Bronx close to scoring $400M soccer stadium for NYCFC

In New York, "empty" means anything that's not 20 stories tall.

 

Umm...

 

I think they could probably do it before if they get their stuff together. I mean if they are negotiating now, how long can it take? Well then again looking at San Jose's situation I guess it could take that long....

 

Who knew Yoda posted on Big Soccer?

 

Is this really going to be paid with public funds because the co-owners are pretty well off. I mean one of the teams spent half the cost of the stadium on one player who took roids.

 

And the other bought a World Cup. That's how they do it in the Big Apple.

 

The public financing is for infrastructure for rezoning and redevelopment, no? or did I read that wrong?

 

I guess I've been moving this perspective based initially on a report from a Red Bull fan on MetroFanatic who spoke with an attorney friend at Proskauer Rose a huge NYC based now international corporate law firm with a huge sports practice, NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL/MLS, helped broker the Beckham deal, David Stern/Gary Bettman/Randy Levine all worked there, big NY Yankees business.

Seems to be playing out with Levine on numerous occasions unwilling to say the obvious that the team will play at Yankee Stadium until their new stadium is ready. Levine repeatedly mentions Citi Field and even if I recall correctly Met Life a couple of times as possibilities.

The Yankees' fanbase will absolutely not be pleased with any negative fallout from this soccer venture be it around scheduling or field condition or any sense that the club is diverting any of its attention from the baseball team. The Yankees are in a curious and unusual position now with an aging club that's won only one championship in recent years with attendance and TV ratings (Yes Network) down and the new stadium underperforming.

Mark my words 4 years at the stadium will be a big issue in this town...

 

I think starting off in Yankee stadium is actually a good thing for NYC FC

 

So are you saying that the Yankees, with all their local knowledge of just how hard it is to build in NY and how long it takes jumped into this partnership blind without knowing that it might cause some overlap in their stadium?

I find that hard to believe. I am not referring to the fan base. I am talking about the Yankees front office. It just makes no sense to me that they ever would have entered this deal thinking that the stadium would be up an running in a year or 2.

 

to me the bronx feels like plan b, after queens. i guess a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and they want to move ahead, especially because they'll be stuck in a baseball stadium meanwhile, which nobody wants.

good point. if i lived in the area i'd feel a little bit like there's piling on of sports venues and events.

a few things about this might become pretty big issues, especially if the yankees continue to stumble. building a soccer stadium under their nose won't fly well with the baseball crowd either.

 

Now this is pure speculation but…

My guess is that the Yankees initially thought Queens was the target borough for the stadium in keeping with the original MLS plan to hit the metro area from the west Metro/Red Bull and the east NY2 in Queens. Levine is a pretty arrogant SOB and likely thought the Wilpons wouldn't be able to resist the rental money for Citi Field as NYCFC built in Queens. Check out his statements he still always mentions Citi Field.

(And now I'm going far afield) Wherever the stadium is built Queens and the east will be part of the team's core base (they hope) and with the nasl cosmos in Long Island there could still be a desire to play even temporarily in Queens to both marginalize their influence and help torpedo their Belmont Park stadium plan.

 

It is not going to be paid for with public funds. The city will wind up owning the land after the team pays for the existing business to move and coves the losses of the parking lot owners. The city will then lease the land to the team at some nominal rent. The team will then sell tax exempt city-backed bonds to finance construction of the stadium. Those bonds will be paid back by the team and revenue from the stadium.

There will be no public money going to the stadium. The loss to the taxpayers will be in tax revenue that will not be collected on the stadium land or on the revenue generated to pay off the bonds. There are also some other tax deferments/avoidance like no sales taxes as part of the deal.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/n...l=1&adxnnlx=1386821414-7QDncVgyi1KrjRKNr3vx4A

 

So what was this some crazed power play by Levine/Bloomberg thinking they'd hand de Blasio a fait accompli???

Only makes sense if they're ready to play the Mansour card and rework the deal to include paying rent/taxes to some degree.

Actually maybe just the opening position in typical Levine hardball negotiations replete with deadlines and threats.

 

Let's be real. de Blasio can play serious hardball over this stadium. NYCFC has to be in NYC and they have the money. Libs gunna lib over semantics, but I expect the owners to fork over almost everything related to this stadium.

 

I certainly hope so.

 

from the point of view of franchise owners, de blasio was the worst possible thing to happen to any ideas about building new stadiums in nyc.
they'd have to dress this up like a wpa project or something...

 

2018 or 2019 indeed…

I haven't really followed the financing mechanics of this deal. For one I don't actually understand that stuff but more importantly I assumed with his money Mansour would just pay for the whole thing (like we did at RedBullArena) on terms everyone would agree with (cash? lol) and the battle would come down to the community.

The only thing I can think of is maybe as junior partner the Yankees have some financial exposure on the stadium deal? The numbers we're talking about are easily doable for Mansour but maybe not a 30% share for the Yankees???

 

His statements aren't any different from what I said.

There are tax breaks, the "lease of public land" (although it is not currently public land until the team acquires it and gives it to the city), and public financing. The public financing is the city-backed bonds. The city won't pay them back but they mean that the team won't pay taxes on the revenue used to pay them back.

 

No, it is not at the the old Yankee Stadium, what is now Heritage Field. It would be across the street from that closer to the Expressway.

 

It depends on how you define things but at Red Bull Arena the city paid $39 million for the land and the county paid $45 million for other infrastructure. That is more than New York City is paying in cash terms for this project.