Top Stories

MLS hoping to reach deal for NYC stadium within next 30 days

MNTHCS20111011257

Photo by ISIphotos.com

If MLS has its way, a deal for the much-discussed soccer-specific stadium in New York City will be finalized within the next month.

According to New York Daily News, MLS is hoping to iron out the finals details of a deal that would allow the league to move forward with their plans for a stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens within the next 30 days. If that turns out to be the case, MLS commissioner Don Garber said construction of the stadium could begin in 2014, with 2016 or 2017 being the target timeframe to open it to the public.

Plans are to build a 25,000-seat stadium on 10 to 13 acres at the Fountains of Industry site, which is reportedly up from the original eight acres there were estimated. Officials, however, are hoping to get approval for a 35,000-seat stadium so as to give MLS the option for stadium expansion in the future.

The news of a deal for a New York City soccer-specific stadium making progress comes on the same day that a Washington D.C. politician said the district was in the final stages of negotiations with D.C. United over a soccer-specific stadium of their own.

What do you think of this development?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. What people don’t understand is if you look at the NY market you will realize that NYRB are the 9th team in try state . Only one newspaper NYPost has a designated writer for the team . And RB will not loose half of the supporters because of the creation of sequels .RB fans base is actually growing , and rival games might actually increase this numbers. NHL lockout might and is bringing a lot of hockey fans to the stands .what I have an issue with Garber in particular is the fact that original MLS team are desperate for SSS and he will finance NY2 c’mon. I been Metro / RB fan for 14 years and as much I hate DC they deserve a stadium so are the Revs .

    Reply
  2. This doesn’t take away the coolness factor from Red Bull. There will always be DP caliber players wanting to come to the NY area. If Chivas wasn’t such a train wreck, DP’s would want to go there also. San Diego would be a perfect destination for DP’s.

    Reply
  3. You really don’t know how many of those little Silver/Blue cans they sell do you????

    If anything it’s almost as if RBNY is one big ad campaign lol

    They are fine…they spend close to 15 million on DPs and as much as they can on the rest of the cap…..

    Reply
  4. Those cities have DECADES of support for their teams in the old NASL and in other versions of their teams that have played in different leagues or attempts at a league….

    Dallas has a huge problem that Frisco is a LONG drive away from all the folks in Dallas I think New York is a weird animal because even when averaging like 22K and getting some sellouts people weren’t going to games so either a lot of Brokers bought season tickets or for some reason season ticket holders wouldn’t show up to games…..

    Reply
  5. I don’t think anyone has spent 300 million….the NY stadium costs that mainly because of the land value…

    NYRB have money from their owners so they are fine and they paid for the stadium so they can do as they please….

    Do you agree with JRP that building stadiums is not important?

    As for your previous comment….yes Revs play for free….they also don’t make much money and suck now….the stadium is WAY too far to get a decent crowd especially when the team has not been very good for a while

    Revs need to move to a more intimate stadium, Seattle does play in a football stadium, but guess what they covered the top part and the Bird’s nest when they started..now they open a part of the 2nd level…and get 40K+ nearly every game….

    And it was designed for both NFL and Soccer btw…. Revs may own the stadium but they could be a better team in a different stadium….teams who are better example of the revenue shortage are DC United, Houston before this year….SKC, SJ etc etc maybe Chivas USA

    Reply
  6. Well they can’t be in the 2013 season….and I think this will probably be done so they play somewhere in 2016…that means they wait about 3 seasons….wouldn’t hurt to play in NASL for 2 or 3 years…I was just saying Cosmos are coming back to NASL next year….I can see them playing there until 2015…that’s 3 years maybe 2 and play in RBA for 2 years?????

    Reply
  7. Way to kill one of your flagship franchises, Garber. Take away half (or more) of the fan base, practically hand them a new stadium (instead of making them build their own, like RBNY), and create a cooler-sounding place for DPs to go. You’re treating RBNY and its fans like a friend you hang out with only until a cooler person pays attention to you. We’ve got clueless ownership in Austria and a clueless commissioner here. And people wonder why RBNY fans get cranky.

    Reply
  8. You hit the nail on the head. There’s a peculiar hipster vibe in Seattle and Portland that has latched onto soccer and especially the MLS. Ig the sport was as popular in other cities, it might not actually be as cool and popular in those cities. They get off on being different

    Reply
  9. I’d say it’s more a Queens play than an LI or CT play. Yeah, the team will market to LI and CT lawyers and bankers for the luxury boxes, but the core audience will be immigrants living in Queens.

