New York City Football Club was already having problems finding a permanent home. Now it”™s out of a practice field, too.
The team, called NYCFC for short, is an expansion club set to join Major League Soccer for the start of its 2015 season, which kicks off next spring. The team has backed out of a deal to practice at Manhattanville College in the Purchase area of the town of Harrison after a local civic group sued to stop construction there.
The Purchase Environmental Protective Association and three residents filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court against the team, the college and Harrison”™s Planning Board, which approved a plan on April 22 that would have seen NYCFC renovate Manhattanville”™s gym and rebuild its soccer field. The college said NYCFC decided to look elsewhere because it needed a practice field in place by January 2015 and litigation could have dragged out past that time.
In a statement from Anne Gold, the association”™s executive director, the group applauded the withdrawal of the deal. “PEPA believes the entire Purchase community benefits from this resolution,” she said.
The college announced that the partnership had dissolved May 30, though the soccer team had no comment. President Jon C. Strauss decried the loss of $10 million in improvements to the campus as a result of end of the partnership. It also meant the loss of planned academy teams and summer soccer camps.
“It”™s unfortunate that a small group of very well-resourced citizens chose to pursue this action against the college,” he said. “Our student body and local youth have lost a tremendous opportunity here.”
The college had agreed to a five-year lease with NYCFC, which said it would gift the facilities back to Manhattanville at the end of the deal. The lease came with two one-year renewal options and residents who opposed the agreement said they feared the team might continue to practice there beyond the five-year term. They cited traffic and environmental concerns for opposing the construction when addressing the town Planning Board. The lawsuit looking to stop the construction was a 143-page document from Harris Beach P.L.L.C., a national law firm with a White Plains branch.
It”™s the second time in two decades that a professional sports team was blocked from practicing at the college due to community opposition. The New York Rangers looked to build a hockey rink on campus in the late 1990s but ultimately went elsewhere, leaving Manhattanville”™s hockey team without facilities or even permanent lockers on campus in the immediate aftermath.
Where NYCFC will look next for its practice facilities is unknown. There is potential the team can find other arrangements in Westchester and join the Rangers and basketball”™s New York Knicks, which both practice locally.
It”™s also unclear where it will set up shop permanently for its regular season games, and despite the team”™s name, it may be in Westchester County.
The group will play its inaugural season at Yankee Stadium, but it has had continued difficulties finding a permanent home. The logistics of Yankee Stadium hosting the team will be complex, as the baseball season and MLS season overlap for several months and holding soccer matches on the field could leave it in poor shape for baseball games.
NYCFC, which is co-owned by the Yankees and English soccer team Manchester City, was originally eyeing the construction of a home field in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park but that deal was opposed by the Yankees rival New York Mets. The team is now reportedly considering locations outside of the five boroughs, including in Yonkers. Soccer”™s New York Red Bulls play home games in Harrison, N.J.
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, a Democrat, said in his recent State of the City address the team could set up at Empire City.
“If New Jersey can host two New York football teams alongside a swamp, we can certainly host a professional soccer team along I-87,” he said.
