NEW YORK | NYC FC Soccer Stadium | Willets Point

[Chicagoguy]

So Chicago already has a team or no? If so where do they play? I dont recall hearing much of anything about it?

[ComandanteCero]

i take it you don't follow the MLS much...

it's the Chicago Fire, they have their own park (Toyota) over by Midway...

I hope NYC gets a second team in Queens, it only makes sense considering the metro population and urban demographics. L.A has been doing a good job supporting both of its teams. Hopefully they'll also get a kick ass name.... (i really hate the fact that the Red Bulls are so blatantly named after the drink. I wouldn't even care if they had the Red Bull logo emblazoned on their jerseys, but at least give the team a name that isn't such a soulless attempt at branding... it makes me cringe every time i watch them play. I mean, MetroStars blew chunks as a name as well, they could do much much better).

[John F]

Originally Posted by manchester united

Too see www. newyorkcityfc.net and to sign the petition to convince Wilpon to put a NYC soccer team in MLS in 2010 !!!!

GOOD YEAR !!!!!

"To Convince Wilpon..."

How is it Fred or his son's ultimate decision? It's MLS and MLS is expanding as is for 2009, aren't they? Sounders FC in Seattle?

[manchester united]

2009 : Seattle
2010 : Philadelphia
2011 : St Louis ( almost sure ) and NYCFC ( I hope.. )

[manchester united]

An interesting article on the Borough Boys NYC:

http://www.mls-rumors.net/2008/07/ex...tself-new.html

[manchester united]

Important news :

http://www.mls-rumors.net/2008/09/ex...mets-look.html

[NYC4Life]

An expansion Queens based team, will be the only true New York team since the Red Bulls are based in Harrison, NJ.

[manchester united]

Originally Posted by NYC4Life

An expansion Queens based team, will be the only true New York team since the Red Bulls are based in Harrison, NJ.

The new soccer stadium probably will a 30.000 seats and I am sure that the NYCFC will have at least 20.000 season tickets in the first year !!!
Go Wilpon and forever Borough Boys !!!

[NYguy]

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/06/...g-meadow-park/

Soccer league pushes for stadium in Flushing Meadow park



June 27, 2012

Another huge amenity could be coming to the Citi Field area. Major League Soccer, which for nearly a year has been scouring the city for a site to build a stadium for a forthcoming New York team, has finally selected a site on the northern portion of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park for a 25,000-seat arena, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In exchange for building on the run-down, eight-acre section of the park, where a closed off six-acre concrete pool is filled with stagnant water, the league would refurbish public fields on the site and build cricket and volleyball courts. Though the stadium would be privately financed, it would need approval from the City Council and State Legislature because it is proposed for city-owned park land. Construction on the stadium could be complete one to two years after it receives necessary approval.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...LEFTTopStories

Pro Soccer Nearing Net in Flushing




By LAURA KUSISTO And ELIOT BROWN
6/27/12

In recent weeks, top MLS officials have presented a detailed proposal to local politicians, outlining a plan for a 20,000- to 25,000-seat stadium on roughly eight acres near the northern end of the park. The plan, still in its nascent stages, would create a home for a brand-new league team, as yet unnamed. The league believes construction could be completed one to two years after the project receives the necessary approvals, according to officials briefed on the plans.

As part of the proposal, MLS would also refurbish public soccer fields on the site and create a cricket field and volleyball courts, according to people familiar with the plans. MLS confirmed that it is in discussions with city and local Queens officials about the Flushing Meadows site. Most of the spot is now dominated by a six-acre concrete pool that is fenced-off and filled with stagnant water. "We are thrilled about the prospect of being in Queens and bringing the world's sport to the world's park. We…look forward to working with the community to build a world class soccer facility for all to enjoy," a spokeswoman for the league said.

The soccer stadium would be privately financed, but it would still have to overcome significant hurdles: Because the stadium would be built on city-owned park land, the project would need approval from both the City Council and the state Legislature. To make up for the lost green space, MLS would have to create roughly eight acres of new park land elsewhere in the city.

MLS has met with city officials in recent weeks and has made significant progress in its discussions, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Their pitch line: "The world's game should be played in the world's park." The park was the site of the 1939 and 1964 world's fairs.

State politicians who have sat down with MLS officials in recent weeks greeted the proposal favorably.

[manchester united]

Great news. I hope that this new NYC team will play in MLS by 2014 at Citi Field as temporary stadium !!!!

[NYguy]

This looks like a real possibility.


http://www.qchron.com/editions/north...79ed68514.html

Pro soccer stadium eyed for fair site
20k-seat arena would need city, state OK

June 28, 2012
by Domenick Rafter

New York City has two professional teams in every major sport: baseball, football, hockey and, by next year, basketball. Now, Major League Soccer is eyeing a second team for the area, and the league wants it to be based right in the heart of Queens at Flushing Meadows Park.

