NEW YORK | NYC FC Soccer Stadium | Willets Point

[fimiak]

I don't know why people see government-private partnership and jump to the conclusion that the general population is going to suffer for it. Government-private partnerships are in my opinion almost always a good thing, as government provides some oversight and restraint, and the private sector provides the money and the vision. This stadium looks great and is in a good location to be heavily trafficked.

[sbarn]

Originally Posted by blacktrojan3921

Why are they fighting to protect that pool? It looks like it hasn't been used for years as the water looks extremly dirty.

Yeah the fountain is basically abandoned and it hasn't been properly maintained for years. This IMO is a positive addition to the park.

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/socce...bh72e202nD75xN

Plans for proposed Queens soccer stadium leaked online





By RICH CALDER
February 25, 2013

Here’s how Major League Soccer hopes to score big in Queens.

The first designs of a $300 million, 25,000-seat soccer stadium that MLS wants to build for an expansion franchise in the heart of Flushing-Meadows Park were quietly revealed by Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects during a presentation earlier this month at the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture. Pasquarelli’s hour-long presentation – which was primarily about his firm’s design of Barclays Center in Brooklyn – also briefly included a display of renderings for the MLS Stadium project that SHoP was hired design in October.

Pasquarelli referring to the design, said it was “the project I’m not supposed to show [you].” But the entire presentation was captured on You Tube and later circulated via the sports blog Nets Daily. The renderings show an open-air stadium that’s enclosed in a mesh design. "It's all about making a new kind of stadium that has no walls, that’s completely open at all times,” Pasquarelli said.

The massive rooftop frame is shaped like a doughnut and hovers over the upper deck, but it still allows a scenic view of the nearby “Unisphere” and other local landmarks.

Under the MLS plan – which the city is considering but faces staunch opposition from various community groups – MLS would have to replace up to 13 acres of parkland. One rendering shows views from one of the new public soccer fields that would be built near the stadium as part of the plan.

An MLS source said the leaked drawings – which have since been pulled from You Tube – are “preliminary" and would be significantly different when finalized.

[ardecila]

Without walls? I don't know what that means. Stadiums are supposed to be bowl-shaped, which usually means you can't see out. You can concentrate seating along the sidelines and remove them in the endzones like many college football stadiums, but then you're putting a lot of people way up high.

From the renderings, it looks pretty conventional compared to other soccer stadiums abroad.

[NYguy]

http://www.empireofsoccer.com/first-...tion-exterior/

- THE PARK WITHIN THE STADIUM - The landmark location of the arena won’t be lost in it’s construction. Working with the contours of the landscape, the stadium’s upper level “folds down” as described by Pasquarelli, giving full view of Flushing’s most iconic symbol – The Unisphere.

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/soccer...#axzz2RWdLgLLp

MLS hopes to announce plans for Queens stadium in 4-6 weeks

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 25, 2013

Major League Soccer hopes to announce plans in four to six weeks for a stadium in Queens for a 20th team.

The league and New York City have been involved in negotiations to build a stadium on a 10-acre site in the Flushing Meadows park. A team there would start play in 2016 and be rivals of the New York Red Bulls, who play in Harrison, N.J.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber told the Associated Press Sports Editors on Thursday that "If we get this done, it will be in Flushing Meadow Park. There is no Plan B."

He also said the revived New York Cosmos, who start play in the second-tier North American Soccer League on Aug. 3, is not discussing bidding to become the league's 20th team. MLS is asking for a $100 million expansion fee.

Says Garber: "Pele is not playing for them anymore. Neither is Frank Beckenbauer."

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/mo...icle-1.1350255

Yankees partnering with Manchester City on new MLS team to be known as New York City Football Club


By Filip Bondy
May 21, 2013

In the ultimate odd-couple alliance, Hal Steinbrenner has joined forces with controversial multi-billionaire Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan to bring an expansion MLS team to New York.

