Tuesday May 11, 2004 USA Today Sports section's front page story is about the NYC bid for the 2012 summer Olympics. Page 2 has a map of the potential venue locations. The soccer and basketball venues are across the river in NJ. I'm wondering if these are in downtown Newark (north of the airport) or Harrison? And is there is any cooperation between the NYC2012 Olympic Committee and the Metrostars? Obviously we don't want to wait 8 years for a SSS for the Metros, but maybe the Olympic Committee can help move the process in Harrison (or anywhere in the NY/NJ area) along a bit?
The current map shows basketball and soccer at the Meadowlands. Giants Stadium for soccer, and Brendan Bryne Arena.
I don't know if this helps your cause, but I know the NY Jets have been working and planning on a new American football stadium in the heart of Manhattan. The early designs look very nice and the planners have already said it would be used for the 2012 Olympics if NY gets the bid. My point is, maybe the Metros can move into this stadium as well? "...creating a truly unique venue able to host big-time events ranging from the Super Bowl to World Cup soccer matches to headline concerts and conventions" http://www.newyorkjets.com/stadium/ http://www.kpf.com/Projects/jets.htm BTW, I hate the fvckin Jets.
The Olympic project will need a place to play the soccer matches and it's likely that they would use the potential Jets stadium as the main stadium and not for events like soccer. They've shown in the past that they like to have smaller stadia for soccer.
Tickets to soccer matches are amongst the most sought after events at the Olympics. They are usually held in the biggest stadiums available. It's one of the few events, if not the only one, that makes money. At the Atlanta Olympics the best single event was the US v. China women's final. IF the Jets ownership had any brains at all, they would buy the Cosmos license and join MLS ASAP and actually get some use out of their stadium over the summer.
Check out this website devoted to the new stadium. http://westsidestadium.com/ See if you can email them and find out what their position is on soccer. Not just Olympic or World Cup soccer, but domestic MLS soccer........... And on another note........ http://www.fieldofschemes.com/news/archives/000572.html Two more stadiums for NYC? As if New York didn't have enough new stadiums in the hopper, there are now reports that Sean Kelly, head of Ireland's Gaelic Athletic Association, will be traveling to Manhattan to kick off a drive for a 10,000-seat Gaelic football facility and accompanying 3,000-seat stadium, to be sited on a "25-acre prime Manhattan real estate site which was donated by the city of New York." (For those unfamiliar with Gaelic football, it's a lot like Aussie Rules football, only with fewer Aussies.) The Irish Examiner clarifies: the "prime Manhattan real estate" is actually Randall's Island, best known for being the plot of land that holds the Triborough Bridge up. "We have been granted a license by the city, we have the land and it's a matter of developing the funding necessary to do it. At this stage we're looking for the money for the initial phases, basically to get the field, dressing rooms and stands together, and we're talking in the region of $5m," New York GAA president Liam Bermingham told the Examiner. Bermingham also said the whole project would cost $45 million; he didn't say how it would be paid for. Maybe the new Randalls Island stadium could be a good place for Metrostars US Open Cup matches or other non-crowd-drawing exhibition matches?
No, make it an expansion team. Empire FC. Or NeoCosmos! There'll be a great rivalry. The MetroStars can come visit New York's rinky-dink 80,000-seat shoebox, and NY can go visit the Metros 25,000-seat big-ass cathedral in Harrison, NJ.
Keep in mind the Olympic soccer tournament usually takes place across the host country. This happened in LA '84, Atlanta '96 and Sydney '00 among others I'm sure. Of course, the Final and other matches would take place in NY but don't expect all matches to take place in NY.
So NYC does / did have plans for an MLS stadium in Queens....... http://www.newyorkgames.org/news/archives/000260.html October 02, 2003 Flushing City's 'Best Alternative' For Stadium Newsday The "best alternative" to the Bloomberg administration's goal of an Olympic stadium on the West Side of Manhattan is the area around Shea Stadium, according to internal memos by the nonprofit group working with the city to snag the 2012 summer games. "Construction costs would be substantially lower than on the West Side," reads a Jan. 22, 2002, memo, adding that this "fall-back alternative" next to Shea could be converted into a 40,000-seat major-league soccer stadium after the Olympics....
Please keep in mind that the NYC 2012 bid, is a real estate scam. I have that info from someone who used to work on the bid.
Ralph Nader denounced the construction of stadiums in New York the other day. Yet another reason to support building them.
I don't understand why we keep bringing this issue of the Olympic stadium up. I mean it has absoleutly nothing to do with MLS so who cares?
Think about it. Metrostars in Harrison. NY Cosmos in new Olympic stadium. It's River Plates wet dream!
Sooner or later the MLS will add a team in NYC proper. Whether theyre the Cosmos (with Pele in the formt office) or another team (I like Empire FC/ New York Empire), they should get a new stadium. MetroStars in Harrison, Cosmos/Empire in Cosmos/Empire Stadium on Long Island. Nobody wants to play in a $2 BILLION (yes, in bold caps) stadium that looks like something out of the Jetsons.
Long Island???!!! Let's not louse up my wet dream before it's begun. Can we kindly put staiums in places all people can actually get to by public transportation. Especially immigrants who aren't exactly rich and use sensible things like subways. Can we stop catering to the goddamn suburbs. If the West Side stadium goes down, then one will be built at Flushing Meadow--not Long Island. The Jets will still go ahead even if the Olympic bid fails, which it probably will. Paris is way ahead. But the Jets will not be staying in Giants Stadium no matter what. They'll form some partnership with the Mets and a complex will be built in Queens. Add a NYC futbol club, ChampionsWorld matches... Come on, who the hell wouldn't support this?
I was under the impression that Flushing Meadows is on Long Island (saying LI, I meant Queens/ Brooklyn, not Nassau County). BTW, that would be an excellent site for a stadium, or perhaps your Prospect Park, where I hear they're doing some new fields?
Yes, Flushing Meadows is on Long Island, with the rest of Queens and Brooklyn to boot. The best plan I heard yet was to put a new NYC MLS team in a soccer-only stadium in Long Island City, which is the Queens neighborhood closest to the river. Easy access to subways, Long Island Rail Road, and the Long Island Expressway. Basically, any way that one might actually choose to get to the games, this location would be perfect for. Plus incredible Midtown skyline views....
They can build a stadium in Prospect Park any time they want. I won't object. I'd love to have a stadium staring at me every time I look out the front window.