Major League Soccer side New York FC has reportedly revealed plans to build a 25,000-seat soccer stadium in the Bronx, which would be the city’s first soccer-specific stadium.
NYCFC, which currently plays home games at Yankee Stadium baseball park since its introduction as an expansion franchise in 2015, however the venue has been criticized for its suitability for soccer with fans located far away from the field and also seeing numerous schedule conflicts with the Yankees’ baseball fixtures.
The New York Times reported that the team is looking at reviving a seven-year-old plan to construct a new soccer stadium, as well as hotel, affordable housing, a school and retail units on a site currently occupied by parking lots, which were built when the old Yankee Stadium ballpark was torn down in 2009. The proposed project previously fell-through seven year earlier.
However, the City Football Group ownership, which also owns Manchester City, is reportedly pursuing the project and the team’s CEO, Brad Sims provided an official update on the situation:
“NYCFC fans,
I wanted to personally share with you the information that we provided in a statement to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and numerous other outlets yesterday, regarding our ongoing project to build our permanent home and New York City’s first-ever soccer-specific stadium.
Though nothing has been finalized, there has been significant progress made, thanks to the hard work and dedication of our partners on this exciting project. We are actively involved with MADDD Equities, the Yankees, NYC Economic Development Corporation, the Bronx Parking Authority, and numerous Bronx community groups and local leaders to bring a transformative project proposal to the South Bronx, one piece of which would be a soccer-specific stadium. We are proud to partner with MADDD Equities, a well-known affordable housing developer, and NYC EDC to grow our engagement with local community leaders as we embark on the public approval process.
In the coming months, we will take further steps to formalize our participation in the public approval process which will include engaging in meaningful public dialogue with community residents, civic leaders, supporters, and local elected officials to obtain critical feedback on the details of this proposal so that we can ensure the project meets the needs of the community and New York City as a whole.
As passionate fans, your role as we go through the formal approval process will be to do what you have always done – bring your love for our sport and our Club and continue to represent the ideals and diversity of our great City.
We know, as loyal fans, you are every bit as eager as we are to have a permanent home for our Club, especially given our announcement yesterday that the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Round of 16 game will be played at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. Though being forced to play this game outside of the five boroughs is far from ideal, it comes at a time when we are seeing very real progress on our stadium efforts.”