MLS commissioner Don Garber announced on Tuesday that the Yankees and Sheikh Mansour's Manchester City will create a partnership and acquire a club for $100 million that will begin play in 2015 in a yet-unspecified temporary home until a permanent, soccer-specific stadium is built. Speculation is that Yankee Stadium might provide a home for some matches. The new owners are still hopeful they can push through a stadium approval for the site at Flushing Meadows, despite political opposition.

Manchester City will be the majority owner, the Yankees a primary investor. Interestingly, they may need to negotiate with the Mets for parking lot space if the new stadium in Queens is to become a reality.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/levine-...0870--mls.html

Levine: Yankee Stadium a 'potential' temporary home for NYC FC





May 21, 2013
By Avi Creditor

New York City FC will begin play as MLS' 20th team in 2015, but the club will have to make use of a temporary home before settling into a new soccer-specific stadium of its own in The Big Apple, MLS revealed upon its major announcement Tuesday.

The league has been seeking a stadium site in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens for about a year, and while discussions will continue on that front -- spearheaded now by the Manchester City and New York Yankees ownership group -- before ground can be broken either in Queens or elsewhere, a number of possibilities will be considered to be the first home of the new franchise.

Yankee Stadium, which will host a Chelsea-Manchester City friendly on Saturday, is in play as one of those potential sites, according to Yankees president Randy Levine.

"We haven't made any decisions, but it is a possibility," Levine said on a conference call with reporters. "There are places to play until a new stadium is built. Yankee Stadium is a potential place to play.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/...er_wanted.html

New York City FC is everything Major League Soccer has ever wanted

Ryan Rosenblatt
May 21, 2013

The bright lights, big money and glamor of New York has always tantalized MLS. The city was the heart of its plans to bring soccer to the masses, but for 18 years it and everything that MLS has craved has teased the league, remaining just out of its reach.

Today, with New York City FC, the league is betting that it has finally lured its mistress -- The Big Apple.

New York presents opportunities for MLS that no other city does, from the more than 8,000,000 people in the five boroughs alone to the country's number one media market to the unmatched financial power that sits on a small island at the mouth of the Hudson River. But what New York really does is bring it all together under one bright spotlight.

Major League Soccer got the deep-pocketed owners they wanted for Team No. 20.

MLS has struggled to capture that spotlight since its inception in 1996. The New York/New Jersey Metrostars were a ham-handed attempt embrace the entire metro area -- albeit an amusing one and now endearing reminder of MLS's infancy. Everything from the name, to the empty seats at Giants Stadium was comical, and most of all, the club's ineptitude on the pitch made them the butt of jokes around the league. New ownership, a new name and a move to gorgeous Red Bull Arena didn't help either, as the club became property of New Jersey while New York remained blissfully ignorant of the MLS team carrying its name.

The league put its offices in New York and held events there, but without a team that resonated within the city limits, MLS would continue to be an afterthought to the millions of people and dollars that populate the city. And so began the quest for NYC2.

As MLS expanded, from 10 teams in 2004 to 19 in 2012, this mythical second team in New York followed the league everywhere it went. Dubbed NYC2, this expansion team would bring MLS to New York for first time, not just with a stadium inside the city limits, but with a team that would capture the hearts and imaginations of The Big Apple.

MLS insisted the next great step was always going to be New York.

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/k...icle-1.1351001

What a kick!
Welcome to the New York City Football Club. Now, Queens residents should fight for a stadium to be built in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.


NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
May 22, 2013

Cheers and chants are in order: After years of almosts and maybes, the world’s most popular sport is really coming to the world’s greatest immigrant city.

Professional soccer — or, fine, call it football — will kick off in New York in 2015. This time, with Major League Soccer’s 20th franchise and instantly its most prominent, it’s official.

And this time, the people making it possible are well equipped to actually make it work: the owners of Manchester City FC, one of the English Premier League’s flagship teams, and a little enterprise called the New York Yankees.

Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who owns Man City, will also have the majority stake in the New York City Football Club. The Yanks will control a smaller share of the expansion team, though they’ll bring unrivaled American sports management expertise.

Initially, plans for pro soccer in New York were centered on a privately funded stadium that was to rise on an underused patch of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The parkland — no big loss, just 13 of its more than 1,200 acres — was to be replaced, also at private expense, with fresh green space not too far away.

That remains on the table, but the Yanks and their partners are now said to be exploring options elsewhere within the city limits.

This prospect should strike fear in the hearts of the residents of Flushing, Corona and every nearby neighborhood, who should be clamoring for a stadium that would turn a dead patch and broken fountain into something kinetic and electric. Plus, create that parkland.

Last year, according to MLS, attendance averaged more than 18,000 people a game. The New York Red Bulls — future rivals — often drew north of 20,000 fans, sometimes more than 25,000, to their shiny new facility in Harrison, N.J.

Yes, sure, of course — welcome to New York — a few stray voices are already playing spoilsport. Some have protested the plan, saying the sheik is tainted by the social and political policies of his Abu Dhabi-ruling family.

Please. If Manchester, England, can come to love its team, if thoroughly progressive NYU can open a campus in Abu Dhabi, surely cosmopolitan New York City can embrace a club owned by a savvy billionaire from the other side of the world. (See: Brooklyn Nets.)

The New York Cosmos, featuring an aging Pele, won three North American Soccer League championships in the late 1970s and early ’80s. They drew more than 40,000 to home games.

The city is ready again.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/6873...tadium-search/

Yankees Move Turns up the Heat on Soccer Stadium Search





By Kristen Meriwether
May 22, 2013

The New York Yankees are getting into the soccer business, and in the process turning up the heat on finding a location for a new stadium in the city.

The new team is intended to spark a rivalry with the New York Red Bulls, who play in Harrison, N.J.

“The Red Bulls now will have a rival here in the market providing them with that derby-like competition that is such a driver of what makes football so successful around the world,” said Garber, calling the addition of a second New York team a “big transformational event.”

The team begins its history without a home pitch. NYC FC will start play at an interim home—which has yet to be determined—and will consider other sites for a stadium.

“New York City FC will have a permanent home in the City in the great traditions of New York sports and world soccer—a home that must be a sports, commercial and civic success,” said Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City Football Club in a statement.

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1394221

Major League Soccer won’t be coming to Queens: Councilman



By Clare Trapasso
July 9, 2013

Major League Soccer — which was in talks with the city to build a $340 million stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, — won’t be coming to Queens, said a local politician.

“The location doesn’t work,” said City Councilman and Queens Borough President candidate Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), who chairs the Council’s Land Use Committee. “There was no real benefit for Queens residents to site it in that location.”

MLS officials had planned to build the 25,000-seat stadium on up to 13 acres in the park. But following months of highly publicized opposition, the new owners of the New York City Football Club publicly — which will start play in 2015 — backed away from the site in abrupt about-face.

Comrie, who said he opposes putting the stadium in the park, pointed out there is land available near Yankee Stadium.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said the site makes sense and will meet with soccer officials later this month to urge them to build a new stadium in the Bronx. “It’s my understanding, that for whatever reason, they’ve walked away from the conversations they were having in Queens,” said Diaz Jr, noting the area has “an abundance of land.”

Team officials said they are considering various sites all over the city — and Queens is not off the table just yet.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1399417

Mayor Bloomberg heats up Bronx-Queens rivalry for Major League Soccer club, stadium
Hizzoner suggests NYC football franchise will land in the Bronx. But Queens pols still want it.


By Irving Dejohn
July 15, 2013

OFFICIALS on both sides of the Whitestone Bridge ramped up their inter-borough soccer rivalry Monday, one day after Mayor Bloomberg suggested that a new Major League Soccer franchise will get its kicks in the Bronx, not Queens.

The mayor said in his weekly radio address Sunday that “Yankee Stadium will become the home of the New York City Football Club, the first soccer club in the five boroughs since the 1970s.”

