily see an unknown overseas owner buying into a NY team. This seems to very much be about media presence as well. The RBA is in Jersey not Ny, as many have said. This makes a huge difference. Take a look at DAL .(and COL for that matter) This is a soccer hotbed, but no one is interested in a team way out in the burbs. It takes a true fan to make the trip, but it takes casual fans to make a team excel at the gate. The league will eventually be in ATL and FL, but possibly more stability is needed in the mean time. I’d love to see Beckham’s team in Miami. Orlando will likely one day happen too. Time will tell, but NY2 will push the league even closer to the mainstream just due to media coverage.

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  2. Better managaement is not the problem, but could help. The city of DC got raked over the coals by the Nats baseball stadium funding and appears to not be looking to help soccer out in any way. DadRyan is right..if the league wants to get involved in finding satdiums they ought to do it to one of the league’s existing marquee teams, despite United’s recent crappy SSS stadium situation.

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  3. Not so sold on the name, which screams minor league, but Nashville would be a fine choice for expansion in my opinion. Pull a Portland, spend $40-$60 million converting Herschel Greer into a SSS holding about 18K and you’re good to go.

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  4. What about New York convinces you that it would support a second MLS team when they don’t support the first one? I’d like to see the Cosmos in the MLS but I’m just not sold the cost/benefit is there and I’m very afraid that what the MLS is chasing is the short term benefit of $100 million expansion fee (which is a horrible investment for whoever makes it in my opinion) instead of what market would be best for long-term growth of the league.

    I’m not super sold on Atlanta, either, I was just point it out as a market that is top ten in the country. I think MLS has done well when they have chased markets without a lot of other competition for sportsfans (Portland springs to mind) than when they chase the big northern markets. That’s why I’d like see some smaller Southern markets like Nashville, Memphis, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, and Birmingham being considered alongside Atlanta and Tampa/Miami.

    Please, let’s not introduce how hot it is in the South in the summer as an argument against expansion there, either, especially when the league already includes Dallas and Houston. If we play Spring-Fall schedule, it’s going to be hot in the summer. If we play Fall-Spring, it’s going to be cold in the winter. That is just inevitable.

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  5. DC’s ownership is fail. The fans are great, but you guys need better management. The whole waiting for Godot thing is a joke.

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  6. This is the dumbest argument that is made on here constantly. “New York” has an NFL team in NJ, but I don’t hear many people bitching about them being in Jersey. It’s just an excuse not to follow the MLS team in their back-yard.

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  7. Well said, especially the part about ‘from MLS” standpoint, not individual cities. Right on. Also why, in my opinion, arguments about moving Chivas to San Diego are silly. We want two teams in LA, that’s 6 guaranteed DP’s if the Chivas owner didn’t suck, San diego has a lot of great stuff but might not generate the same international buzz-the issue isn’t the secondary status or even the team name, its the owner.

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  8. Garber is a doosh nozzle. Put some more effort into helping out existing teams (DC) in making something happen instead of some pie in the sky garbage from a city who hasn’t been able to support their club worth a damn until Thierry Henry showed up… even then… it’s still pretty weak.

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  9. Well, first of all, I’m talking transit time, not door to door. I think it’s pretty unfair to complain about walking from the station to the stadium and vice versa – that’s an issue at every stadium near public transportation. And to the extent that the Harrison station is especially cramped, they are planning to expand it.

    It’s similarly unfair to complain about a train going out of service midway. That’s not a common occurrence.

    It’s also unfair to complain about Saturday night train frequency. Let’s be honest, the trains start running less frequently on Saturday nights well before you’d be back from a stadium anywhere in the city.

    In addition, it’s totally unfair to complain about whatever service interruptions you experience on the subway. Again, this has nothing to do with RBA being in Newark.

    Finally, I was responding to the notion that a stadium in Queens would be better for travel. You live in Brooklyn. You know that travelling to the outer reaches of Queens, like the end of the 7 line, from Brooklyn is a nightmare. My friends in Brooklyn HATED going out to Shea Stadium. It would take you at least as long to get out there as it takes for you to get to RBA, if not longer.

