G9 is roughly equivalent to 129, where I have been since day 1. That’s my pref. Hope I can afford it.
Stadium Discussion
- Thread starter Gene
- Start date
I am very excited about the stadium announcement, but I am trying to temper that given that we are still 4-5 years away - at minimum.
That's a long time to wait to get this stadium situation sorted, as we all know. There is not going to be any immediate reward for getting this deal done, and there will be long periods of no news and no apparent progress - just like we've been going through.
And the process will be fraught. The coalition that's been put together - with the Mayor, Borough President, local Counselmember, two real estate titans, and the unions - is a very strong one. It should be able to withstand the obstructions that people will throw at the project to stop or slow it - usually in exchange for a handout. But people will try, and that will lead to an epidemic of nail biting among supporters.
To get a sense of how long we still have to go, I travelled back in a time machine to August 2018 - just as far back in time as we would need to go into the future to host a game in Feb 2027. Here is what was obsessing the forums.
That's a long time to wait to get this stadium situation sorted, as we all know. There is not going to be any immediate reward for getting this deal done, and there will be long periods of no news and no apparent progress - just like we've been going through.
And the process will be fraught. The coalition that's been put together - with the Mayor, Borough President, local Counselmember, two real estate titans, and the unions - is a very strong one. It should be able to withstand the obstructions that people will throw at the project to stop or slow it - usually in exchange for a handout. But people will try, and that will lead to an epidemic of nail biting among supporters.
To get a sense of how long we still have to go, I travelled back in a time machine to August 2018 - just as far back in time as we would need to go into the future to host a game in Feb 2027. Here is what was obsessing the forums.
- We were adjusting to life under our new manager, Dome Torrent, who had taken over for Patrick Vieira a few weeks prior. After a promising start, it was not going well.
- We noted that despite being on track for our best finish ever, we were slipping behind the Red Bulls and Atlanta in the hunt for the Supporters' Shield.
- We were worked up over a game against the Red Bulls where our new signing, Eloi Amagat, got an early red card, and Sebastian Ibeagha got a late red card, yet somehow we rallied to tie 1-1.
- We were excited about the potential debut of our new signing, Taty Castellanos, and wondering how to pronounce his last name.
- We were happy that one of our homegrown players, James Sands, had gone 90' and notched an assist in the MLS Homegrown Game against Tigres U-20s. Also in that game were Austen Trusty and Jesus Ferreira.
- We were shocked and saddened by reports that NYCFC had decided not to keep David Villa for the 2019 season; although happy that the Club would keep him involved in an off the field capacity.
- We were concerned about our academy star, Gio Reyna, leaving for Europe and were blaming that on the fact that we don't play Sands or Scally.
- We debated the decision to loan out James Sands... to Louisville City.
- We hotly debated whether Jonathan Lewis should be getting more playing time. The consensus answer - yes, he should be getting more playing time.
- We were excited that Jack Harrison was finally getting some starts at his new Club, Leeds.
- New board member, Shwafta, expressed amazement at the scope of the Stadium Thread.
- Also in the Stadium Thread, there was much excitement that the Club had organized focus groups to get feedback on potential stadium designs.
- In the Expansion Thread, we debated the name and crest of the new team, Inter Miami.
- On the USMNT front, we were excited that a young American scored 2 goals for PSG in the French Supercup. Midas Mulligan thought that Tim Weah would get a lot of minutes under PSG coach Thomas Tuchel.
- During the month, Midas Mulligan made only 10 posts that included the word "fuck".
FredMertz
Gotham Gator Any of the above work for me. Would be happy in G9 or GU7, 8, 9. Would be fun to have a quorum of forum peeps in any of those.
I think that's correct, although their site lists additional destinations. But I think the first leg is always to Abu Dhabi.
Which begs the question what value a naming rights deal would hold for them. It's not like they're competing with anyone to pack planes full of tourists on their way to Disneyworld or something. LOL
Meanwhile, their only domestic American code share is . . . JetBlue . . .
Last edited:
Btw, they had their soft opening in St. Louis last night. Pretty park. I think the actual construction time was two years.
www.stltoday.com
Photos: Fans get first look at St. Louis City SC's CityPark MLS soccer stadium
The nearly $460 million CityPark soccer stadium had its soft opening on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022 with an international friendly between St. Louis City SC's developmental team, St. Louis City2,
Wow. Impressive stuff! I only joined in january 2018? weird. I was definitely following the team as of beginning of 2016. (I went to a RB game on 3/6/16 and nycfc game on 3/13/16 and stuck with nycfc bc i enjoyed everything about it more)... which leaves me to wonder what the heck I was doing for two years LOL.
