I know it's a long shot, but I can't think of a better place for Metros to have a stadium than Long Island City. First of all, the reason I think it's even remotely possible is b/c NYC is planning to have its Olympic Village there should our city win the Olympics. Which makes me think, that there's a fair amount of land available to build something of size. Then, around it, you could develop a whole neighborhood - kind like DUMBO and other Greenwich Village / SoHo wanna-be neighborhoods in the borroughs. So, in the event that NYC Olympic bid fails, it's at least on option worth discussing. The benefits of stadium there are immense - it's close to all other borroughs and reachable by mass transit from Manhattan, New Jersey, Long Island. And the highway is nearby too. It could definitely become a hub of a new nieghborhood (what Brooklyn Nets are trying to accomplish). And it's in New York City. No matter the fact that most of current Metro attendees come from Jersey, everyone knows that if you REALLY want to be on the New York map (as in corporate, luxury boxes, etc), you have to be geographically in NYC (obviously NFL is an aberration). Two problems: (1) there's no reason to believe that NYC would devote a piece of potentially such valuable land to a meaningless soccer team and (2) certainly NYC isn't putting a penny into the project. To this, I can only say that (1) it's worh a try and (2) if I'm Metros owner, I'd rather pony up for the whole cost in NYC than a portion in NJ (no offense to my NJ neighbors, but business is business).
I think AEG is looking for another Bridgeview deal for Metro -- and that's probably the sweetest deal MLS will ever see. Bridgeview wanted the team AND the stadium, and is footing the bill; the stadium will be theirs, with AEG to run it ( and keep it busy). The mayor of Bridgeview said the people are like MLS players: modest, hardworking and approachable. All this league needs is 3 or 4 more Bridgeviews. Right now I'd settle for one, in New York or New Jersey.
There is a lot of unused land in Queens/Brooklyn. But the good locations have tombstones all over. Any one of those parcels would be great for a soccer stadium.
Nobody would love to see the Metros move east of the East River more than me, and Long Island City would be a great location for a soccer stadium. But I don't think it's "even remotely possible". The fact that the Olympic Village will be built there doesn't mean there's land left over for a stadium. And unless Phil Anshutz writes a check for $200 million, it'll never happen. The Metros/MLS scouted NYC for a place to put an expansion team a few years ago, the best location they came up with was Aqueduct. I'm assuming that if LIC was in any way a viable possibility, it would have been mentioned along with Aqueduct. And since Giants Stadium seems to be the place where the Beautiful Game gets the life sucked out of it, you'ld think the Metros were already playing on top of a cemetary.
Citibank thought the same thing when then moved there. That they were on the cutting edge. Think again, nobody else followed them out there. From what I have seen of the area, it makes Jersey look good.
Too many tax breaks for us not to build in Jersey. Sad fact that is, a SSS is almost on the top of the list for NJ politics where as over the river the Yankees, Mets, Jets and now Nets want to build a stadium with tax payer money. The last thing that's gonna ride with the politicians is a SSS for a flailing NJ soccer club. I'd like to think AEG would be the difference maker in that they would lump over more money for a NYC based stadium but for now I think they are sticking to their original plans.
From one who works in LIC. First of all when comparing LIC to Jersey, note that "The Sopranos" is filmed in LIC, not Jersey. SilverCup Studios is at the foot of the Queensboro bridge. Jersey itself is filmed in LIC! The Citibank building is the biggest white collar building in LIC, and maybe the only big office building there. It is probably true that white collar office buildings have not followed the Citibank building. But LIC is a blue collar bee-hive of economic activity. The place is humming. Factories, construction companies, warehouses, etc, take advantage of a large work force that has easy access to public transportation. If you have any further doubts, ask home boy Ron Artest for a guided tour!
The Sunnyside Rail Yards would be the place it would be built in LIC. Rockefeller wanted to put a stadium there a while back, but it fell through. I measn yeah it'll never happen, too much against it, but I'd like the area to be revitalized a bit.
The Village would be part of a residential development project. In other words, once the Olympics are over, the land (and probably buildings) would be used for housing. Lots of it. If the Olympics don't come, the housing will still be built and probably a lot more of it than would occur otherwise -- 40 to 50 story buildings all up and down the waterfront. I say this as someone involved with the project, by the way. In other words, forget it.