NY Cosmos propose 25K-seat stadium at Belmont Park
Is the New York City area big enough for three fancy soccer stadiums?
That's the billion-dollar question after the second-tier New York Cosmos announced Wednesday that they want to build a privately-funded $400 million complex including a 25,000-seat stadium in Belmont Park, located in Nassau County on Long Island. The recently revived team's plan came in response to a request for proposals for the land from the state of New York.
"I made it clear from the start: We'll look to build our own home," Cosmos chairman Seamus O'Brien told SI.com. "We'd evaluated a number of sites within greater New York City. ... It's a state tender, so we're responding to an RFP, not trying to stick the stadium somewhere else. It's in a neighborhood that's effectively zoned as a sports facility with great transportation linkage, road and rail straight in, and a huge car parking (area)."
In a metro area that already includes the New York Red Bulls' MLS stadium in Harrison, N.J., the Cosmos' plan joins another high-profile proposal by MLS for a privately financed $300 million soccer stadium in the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park section of Queens. The MLS stadium plan has gotten the support of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, among others.
MLS has said it wants to add a second New York City-area franchise as the U.S. top-flight league's 20th team, and commissioner Don Garber said there are four interested ownership groups that could compete in an auction to bring an expansion fee of as much as $100 million. (The winning ownership group would also fund the MLS stadium.)
But the Cosmos are increasingly looking like a competitor and not a prospective member of MLS.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20130116/new-york-cosmos-stadium/index.html