    Reply
  10. like it or not, this stadium and the one in DC are going to be huge for mls and soccer in the USA. good work by MLS and others!

    the only question is will there be 19 teams until 2016-17 or will the Cosmos be the 21st or 22nd team to enter the league?

    Reply
  11. I think there is a ready fan base in the NYC market that either doesn’t get enough love from RBNY or is so pissed off at the management of that club, especially in light of the ridiculous shake up just set in motion, that will happily walk over to the new club as soon as they put the Cosmos logo over the door.

    Considering I live in the northern suburbs of NYC and have never seen an RBNY advertisement or event up here, I think perhaps this Queens-based NY club will become my club as soon as they are ready to go.

    Reply
  12. Lets face it. If I told to go to some job ink town in Europe vs. London, Paris, Milan, etc., which place would you want to go to? Having two teams in LA (I know Chivas are a hot mess) and two in NY gives he league more “choice destinations for worldwide stars to come to. It shouldn’t matter, and It wouldn’t to me, but try telling me that Beckham or Henry would have gone to Columbus. Some players like GBS, and now Higuin like the small town ease, others want the big lights.

    Reply
  13. Red Bulls are doing just fine. They have a growing (slowly) core group of supporters and in the late summer and fall consistently pack RBA on Saturday games.

    Reply
  14. Own? Or own paying a mortgage? Or operate while paying a lease? Cause all the SSS fanboys love to chatter away like it’s a license to print money even if you’re still just an operating tenant. It’s just a different percentage cut.

    Cause people always talk crap about the Revs but as I understand it they play for free. League paragon Seattle plays in a football park. etc.

    Reply
  15. So, you’d spend $300 million and risk league financial health on a stadium gamble, to address a perception issue? Aren’t we already doing this on a more modest level with modest results in Harrison?

    Reply
  16. It helps when Portland has only the Blazers, and Seattle has the decidedly mediocre Mariners and Seahawks. Ripe for the hipster picking.

    LA has had 20K+ in both their stadiums. Even if you toss out Meadowlands, they still don’t fill Red Bull Arena. I’m not sold NY is any different than cities like Dallas that only get motivated for big money teams on junkets. Send out Chelsea for a pretend game they’ll show 40K+. Send out NY2 on a salary cap and it’ll be 15K once the novelty wears off.

    Reply
  17. Really? Red Bull has a crapload of money and a stadium with their name on it to pay off.

    They are closer to the old Cosmos premise (bring in expensive foreigners using greater resources) than the pretenders with the purchased logo are.

    Reply
  18. I think it’s awesome when 3/4’s of the stadium is empty.

    For perception alone, that’s AWESOME for the league and club.

    Your statement/question wasn’t a serious one though. So I won’t treat it as such.

    There’s no one you could be that out of touch and uninformed of the importance.

    Reply
  19. Well, MLS OS giftwrapping this stadium for a 2nd NY MLS team, be it the Cosmos it someone else. And whoever pays $100 million plus to buyan MLS franchise may not want to linger in the NASL for up to 4 seasons while the thing is built.

    Reply
  20. Your 2nd point is the more valid and true….Seattle and Portland are anomalies of their own….

    LA could get close to that or maybe they could get 40K but only with a stadium maybe a little closer to Central LA and for sure more accessible off a train or light rail…as it is takes me AT LEAST an hour and 20 minutes to get to the HDC from Hollywood which is like 5 minutes from Downtown or 6 miles or what not….and I have to take 1 train, 2 buses and 1 bus that is an express which cost about dollar more because it jumps on the freeway….I could skip the 1st bus and walk but you get the idea…

    If they got a more central stadium and DPs like Beckham that would create a big buzz I can see it otherwise…nope…Prices are kind of high ever since Becks came lol

    Reply
  21. If you’re not in Portland or Seattle or even pushing it LA with the right DP like Beckham was…nobody is going to draw close to 40K week in and week out. Is not that it’s a joke, that’s just where our league is at the moment. No shame in that we are slowly climbing the latter of most attended leagues around the world and our stadiums are anywhere from 60 to 90% filled depending on whether you’re in NY or Seattle where for different reasons it’s only about 60% filled or places like KC, Houston, Philly, Portland etc etc where it’s like 90%..