But then Hizzoner backpedaled faster than David Beckham.

“The script for the mayor’s radio address overstated the possibility that the New York Football Club could play some games at Yankee Stadium while they search for a permanent home,” mayoral spokeswoman Julie Wood said. “No decision has been made on where they will play.”

[H-man]

found these pics on a MCFC site... dont know where they're from

http://forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/vi...p?f=1&t=288581

[manchester united]

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/...100722762.html

[401PAS]

Originally Posted by manchester united

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/...100722762.html

This is fantastic news and a great location. Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!!!

Guess that the title of this thread needs to be updated. MANHATTAN Soccer Stadium

[Perklol]

Very good news.

[NYguy]

Posted an explanation for the renderings here...
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...7&postcount=26

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...77#post6223077

[Perklol]

Oh well...

[NYguy]

Meanwhile, about that other stadium...


http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1419171

New York Cosmos stadium could create traffic woes on Queens and Long Island border
Nassau County Legislator Carrie Solages protested the plan to build the 25,000-seat soccer stadium near Belmont Park saying the area can’t support it





By Clare Trapasso
August 6, 2013

A local lawmaker is protesting a plan to build a New York Cosmos soccer stadium on the border of Queens and Long Island that could lead to traffic congestion and a slew of low-paying jobs. Nassau County Legislator Carrié Solages arrived at the governor’s Manhattan office on Tuesday to oppose a proposal to erect a 25,000-seat New York Cosmos stadium near Belmont Park in Elmont.

It’s a bad idea for the region,” said Solages (D-Elmont), who is worried it could create a traffic nightmare for local residents. “Soccer does not have the draw it needs to survive here.” He also worries that the stadium wouldn’t create many high-paying positions, as many of the employees would work in maintenance or in the concession stands.

Gov. Cuomo is expected to decide soon which project will go up on the Belmont parking lot. His office did not immediately return calls for comment.

[Duck From NY]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Meanwhile, about that other stadium...

So 'soccer does not have the drive it needs to survive here', yet there will be traffic woes? Call me a skeptic, but...

[NYguy]

Even if the soccer stadium doesn't get built there, the nearby USTA renovation will go on.


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/sp...=nyregion&_r=0





By NAILA-JEAN MEYERS
August 15, 2013

United States Tennis Association officials said Thursday that they expected a retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium to be completed by the 2016 or 2017 United States Open.

The long-awaited roof on Ashe had been announced Wednesday, but officials added Thursday that a retractable roof was also planned for a new 15,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium, which will be the final part of a $550 million renovation project that is expected to conclude in time for the 2018 Open.

The retractable roof on Ashe will be a part of a 5,000-ton superstructure built around and above the existing stadium, which is the largest in tennis, seating more than 22,500. The roof, which will be made of a Teflon-like translucent fabric stretched over a steel frame, will be supported by eight steel columns.

The roof will close from two sides, on glides, in five to seven minutes. It will cost more than $100 million, which is half the price of previously considered plans.

[NYguy]

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/08/...bronx-stadium/

New soccer team wants to put stadium on Yankees parking site
NYC FC in talks to buy East 153rd Street garage site

August 30, 2013
Hiten Samtani

A new Major League Soccer team is looking to build its arena in the Bronx at the site of a debt-ridden parking garage built for Yankees games.

The New York City Football Club is in talks to demolish the 2,400-plus parking garage on East 153rd Street and put a 30,000-seat stadium in its place.

The parking garage has been on the lookout for a way to cash out, sources told the Wall Street Journal. The soccer club likes the location because it is close to public transportation and thriving Yankee Stadium, the sources added.

England’s Manchester City Football Club owns the soccer team in partnership with the Yankees. Yankees president Randy Levine insisted that talks were in preliminary stages.

“”We’re still looking at four or five sites, in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx,” Levine told the newspaper.

[manchester united]

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/G...dy-Levine.aspx