When we all hoped that Major League Soccer was going to gain respect from the national media and within the New York City, Northern New Jersey & Southern Connecticut area, that hurdle would take a long time to reach. Then the next step for the sport was to create our stadiums for the sport to control the dates, times, and revenue it would create for the clubs.

Since the 2010 season, Red Bull Arena has been the crown jewel of Soccer Stadiums in this area and for over 10 years, it has automatically proven to earn the respect from US Soccer, CONCACAF, and the entire sport of soccer. Without a doubt, Red Bull Arena has shined in the big spotlight. But now it’s about to get a new friend and surprisingly it’s not coming from their rivals in MLS, but a new expansion club coming to USL Championship in the 2022 season. While we knew about Queensboro FC having David Villa as a member of the ownership group, that club who hasn’t kicked a ball yet has already developed renderings of a 7,500 seat stadium that will be constructed on the campus of York College near Jamaica Railroad and Subway Station just a couple of blocks away.

On Tuesday, April 27th the USL and Queensboro FC announced the deal of this new stadium this will be the very first time that a pro soccer stadium will be built in New York City Proper and there will be no interference with a baseball field or grid lines of an NFL game at all.

“Today is an exciting day for Queensboro FC. The announcement of our home stadium site at York College represents a bold new chapter for professional sports in New York City,” said Jonathan Krane, Owner of Queensboro FC. “More importantly, we are proud to deliver our QBFC fans a dedicated soccer-specific venue, built by and for the Queens community, bringing us all together to celebrate the beautiful game.”

The United Soccer Leagues were also excited about this announcement as they can not wait to get the shovels into the ground and start working on this project.

“Today is an exciting day for York College, Queens, QBFC, and the United Soccer League,” said USL COO and Chief Real Estate Officer, Justin Papadakis. “We are thrilled to welcome Jonathan Krane and QBFC to the USL. Soccer is the world’s sport, and Queens is the world’s borough. Bringing Queens a first-class professional club to call their own is a historical moment. I’m confident that in the not-so-distant future, we will see young players who are playing on the fields at Flushing Meadows Corona Park taking the pitch under the
lights of this beautiful new venue, representing their hometown.”

But this news is a negative for NYCFC because they continue to play all their home league matches inside a Baseball Stadium while looking for a temporary home to compete in other competitions like the US Open Cup and their first taste of the CONCACAF Champions League.

Outside of the cathedral of baseball in the Bronx, they have played at Citi Field, St. John’s University at Jamaica Estates in Queens, Fordham University’s football field and were forced to head north to Hartford, Connecticut to play at Rentschler Field which is the home football stadium for UConn when the New York Yankees had to make up a rained out baseball game a few years ago against the Kansas City Royals.

No matter how many rumors have been started to give hope and belief that NYCFC is building a Soccer Specific Stadium, the stories that gain traction have died. If Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan who owns Manchester City of the English Premier League and has bought other clubs across the globe to expand the brand and his Etihad Airlines business, then why hasn’t he shelled out the money to the City of New York to buy the land and build that stadium for his MLS club right now?

Red Bull Energy drink corporation spent their money to build Red Bull Arena in Harrison and the training ground in East Hannover. The Queensboro FC ownership group has already leapfrogged past NYCFC without kicking a ball and is building a stadium in the second division of US Soccer.

The fans of NYCFC must be getting annoyed and agitated that nothing has been done and all stories being written are leading to dead ends. As of right now, the only way that NYCFC will be playing a home game in a stadium built for Soccer is to borrow it or be forced to play in it and you can add York College to that list of stadiums that the blue side of NYC will borrow next.