USA Today Sports
Earlier this year, MLS announced New York City FC as the 20th organization in the league. Though there has been some speculation over where NYCFC would play their home games in their inaugural 2015 season, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg put that to rest by announcing that NYCFC will play its home games at Yankee Stadium.
However, late on Sunday, Bloomberg changed Yankee Stadium to some stadium.
In the middle of his post talking about why New York City is “becoming the nation’s sports mecca”, Bloomberg included news about NYCFC’s first home venue.
“Yankee Stadium will become the home of the New York City Football Club, the first soccer club in the five boroughs since the 1970s.”
Let me correct Bloomberg on one thing before we move forward. The New York Cosmos will be the first profession soccer club in the five boroughs since the 1970s, not NYCFC. The Cosmos will start play in the second half of NASL‘s 2013 season.
While it isn’t much of a surprise that NYCFC will use Yankee Stadium as a temporary home, it is surprising that Mayor Bloomberg dropped the news before MLS. The New York Yankees are part owners of NYCFC, so Yankee Stadium does make sense as a temporary venue, but MLS and MLB will have to make sure Yankees and NYCFC games do not conflict.
On the other hand, it will be interesting to see where NYCFC will announce as their permanent home. Currently, MLS and the organization are trying to find quality land options, but have faced multiple hurdles so far.
While it seems like Bloomberg has jumped the gun on the announcement that NYCFC will start its tenure at Yankee Stadium, it seems to be NYCFC best temporary home venue. It will be interesting to see if NYCFC does play at Yankee Stadium or if they will temporarily play somewhere else.
Phil Naegely is a sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Like him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter @pnaegelyRS and add him to your circles on Google.