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  10. I live in Brooklyn and was a season ticket holder last year. It took me usually 1.5 hours (to 2 hours) to go door to door to get to RBA last year, using MTA to WTC, PATH, and then the walk to the stadium. So imagine you go to a game on a Saturday night…to get back you have to:
    1. Walk all the way around the stadium to the PATH station, wait (rather move forward in a giant mass of people squeezing through 1 door) 15-20 minutes to just get to the PATH platform
    2. Get on the PATH train, which will then dump you at Journal Square because it goes “out of service”
    3. Get on ANOTHER PATH train which takes you to WTC
    4. Walk back to your MTA station, and by now it’s late night so the trains to brooklyn run about every 15-20 minutes
    5. MTA late night – service disruptions – usually put my stop out of service, so have to transfer to ANOTHER MTA train to get there – another 15 minutes

    I went to every game last year and by the end it was a drag – something is always wrong with either the PATH or the MTA which made it impossible to get back in less than 1.5 hours, usually almost 2. Transit does matter.

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  11. Having grown up in TN, I think an MLS team in Nashville would flourish.

    The Predators of the NHL have survived there for over a decade in a state where there is practically no opportunity to play hockey as a youth and thick ice does not naturally form on bodies of water.

    We just need to find a country star with deep pockets who’s a Nashville resident and soccer fan.

    Music City FC

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  12. Since MLS is convinced we need team 2 in NY, and while not totally on board I think the arguments have validity, I’d absolutely put it in Brooklyn. Whole different fan base to NYRB, and I think the demographics and overall vibe of the area fits perfectly with what has proven successful in the most recent expansion teams aside from having a minor league team in place. Plus it is kind of the new “it” Burrough for the time being for young professionals. Keep in mind they are getting the Nets soon also so other leagues see the potential as well.

    I feel for the Southeast but I think to make it work you need to add 3-4 teams all at once and create something similar to the pacific northwest. An isolated SE team will struggle but if you had ATL, Charlotte, Charleston, and Orlando it could work. Just not sure how ready those fan bases/cities are.

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  13. Also, you could put a 30,000 seat soccer stadium in all the parking lots by Shea…. I mean “citi field.”

    But this is the most logical place.

    Not that Randalls and East NY don’t make sense, too.

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  14. Upper West Side? What? Where?

    I know the Football / Olympic stadium proposal was for the West 30s.
    31st to 33rd, I think.

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  15. Ives / Avi / Anyone,

    Any chance we could get an update regarding Garber’s meeting with Kraft? And does the league have any leverage to push Kraft towards building a stadium?

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  16. Agreed – which is too bad because they’ve had some of the best tradition in the short history of the league. More than any other team, I think NE would thrive from moving to a SSS close to, or in, the downtown core. If that SSS got built, Sounder away games at NE would be on my short list.

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  17. BamaMan, you are right – no sooner had I hit ‘send’ on that post that I realized I should probably have checked to see what the big markets in the South are. A more precise statement of my thought was that there are no big markets in the South that lend anyone to believe they would support an MLS team. Perhaps even more accurate would be to say that there are no big markets in the South that I BELIEVE would support an MLS team.

    I do not agree with Atlanta as a possible destination. First, it’s balls hot in the summer, possibly worse than Houston or Dallas because of the humidity. Second, we’ve seen that teams relying on immigrant populations to build a fan base do not succeed. He who builds on the people, builds on the mud, so to speak. If you’re going to expect big support, you need fans who identify with the city, and most soccer-loving immigrant populations already have a team from back home they love.

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  18. I can’t see Kraft ever building a stadium. The Revs are a MLS franchise stuck in time. The big cavernous stadium with the grid lines – I always hate watching the Revs on TV.

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  19. The math doesn’t add up. The overall cost of Red Bull Arena, wrong side of the Hudson, was $180-200 million. I see a NYC stadium as well north of that, accounting for the cost of city real estate. The land alone may be $100 million or more. And they want $100 million for expansion on top of this?

    I also think that at that level of cost there will be a problem getting an ownership group to just accept some package deal stadium. For $300 million-plus I think I can figure out the stadium myself thank you very much. If they want to line up the land and zoning and stuff, maybe, but maybe I don’t want a cookie cutter, etc.

    There used to be an attitude as NASL expansion progressed that they’d make loads of cash on their expansion fees, and it warped the decision making and incentives.

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  20. People are so short-sided on this comments section. Not only is NY proper a good idea, there are a lot of people who want it…and a lot of people willing to pay for it.

    First, the majority of RBNY supporters are based in NJ and lower Manhattan. So putting another team in Manhattan, Queens, Bronx or Brooklyn would not drastically affect the team.

    Second, The Cosmos (with Saudi money in the form of Sela Sports) is very interested, as well as groups involving Chuck Blazer (yes him), Curtis Martin (former Jets running back) and Shep Messing. In fact, all three of the latter shared a Super Bowl suite when Curtis Martin was inducted into the HOF.