    Places in Europe aside from the EPL and maybe most of the teams in Bundesliga have teams with VERY empty stadiums…look at Spain and Italy which I’ve followed for years…they have horrible attendance in some places with relation to how full the stadium is

    Reply
  22. Why would Google or Apple have any interest in MLS? They are businesses interested in making profits. MLS just doesn’t make a lot of money. In fact most teams are still in the red. Maybe one day that will change, and then you can start expecting big companies to want a piece of the pie.

    And a 25,000 seat stadium is much preferable to a 50,000 seat stadium. A big part of moving away from playing in NFL stadiums was that the stadiums were less than half full and the atmosphere was terrible. Smaller, more intimate stadiums (e.g. Livestrong Park, BBVA Stadium, Home Depot Center) are the type of stadiums MLS needs right now. There’s no reason to spend massive amounts of money on a huge stadium, where they’ll have to close large sections just to make the place look filled.

    Reply
  23. I think this is just MLS doing the work of getting it done….for the sake of helping SOMEONE move there….they’ll still make money and most likely will work out an arrangement to buy their way into the stadium….

    Reply
  24. New York and LA should have bigger stadiums. If Seattle can average 40k a game, they should be able to do at least that.

    Then again, the game seems to be more popular in the NW.

    Reply
  25. Why doesnt MLS wait until they get more powerful owners involved ?????

    25,000 seat stadium, What a joke !!! Let a company like Google or Apple get involved, Knock out some BS real estate in a prime location and put in a 40,000 to 50,000 seat stadium

    Reply
  26. Are you honestly that unaware of how OWNING your OWN stadium gives the team an ability to not only CONTROL but KEEP revenue from all sorts of money making revenue streams…anything from Naming rights and advertising boards/sponsorship revenues…..

    They need a more intimate less Cavernous Stadium, look at what New England go thru in a more than 3/4ths empty Gillette Stadium??

    A 25K with easy expansion to 35K would be PERFECT for NY team!

    Reply
  27. I was going to say isn’t it right next to City Field AND the US Tennis Center with Arthur Ashe stadium where they play the US Open?

    Reply
  28. The problem now is still that even tho the sales numbers have gone down…people sometimes just don’t show up to games and for sure show up late so you don’t see how many people are IN THE SEATS until like halftime lol

    I think a team closer to Manhattan with easy access of the trains and mass transit will out draw 22K Red Bulls tho…maybe sell out a lot with the proper big name DPs or what not…I can SOOOO See Ronaldo or Ribery in NY one day lol

    Reply
  29. Well aren’t the Cosmos going to start play in NASL next year??? You figure they play there at least 2 years…maybe 3 and then play in their new stadium even if for only part of 2016 but either share RBA for the 1st Half+ of the season or start on the road like say Houston, KC, Portland and even to an extent Philly did????

    Reply
  30. Live in Manhattan: it’s a coin flip as to whether I would rather go to Flushing or Harrison.

    Slight nod to Harrison acutally as I live in lower Manhattan and the new Calatrava transit hub will be much more desirable than the bowels of Grand Central.

    This as much a play to Long Island and southern CT as anything else. Hope they’re game.

    Reply
  31. Why would they want to build a stadium when they could play in an NFL stadium which was “designed” for use as a soccer stadium, monster cross stadium and concert venue?
    Do we really need soccer stadiums to build they league?

    Reply
  32. LIRR and 7 train both stop at the stadium site, about a 5-7 minute walk from the platform.

    PArking in Citi field lot.

    Not bad at all on the public transport and LI commute front.

    Reply
  33. Flushing Meadows/Corona Park? I’ve been out of the state for some time now, but back when that was an LIRR ride to Jamaica and bus transfer. The roads suck around those parts on a good day. It’ll still be a tough slog for LI fans…wish something could have been done closer to the main mass transit lines.

    Reply
  34. Try achieving attendance numbers in the current NY team stadium which rival other top grossing teams first. This includes having more than one sell out.

    Reply
  35. Ives, do you see the second NY team (be it Cosmos or whatnot) being a traveling team or a temporary 2nd tenant at RBA until their stadium is built? I can’t imagine they want to wait until 2017…

    Reply
  36. ON a DC stadium – I’ll believe it when its signed off on. Council Member Evans said initially “in the final stages”, then backtracked a few hours later to; we hope to have an agreement in place by the end of the year.

    Reply

Leave a Comment