Stadium Discussion
- Thread starter Gene
- Start date
Our boy David is going to be in a stadium before we are. (Never put anything past El Guaje.)
Welp, Miami just got their downtown stadium plans approved. Sigh.
They had their "downtown" stadium approved years ago. This one is out by the airport. Still, it's approved and they have one. Good for them. We will get there eventually.
Will we? I'm not so sure. I know building in NYC is almost impossible, but it feels like we're back to square one. Patricof back in 2016 was saying "we're looking at multiple sites" and now it's 6 years later and we're hearing the same exact thing from Sims.
I could never understand why a mayor wouldn't push for a privately funded stadium? When those things get built, they always have a plaque somewhere that has the mayor's name on it in perpetuity.
In Louisiana, there are countless bridges that have big plaques with Huey or Earl Long's names on them. People remember you by what you built.
De Blasio - fucking dumbass.
Of course. But at least this time we have words to start with. Better than opposition or wishywashy "we'll look into it" we had for 8 years with debozo.
answered your own question
The last development plan for the GAL site and the South Bronx was such a clear win-win-win it's hard to believe it didn't happen. I mean, we know all about the Yankees and their hijinks. And de Blasio is . . . well, de Blasio. Enough said there.Of course. But at least this time we have words to start with. Better than opposition or wishywashy "we'll look into it" we had for 8 years with debozo.
answered your own question
But MLS is still a single-entity league, CFG still owns 80 percent of the franchise, and Ferran Soriano is still CEO of the umbrella organization and the guy who put our franchise at the front of City's expansion strategy. I just don't understand why there isn't an iron will behind us getting our own park. If the problem really is the Yankees, we shouldn't be getting bossed by a 20 percent stake. Bigfoot 'em.
And while we're on the subject, people say "it's so hard to build in New York" but there's stuff going up all over the place. Just look at the Barclay's Center and downtown Brooklyn. Look at Hudson Yards. If you want it badly enough (which we should), have the money to do it (which we do) and dangle lots of new jobs as part of the deal (which we can), you should be able to get it done.
As to where, no one can tell me we can't crawl into bed with Related and get something done on Willets Point. They'd go for it. I'm sure of it.
You'd think we'd rate a significant mention in his development plan. After all, we were floating a billion-dollar rejuvenation of the South Bronx. And CFG's rep for coming correct with the local communities where they operate is well-deserved. You'd think he'd be jumping on it. It's practically a freebie.
But the bottom line is, it's on us. It's on our organization. Our guys just have not pushed hard enough and have taken "no" for an answer -- or put up with the bullshit from the Yankees -- way too easily.
Walter O’Malley tried to build a stadium to replace Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, failed to get permission, and was pressured to relocate to Flushing, which of course is not in Brooklyn. So he moved the Dodgers to LA instead. The site he wanted in Brooklyn went undeveloped for 55 years until Barclays Center opened.
The Jets tried to build a stadium on the west side of Manhattan and failed. That’s where Hudson Yards is now.
I’m not sure these are examples of how it is reasonably feasible to build stadiums in NYC.
ETA: I’m not saying the club and its partners are blameless. But in the 100 years since the original Yankee Stadium opened, NYC built exactly one new stadium (Shea) that wasn’t a next door land trade for an existing stadium, built one new arena (MSG) under circumstances that led to the invention of Landmark Preservation law to make sure that never happens again, built another arena after a 55 year wait, and drove away 2 baseball teams and 2 football teams who couldn’t figure out a way to build new stadiums in the city.
Why MLS and CFG looked at that and thought they could succeed quickly is a mystery.
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I understand all that, and they're perfectly valid examples. But for one thing, we're not talking about a 70,000-plus seat football stadium or a 56,000-seat ballpark. We're more like half that size, so while the footprint isn't all that different the traffic concerns, etc. most certainly are.
For another, we had all the pieces seemingly in place for the GAL site before it was blown up over the parking issue, which I personally think is a blazing-red herring. That wasn't the city or the local residents putting the kabosh on the deal last summer. It was our side of the table.
Where is the determination from CFG to get it done? I haven't seen any evidence of them, or MLS for that matter, trying to get the Yankees in line or making a massive public push for our own park. It's something we should be talking about all the time -- all the time -- and not crying about, ever. And we should be doing it through official outlets and channels and not leaving it to people like the 161st Street BID guy to do our talking for us.
Anyway, some of the complications are perfectly understandable. I get it, real estate is tight within the city limits. You can put a lot of apartments in the space a stadium takes up (just drive by the old Ebbets Field location sometime and see for yourself). But that's the whole reason for folding our park into a bigger development plan. And we had the plan. It was a good project. It shouldn't have been that easy to scuttle it.
(This is why I'm so anxious for us to marry Related, by the way. I'm certain if we're with them, and they're with us, it gets done.)
We need Ferran Soriano and CFG to get on the stick here. There's still enough time, barely, to at least get close to opening our own park by the 2026 World Cup. From a business perspective it would be criminal to let that just slide by without at least a structure to point to.
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Oh, and I think I should point out Arthur Ashe Stadium opened in 1997. I just looked it up and it seats 23,200 -- not far from where we need to be. And of course the Brooklyn Cyclones are in a stadium on Coney Island built even later, although it's smaller (less than 10,000 including SRO).
Edit: And the Islanders are getting a stadium in Elmont, on a site we've looked at -- we "look at" things a lot -- ourselves.
It can be done.
[As a side note, I keep thinking of the rail yards off the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. If Hudson Yards can be built on a platform, so can a soccer stadium. Just a thought.]
Edit: And the Islanders are getting a stadium in Elmont, on a site we've looked at -- we "look at" things a lot -- ourselves.
It can be done.
[As a side note, I keep thinking of the rail yards off the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. If Hudson Yards can be built on a platform, so can a soccer stadium. Just a thought.]
Arthur Ashe is maybe a sixth of the size of how big our stadium needs to be. It’s one tennis court.
Yes , but it’s also an entire complex that’s more than large enough. It also had such strong backing from a tennis-loving mayor that he has a plaque at the site.
The Yankees killed the deal not because they are our partner, but in spite of it. They had the power to kill the deal because of the parking garages, and that will continue to be the case whether they are partners with us or not.
Give me a Mayor willing to take the heat for giving away parkland and I’ll build you a stadium.
ETA: Also It helped a lot that the USTA is technically non-profit.
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