    Third, Don Garber is smart for doing this internally. If a stadium could be built with, say, the Cosmos doing the job. The Cosmos might pick a terrible location and thus not warrant an MLS franchise. By guaranteeing a good location, MLS is investing in the flagship franchise.

    Finally, and most importantly, MLS is a single-entity organization. They want to increase the league, not individual teams. It might be nice that Orlando can fill stands in central Florida. But they will never increase the TV rights, garner attention internationally, and attract 3 DPs. 3 DPs will instantly go to NYC. The Cosmos jersey sales abroad beat all of MLS’ combined. And when the Cosmos come to your city, they will sell out (should keep your local team happy). Orlando can’t do that. Not to mention…the team won’t be an energy drink.

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  21. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. There are about 3 groups willing to pony up $100 million if they can get the stadium done. Such groups are the Cosmos (Sela Sports from Saudi Arabia), the Chuck Blazer group which seemed to merge with the Curtis Martin/Shep Messing group. You guys really don’t follow the NYC2 news because you’re not in NYC. If you were, you’d know the progress.

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  22. Nobody cares if you get attendance numbers. MLS has done really well with attendance over the last few years. They need expensive TV rights and you get that via big teams. You won’t capture the nation with Orlando City (which is a misnomer, because Orlando is more like an expanded town). The Cosmos sold more jersey sales than all of MLS combined.

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  23. No, but I live close to a subway line that makes it easy to get to the PATH. Which is the case for many people in Manhattan. But seriously, a trek? You have to be pretty far out in the outer boroughs for it to take longer than 90 minutes (gasp) to get to RBA via public transit. It’s about an hour or less for most of the city. Frankly, we’re spoiled compared to the rest of the cities in MLS.

    (The 7 runs pretty much only in Queens, and unless you live along it, you have the same issues as you do if you don’t live along a subway line that goes to a PATH station. And unlike the 7, the A/C/E/1/2/3 stretch out across the city.)

    Just about anyone from the city who uses travel to RBA as an excuse not to go is just being lazy. Compared to the 3 hour trek out to Giants Stadium for MetroStars games, RBA’s ease of access is pretty much a dream.

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  24. Sorry haha I was having a conversation about my alma mater (East Carolina) while writing so I guess thats how Pirates snuck in there (Arrrggghhh!).

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  25. Every time I go to a RB game! Snap!

    You must live on the PATH spine. Anyone from the 5 boroughs not on the west side of mid-to-downtown manhattan would find the trip to NJ a trek. The 7 line has yooge ridership and connectivity – a team on that line would be ideal.

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  26. After Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, and now Montreal, the bar has been set higher – if you have a market you think is MLS worthy, the ownership group needs to prove they can run a tight ship, challenge for titles in D2, draw passionate crowds of 5,000-10,000+ mostly from season tickets and supporters groups for multiple years, and either have their own stadium to renovate or a signed and secured plan for a 25,000+ seater stadium downwtown. If you’re a fan and you want see a team in your area play in MLS, get together with your friends, form a very outspoken supporters group, and preach this at your ownership until they do it.

    Orlando seems to be doing it right, but they need to move up to D2 to prove they’re serious or they need to quit their saber rattling. I agree NYC2 will probably be a success, but I’d like to see them prove it first in D2 just to be sure. Same goes for any team in the South and Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, and even my home, Vegas.

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  27. You just blew my mind; I didn’t know that Orlando was the Pirates.

    They aren’t, it turns out (Lions). That would be a pretty obscure/crazy/rad homage team naming. I would have been forced to have a soft spot for them, though being a distant Google 2nd to a team from Soweto would be a tough marketing spot.

    Amabhakabhaka!

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  28. New York…. YAWN…. Why is it so important to have another team there? There is so much more need to put teams in other areas of the country to help promote the league…. This is the worst idea the league has had after making such good choices on expansion recently. The extreme push by the league office to have the 20th franchise in Mls is absurd. I agree that New York proper could support a team, but, why now? They have a team. Let another market have a team and who knows you may have another Seattle or Portland on your hands…. This League avoided all of the mistakes of being the NASL and now are trying their hardest to make the Cosmos come back and by the way they bend the rules for NY/LA it is becoming apparent why.

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  29. The cosmos brand is gold. I think that even if Wilpons or another non-Cosmos affiliated owner takes over, MLS will twist arms (or maybe even chip in) to get them to buy or at least partner with the Cosmos brand owner.

    This is all about TV deals in the future. A NY (insert generic animal name here) team would be a huge loss in money and clout. They will do the Cosmos somehow – I am sure of it.

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