If you love speculation, then today's article on Mets.com is for you. Dave Howard, Executive Vice President of the New York Mets offered some interesting quotes.
"It's part of our broad strategy of using the facility for major events," said Howard. "We think soccer in Queens, the most diverse borough of our very diverse city, is a natural.
"There are 140 languages spoken in Queens and in almost every one of those languages soccer is the favorite sport. Queens has the largest concentrations of Ecuadorian and Greek communities outside their native countries. It made prefect sense for us."
The more interesting quote from Howard mentions another possible match later in the summer as well as Major League Soccer.
""We are already in discussion about possibly hosting an exhibition match later this summer between a European club team and a Central American team," said Howard. "And Major League Soccer is on record as saying they would like to have a second team in New York"
Was Howard possibly opening the door for an MLS team to call Citi Field Home? Could the Cosmos reach a temporary deal to call Citi Field home while they wait for a stadium to be built? It seems like it would be a huge challenge given the MLS and MLB schedules, but in these cash strapped times for the Wilpon family, it could be a way to generate more income to field a competitive baseball team.
This is getting more and more interesting as the days goes on.
7 comments:
Or maybe could they be referring to the game between Ecuador and Greece that is already happening there on June 7th. Always good to try to make something out of nothing, but an MLS team will never play in the outfield of a ballpark unless there is a stadium being built across the street.
Dear anonymous,
seeing as these statements were made because of the Ecuador Greece match I doubt that game between two national teams is the match between two club teams that he was talking about.
And a few MLS teams have already played on baseball fields even before a stadium was approved. Kansas City and San Jose are examples.
Do your homework next time before you make snappy judgments.
God i hope not! If i had to i could stomach the Cosmos playing at Citi to start the season or for the first season while the stadium is built, but in the long run i want nothing to do with citi field. besides my belief that watching soccer in a baseball stadium sucks, i just dont want anything to do with the Mets. Maybe its bc im a Yanks fan, or maybe its that i think the Wilpons are questionable, but i just dont want to be part of the Mets organization. If they want to invest with the Cosmos and help with the stadium land, great, but other than that, tell them to take a hike.
seriously, soccer will not draw the wide avail fans in NYC with a Stadium in Flushing. MLS playing at Citified in NYC. Not a good look for a league that is just starting to get it's wings.
I firmly believe that if this stadium isn't in LIC / Sunny-side/ Astoria. Th shine will where off. A stadium in this area will prosper @ MLS prices! It's crazy to not see that.
I imagine any Citi Field solution would be short term while they build a newer arena.
Garber the Gargler wants the 2nd NY team to have its own arena. Citi at best would clearly be a temporary home if/when an expansion franchise is awarded to NY until one is built.
Fantastic news !!!!
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