Also, what a throwback on basically everything there. Crazy to think that Eloi, Taty, Sands, were all the same time. Wow.
FWIW, I have very good Day 1 priority for seats and I will be desperately looking for some fellow olds to sit with.
Plenty of time to work it out, but I'd be happy to coordinate an "Empty Nester Pigeon" section somewhere nice for us to ride out into the sunset in...
Plenty of time to work it out, but I'd be happy to coordinate an "Empty Nester Pigeon" section somewhere nice for us to ride out into the sunset in...
I’ll be pushing team 50 by the time it opens. Do I qualify?
I am very happy for this new stadium, but I am sorry for these 2 situations:
1) Why 2027?
2) Why only 25.000 seats? I wish AT LEAST 1,000 more than NJ stadium...
And I have also a curiosity: why $780 million for a small stadium?
1) Why 2027?
2) Why only 25.000 seats? I wish AT LEAST 1,000 more than NJ stadium...
And I have also a curiosity: why $780 million for a small stadium?
On question 1: It's going to be at least 18 months before we can put shovels in the ground -- so if we're lucky we're looking at a start of construction in June, 2024. If it takes 2.5 years to build at that point, it would be ready for the start of the 2027 season.
On question 2: My guess is that they want a stadium that will be full for every game; if there's lower supply there will be higher demand. You want to create the illusion (or reality) of scarcity so people buy tickets ahead of time. Our average attendance in the early years was mid-20s, and right now it's around 20,000. 25 seems like a pretty good number to make sure they can sell out most games. They'd rather have most games sold out than have most games not sold out, because if people think they might be out of luck, they'll be more likely to pull the trigger instead of waiting until game day and deciding to just watch at home.
$780 million because land is expensive in NYC. Material costs have gone WAY up over the last few years. Labor costs are 100% union, so they will be paid well and also adds to the cost. In all likelihood, by the time it is finished, it will probably be higher.
Last edited:
Still think they could have gone at least 30k. They are going to pick up so many new fans with a permanent home in queens. I saw the FB fan page got like 400 new members this week. I wonder if they can decide on exact capacity later and 25k was a guesstimate for PR purposes because they had to say something. They obviously are getting a PA license. So it comes down to how they use their FAR. And I have a feeling city isn’t going to cap that. They could wake up next year say 40k and have no legal hoops to maneuver, just adjust with the architect & re-calculate construction costs.
I agree that 25K is too small. We should be able to sell that out every game in a proper soccer stadium. I don't think we need much more - maybe 28-30K.
This project is going to change and evolve over the next couple of years. Hopefully, that includes more seats.
This project is going to change and evolve over the next couple of years. Hopefully, that includes more seats.
I’m slightly confused with what you’re insinuating here, so I’m assuming I’m misinterpreting it, so please correct me on the below points I’m grabbing from this:
- Are you suggesting that CFG is going to create a construction company in NYC to build this?
- The city is still going to own the land and as such, rent will be paid to the city. Are you saying that basically CFG will pay the city rent for the land but charge NYCFC rent for the stadium?
- Even if that is the case, with what Mark has laid out above, the LLC would be paying rent and not the Yankees.
Stadiums are revenue generators. CFG will not want to share Stadium revenue with the Yankees. That would be incredibly dumb.
So a separate entity from NYCFC will own and operate the stadium. The team that plays in the stadium (plus concerts and college football games and trade shows maybe) will have to pay to use the stadium.
It allows CFG to control the revenue stream, while also shiv’ing the Yankees.
Makes sense. But unless the Yankees are going to be playing a baseball game there (this absolutely needs to happen by the way), how would they be paying rent?
Because, again, as Mark laid out, it would be the club LLC paying that.
I think he's saying that the profits from the stadium, not the rent, would also go partially to the yankees? So if that's the case then they would probably make a proxy to bypass that? If I'm understanding or following this conversation correctly
I think K Kjbert is saying they will only allow Yanks to own 20% of NYCFC LLC (Made that up for arguments sake). NYCFC is a subsidiary of CFG. There will also be another corp let’s call it WP LLC that yanks have no interest in (maybe Related does tho). WP LLC will have to get approval for and construct/lease stadium. NYCFC LLC pays WP LLC rent as a subtenant. WP also makes money off of other events, naming rights, concessions. All NYCFC makes $ from is MLS related income like Apple TV deal, playoff bonuses, etc…. Technically NYCFC can show a loss every year with their huge salaries & lease payments. WP shows a profit every year based on rent and concessions - debt service & expenses (no RE taxes!). Value of the “team” is NYCFC LLC + WP LCC, but Yanks could be iced out of the real valuable part.
