From the Cosmos documentary, “Once in a Lifetime”
On Thursday afternoon, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber held his annual teleconference to speak about the league in advance of the 17th season, which kicks off Saturday afternoon. As expected, a number of the questions revolved around what has become known as “NY2”: the league’s continued efforts to find space for a soccer-specific stadium and 20th team somewhere within NYC proper. Well, except for Staten Island.
In response to a question from the NY Times’ Jack Bell, Garber laid out his argument for how the league intends to pursue the stadium:
“What I will say is the league is taking the lead on developing the stadium opportunity and it is the first time that we have ever done that as part of an expansion process. It has been nine teams over the last 10 years. This is the first one that the league is driving. The most important aspect of what we need to achieve success and that is a stadium. So the architects, the consultants, the environmental consultants, the economic opportunity consultants will all work for the league and will put together a project that we hope to be able to deliver to a potential owner.”
Garber indicated the league has looked at 19 sites over the last year and a half, and has worked closely with the Mayor’s Office to find areas that would have “great community support”. Garber refused to name any specific sites that are being considered, only that the sites needed to have “really strong public transportation access” and proximity to the “urban core” of NYC. The league did explicitly rule out Belmont Park as a possibility due to its distance.
Would NY2 be the return of the New York Cosmos, the famed franchise who returned to the scene last year with a marketing blitz? (The Cosmos do really like the West Side.) Garber indicated that he had spoken to the new ownership after the franchise changed hands in November, but that “it doesn’t make sense to have much conversation until we have made more progress on the stadium.” He continues to believe that if they build it, the investors will come, stating “when the stadium is done there will be no shortage of owners who are going to line up and want to pay $100 million for our 20th team in New York”.
The Scoring Third hypothesizes that locations in Brooklyn Heights (!) and Long Island City could fit the league’s ideas.