Stating that “the world’s greatest game should be played at the world’s park,” MLS is planning a 20,000 to 25,000 seat stadium either on or next to the Fountain of the Planets to house a new MLS team, which would join the New York Red Bulls, who play in New Jersey.

Because the site is public parkland, any development would need approval from both the City Council and state legislature and MLS would have to mitigate the used land with an equal amount of new parkland in another location within city limits. The league said it would also fund renovations of public sports fields within the park, including cricket, soccer and volleyball fields.

[manchester united]

I hope that it will have at least 30.000 seats.

[manchester united]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...sEnabled=false

[Rail>Auto]

It would have been cool if they would have repurposed Shea for this.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Rail>Auto

It would have been cool if they would have repurposed Shea for this.

I think it's a little too big for a soccer stadium, sort of like when those multi-use football/baseball stadiums were being used in baseball. Even if you reduced the seating, it wouldn't be perfect for an arena.


http://www.newsday.com/sports/soccer...g-15-1.3871212
Citi Field to host Ecuador-Chile soccer match on Aug. 15

July 30, 2012
By ALEX M. SILVERMAN

With the Mets in Cincinnati on Aug. 15, Citi Field will be transformed into a soccer pitch, and the ballpark will feel and look a whole lot more like an Ecuadorean soccer stadium. "For the Ecuadorean community, we are feeling in the house, that we are in Ecuador," Ecuadorean Consul General Jorge Lopez said Monday. "That's why we expect that the whole Citi Field will be dressed in yellow, red and blue, our colors for the national team."

For the second consecutive summer, Citi Field will host Ecuador's national soccer team, this time against South American opponent Chile. Last June, Ecuador played to a 1-1 tie against Greece before a near-sellout crowd of 39,656. Queens County, where Citi Field is located, has the largest concentration of Ecuadorians outside of Ecuador itself, with about 100,000 residing there, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Francisco Moya, the assemblyman for the 39th District and the first Ecuadorean-American elected to public office in the U.S., said his district is soccer crazy.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Rail>Auto

It would have been cool if they would have repurposed Shea for this.

The old Shea Stadium site is part of the upcoming Willets Point development.

Shea is going to be the first phase of the development (a big mall, I think).

[manchester united]

http://www.nypost.com/Page/Uuid/59c3...9-feb8f9b664fb

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by manchester united

http://www.nypost.com/Page/Uuid/59c3...9-feb8f9b664fb

MLS near deal for $300 million deal Queens stadium

August 13, 2012
Fredric U. Dicker

Major League Soccer is closing in on a final deal with state and city officials for a $300 million, 25,000-seat, state-of-the-art soccer-stadium complex in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, The Post has learned. The proposed facility, construction of which could begin early next year, would be home to a yet-to-be-named new franchise.

The stadium would be located next to the Mets’ Citi Field and the Arthur Ashe tennis stadium, and would include nine high-quality soccer fields available for community and minor-league use, sources said. While Major League Soccer had made its interest in Flushing Meadows known before, insiders say talks on the project have advanced considerably and are close to being wrapped up.

The stadium’s cost would be fully funded by the MLS ownership group, the project’s sponsor, but state, city and Metropolitan Transportation Authority approvals would be needed because parklands are involved, it was learned. Under an arrangement now being discussed, the city, which owns Flushing Meadows Park, would give up about nine acres for the project, but would receive an equivalent amount of land from the state for parkland use.

Construction of the stadium could begin early next year. But legislation permitting the parkland swap is required. A state official who has met with representatives of the MLS ownership group said the legislation could be taken up in late November, when a special session of the Legislature is expected. “I definitely think this could happen in 2013 and it will generate construction jobs, permanent jobs and sales-tax revenues for the city and the state,’’ said an excited state official.

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/q...content=Queens

Soccer stadium a big kick: Mike

By DAVID SEIFMAN
August 14, 2012

Goal! Plans to open a soccer stadium in Queens scored big yesterday with Mayor Bloomberg.

“It would be a great idea,” the mayor said, responding to The Post’s report that Major League Soccer is in talks with the city and state to build a $300 million, 25,000-seat stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. “There’s enormous support for a soccer stadium from what we can tell from elected officials and from local officials in the area. In Queens, in particular, soccer is a very big game. My understanding is there’s a lot of sentiment in Albany that they would be willing to do it.”

Gov. Cuomo quickly announced that is his goal as well. “We’re working with MLS to make this a reality,” declared Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi.

Sources said the soccer venue would land the city a new professional soccer team. The Red Bulls would continue to play at their stadium in Harrison, NJ.

Bloomberg said the biggest hurdle to the stadium is the need to find replacement park land.

[NYC4Life]

This is great for NYC and for a potential future Olympics bid like the 2024 games. Now i wonder what the new team will be called and if the red bulls will still be called "New York."