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Queens MLS Soccer Stadium Talks Close To "Wrapped Up"
By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 13, 2012
Modified Aug 13, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 13, 2012
Modified Aug 13, 2012
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The New York City area already has two baseball teams, two basketball teams, two football teams and three hockey teams—so why not two soccer teams? Back in June a rep for Major League Soccer told us their "goal is to have a second team in NY at the earliest opportunity" and they weren't kidding. MLS is really serious about building a stadium in Flushing Meadows. Our favorite part? Unlike so many tax-funded boondoggle stadiums in America, MLS is going to foot the bill.
The new stadium would still cost the city land—the city would have to give up about nine acres of Flushing Meadows Park for the project, which it would swap for equivalent land from the State for park use if approved by the Legislature—but as far as boroughs ripe for a soccer invasion, Queens seems like a great fit. Especially as what MLS is reportedly planning on building is a $300 million, 25,000-seat soccer stadium complex with nine soccer fields for community and minor-league use that would go between Citi Field and the tennis complex in the park.
While MLS would pay for the stadium—which would be for an as-yet-unnamed new franchise to compete with the existing Red Bulls—the city, the state and the MTA will still have to sign off first. Still, MLS reportedly wants to get started as soon as possible, as soon as early next year. According to the Post, "insiders say talks on the project have advanced considerably and are close to being wrapped up."
To get going that soon, the land swap would need to be approved in a Legislature session this fall—which is not out of the realm of possibility. "I definitely think this could happen in 2013 and it will generate construction jobs, permanent jobs and sales-tax revenues for the city and the state," a state official told the tabloid.
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